Classic Buses Profiles

PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN SRI LANKA

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Last Updated 20 November 2007

NOTICE:

SOME OF THE VEHICLES, SCENES AND - MOST IMPORTANTLY - THE PEOPLE SHOWN IN THESE PICTURES MAY NOT BE AROUND TODAY AS A RESULT OF THE DEVASTATING TSUNAMI THAT HIT SRI LANKA ON 26 DECEMBER 2004.

Acknowledgements; My thanks to Maurice Bateman, Vic Brumby, Mark Harrington, Bob Martin, Peter Relf , Roger Thiedeman, and Dale Tringham for their help in supplying additional information, and sorting out fact from fiction (hopefully!) in the report below.

Since the war, more than 1500 old London Transport buses have been exported to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), and that figure may yet rise. As far as I have discovered, single-deck exports included 50 T-class Regals, 100 TD Leyland Tigers, and 10 of the total of 15 RFW Regal IV coaches built. Thirty C-class Leyland Cubs (and even eight CRs) also went there. Among the double deckers were 89 D-class utility Daimlers and 17 G-class utility Guy Arabs.

In the mid 1960s a huge transfer of double deckers took place. I am told that 729 RTLs, 280 RTWs and 266 RTs were exported there. Finally, 41 Routemasters were shipped out in the late 1980s.

There must surely be some surviving evidence of this massive fleet on the island today, and when I took a holiday there in October 2003 I decided to keep my eyes peeled for any vehicles still running, or maybe retired examples around the country.

The first of these buses arrived in 1952, and the entire bus operation on the island came under the wing of the Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) from 1st January 1958, a government agency set up to nationalise all services. Subsequently this became transferred to a worker-controlled operation (known locally as "peopolised" !) and was renamed the Central Transport Board (still CTB). The service was split into regional operations centered on the main towns, and private operators were also then permitted to set up business.

Today there are four main liveries which indicate the nature of the operation. Older CTB vehicles wear a combination of bare-metal and red (usually red front and back), but these buses tend to be pretty ancient and often are working out their last years until they totally fall apart.

A Tatty TATA in the old CTB red/silver livery running a local service near Galle.

The more recent CTB livery is all-over yellow, and all newer CTB buses are painted in this way, often bearing the name of the regional bus service to which they are attached. Longer distance and "express" CTB services have variations of a livery of off-white with two horizontal stripes, usually one red and one blue.

An Ashok Leyland in the CTB striped livery grinds out of Colombo on a regional service.

Finally there is everything else, which means every colour scheme imaginable, and which indicates a private operator - of which there are literally thousands, many with only one bus in the fleet.

A Saduni Travels TATA works a local service in Colombo.

However, as with everything in Sri Lanka, there are no hard and fast rules. It didn't take long for private operators to realize that, if they painted their bus to look like someone else's, they could steal unsuspecting passengers from the competition and then charge them slightly more than the going rate (once on board there wasn't much the passenger could do about it!). So some liveries may be deliberately misleading.

Public transport in Sri Lanka today is hugely varied. At the lower end of the scale, a tractor and trailer is quite adequate, and various bits of agricultural machinery can be seen in common use as a local (if slow) bus transport. But by far the most common medium is the tricycle motorized rickshaw, also known as an Autorickshaw, Trishaw or - more commonly in India and Sri Lanka - the "Tuk-Tuk". The usual model is the Bajaj RE, a 145cc rear-engine 2-stroke, with four forward gears and one reverse. They are made in India in association with Vespa, and seat three (or four at a push) in the back, with the driver in the front controlling the machine with scooter-type handlebars. They have a large front windscreen and a removable canvas roof, which is always kept up, as Sri Lankan passengers will inevitably be either avoiding the hot sun or the rain.

Tuk tuks are absolutely everywhere. This is the Bajaj RE.

These Tuk-Tuk taxis are incredibly daring, cheeky and nimble in the traffic, and it is said that if you stand with your feet too far apart, one will zoom between your legs. If you need a ride, don't bother to find one, they'll find you ! They are by far the most common form of transport, and you would be hard pressed to stand in the street in any town or village without being able to see at least half a dozen at any one time, and often twenty or more, in all the colours of the rainbow. Other models can occasionally be seen, including the splendidly-named Greaves Garuda, and the Piaggio Ape.

The next size up is what I would call the "15 cwt" minibus - i.e. the size of a standard old VW van. These, and the next size up again (the 25-35 seat range, perhaps the modern equivalent of the Bedford OB) tend to standardize on vehicles of Japanese manufacture. Import tax on second-hand vehicles is less than on new ones, so there is a huge market for slightly-used Japanese buses, van and trucks which are imported in thousands, often still wearing Japanese writing on the side from their previous owners. They include Toyota, Mitsubishi (to my amusement, always called "Mister Bushy" in the Caribbean), Nissan, Mazda and Hino, but the chassis of choice seems to be Isuzu, by far the most common.

Finally come the "full-sized" buses, now exclusively single deck. The two main manufacturers are Tata (Indian-built Mercedes), and Ashok Leyland - or the Sri Lankan licence built version, the Lanka Ashok Leyland, made in a factory just outside the capital, Colombo. The bodies are frequently Duple Metsec products either assembled by the local Latec plant on the island, or by their subsidiary WESCO (Werahera Engineering Services Co. Ltd.). Among the private operators can be seen a wide variety of buses, with Isuzu again being a front-runner, but I did notice some more unusual makes, including Hindustan Motors from India, and Great Wall Motors from China.

A TATA in the CTB yellow livery hurries along the coast near Hambantota.

I referred to seating capacities above but, as always in Sri Lanka, standard rules do not apply. I saw about 35 standing passengers in the back of a "15 cwt" Toyota pick-up, so you can imagine that figures for larger buses can become quite staggering. "Full size" buses (i.e. around 30 feet long) normally have about 12 rows of seats, which would suggest a capacity of perhaps 50 passengers, but at peak periods you can probably double that. All double seats take three people, every square inch of floor space is taken up with standing passengers, and then there are those who hang on to the side - if you can get one foot on the entry step and one hand on a grab rail, then you're on board !

How they manage to collect fares under these conditions is beyond me, but it clearly shows the reason for the inevitable dual-entrance bodywork, as anyone squashed into the far corners of the bus must have great difficulty getting off, especially with the large amounts of baggage and goods that many passengers carry with them. It makes Connex South East in the rush hour seem like luxury travel.

So there's an overview of the current public transport scene in Sri Lanka, but what about those 1500 old London buses ? Ah yes, I hadn't forgotten.

I guessed that the early fleets of single deckers (T, TD, C and RFW) had long been retired, and I had no expectation of seeing a trace of any of them, although I understand that two of the TDs, converted to lorries, were still active in 1994 !  Certainly the utility double deckers (Daimlers and Guys) would be gone, but maybe there would be evidence of the RT, RTL, RTW or RM buses that had followed later. However those more recent exports had, I was led to believe, all gone in one of three ways.

Quite a few had, on retirement from passenger service, been converted to flatbed lorries. These were fitted with new (and quite large) cabs, and were used for the transportation of sea containers to and from the port of Colombo. Many others had been given replacement single-deck bodywork, and continued in service in this guise. Finally the majority of the remainder had been scrapped and/or broken up for spare parts. I had a report of one chassis actually being made into a fence ! Incidentally, the breaking of a vehicle for parts in Sri Lanka is a very thorough business - nothing is wasted at all - and a vehicle that has been scrapped is likely to leave no trace whatever.

So identifying these as we drove around in our luxury Volvo B7B coach was clearly going to be difficult, and I therefore made a list of their Sri Lankan registration numbers (when known) before I went, as I assumed that the converted vehicles kept their old numbers. Spotting a likely licence plate might be easier than pinpointing a heavily disguised old bus. But that turned out to be untrue, as nearly all the conversions received new numbers, so I was actually looking for something that wasn't there !   At this point, a quick appraisal of the Sri Lankan registration system might not go amiss.

This old Wolseley was kept as an exhibit at the Gangarama Buddhist temple in Colombo. It illustrates the old licence plate system. Vic Brumby kindly researched it a little further, and advises me that it is a Wolseley "New Fourteen" dating from 1935, and is believed to be the 104th built, although the engine may not be original.

The original system (in use from 1928 to 1956) strongly resembled the UK system of the period in style and size, with a combination of letters and numbers, in white on a black background. The letter X (and later Y and Z) were used for petrol vehicles, and IC for diesel. Later, 2-letter prefixes were used, starting with C, then E, then Y - you can see where this is going... CEYLON ! However, independence seems to have inspired the authorities to come up with a more complicated new scheme, again comprising two parts, a number (initially two digits, but later three) indicating the class of vehicle, and a further individual number (four digits) for the specific car. These two numbers were separated by a symbol in local script which represented "Sri" (the approximate equivalent in Sri Lanka of the "Great" in Great Britain). So the result was, for example "20 Sri 1234". Later the "Sri" symbol was replaced with a dash (20-1234).

Also at the Buddhist temple was this beautiful old Riley "One and a Half", showing the other layout of the old registration system.

The prefix numbers worked on a coded system which nobody locally was able to explain to me satisfactorily, but the most likely explanation I received was; 1 to 19 for private cars, 20 to 29 for petrol buses and trucks, 30 to 39 for diesel buses and trucks, 50 to 59 for diesel vans and minibuses, 60 to 69 for diesel buses and trucks, 100 and above for motorcycles. Presumably as a result of the above numbers running out, 200 and above was also used for petrol vans, minibuses (and the ubiquitous "Tuk-Tuk" tricycle rickshaws), and 300 and upwards for diesel vans and minibuses.

Again the numbers were white on a black background, but slightly smaller than British plates. However, some were red on a white background, and at first I was told this applied to buses only. But this was clearly not correct, as some trucks and "Tuk-Tuks" were also red, so a later explanation that it meant "for hire" is maybe nearer the truth.

A fine looking 1950s Austin Cambridge van opposite the marketplace in Nuwara Eliya, 6200 feet up in the central highlands.

About two years ago it was decided to introduce a more simplified system, and reflective number plates are now in use, closely resembling the current British system once more, with white plates at the front and yellow at the rear, all letters being in black. The new arrangement consists of two letters used sequentially (i.e. GB follows GA etc.) and four digits, separated by a dash (GA-1234). However, the alphabetical sequence did not start with "AA" but began with G (GA, GB, GC etc.). When I asked why this should be, it came as quite a surprise to locals, who had never really thought about it. No satisfactory explanation was offered, but anyway the sequence had (at the time of my visit) reached HN. The letters I, O, Q and Z are all used.

The new Sri Lankan registration plate (rear).

In addition, two more smaller letters are on the plate which indicate the Province of issue; CP = Central Province, EP = Eastern Province, NC = North Central, NE = North Eastern, NW = North Western, SG = Sabaragamuwa, SP = Southern, WP = Western, UP = Uva Province. Finally a small circular hologram, about the size of a penny coin, is attached over the dash between the numbers, presumably as a security feature.

All of the styles mentioned above can currently be seen on Sri Lankan roads, so the whole system is a complete muddle, and this is not helped by the occasional appearance of white-on-red plates starting with the letters K (K-1234), or sometimes C or WPC (these may be trade plates), and I also saw one which was black on blue. I was also told that the Police had no numbers at all - which turned out to be complete rubbish, as all the emergency vehicles I saw had the same numbers as everyone else (apart from one Fire Service vehicle in Kandy with no plates).

So, armed with this information, and knowing that all the RT-type double deckers had numbers in the 20-1234 sequence and the RMs were all 60-66xx, I started glancing at any older vehicle that passed to see what would become apparent. I soon got the hang of what machines to ignore. There were a lot of other interesting sights out of the coach window as we traveled, so I wasn't going to spend my whole time reading registration numbers !

I struck gold on day one. RM 1121 (60-6622) in good condition, was sitting in a yard by the road in Colombo wearing a bright red livery advertising Kentucky Fried Chicken ! Apparently it was fitted out as a kitchen, and would park out on Galle Face Green daily as a mobile fast food bar - "Chicken on Wheels", it claimed. (Andrew Webb informs me that it was still in use in early 2006, and he had a distant glimpse of another near Mount Lavinia.)

RM 1121 resting between its fried chicken duties in Colombo.

In the town of Kandy I had been told that there was one (maybe two, but probably just one) Routemaster still operating a shuttle to and from the Botanical Gardens. On the second day we were in the town, I emerged from a handicraft shop to be told by our coach driver that I had just missed it ! He said not to worry, as it would soon come back again, but it never did. (Andrew Webb advises me that there was no sign of it in 2006.)

And that was that. Twelve days and only one sighting, for all my efforts. I was told that the container lorries had certainly all now gone, probably all the single decker conversions had also gone, and the total number of double deckers in the country was probably less than five. Rumours of RTs behind the bus depot at Galle proved unfounded, and a similar story for Trincomalee remains unproven as we didn't go there - it's still apparently dangerous country up in the north. There were said to be a few wrecks lying around in fields, but I saw none and didn't have the opportunity to search.

So I have virtually nothing to show for all the research and preparation, although I have to say that my Sri Lankan holiday was an absolute delight. I thoroughly recommend that you go yourself, and see if you can find the evidence that eluded me. Or just go for a great holiday, which is a far better idea.

A little diversion; There were two of these 'things' (wheel-less) propped up beside the road in Colombo. They clearly have some railway or tram background, but they looked a bit small to perform a useful function for the Colombo crowds. This one had a badge on the side reading (I think) "CSR", and a scrawled inscription "LOT 24" ! Any suggestions anyone ?

In response the above appeal for info, Peter Relf says "Re: the railway "thing", "CSR" will probably be "CGR" - Ceylon Government Railways. I would imagine that they were probably inspection vehicles of some kind.", and Mark Harrington wrote "I reckon these are the equivalent of the British Wickham of Ware railway personnel carriers once a common sight on colonial railways. There was a railway system on Sri Lanka until the 60s(?) so these may well be a relic."

And Roger Thiedeman says "The vehicle pictured is one of several motor trolleys/inspection cars used by the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR). One batch of six, introduced circa 1981, had the serial numbers 815 to 820, of which nos. 815 to 817 were locally built by the CGR. The others were built by Wickham (Type 42/S ?). The one in your website doesn't resemble the photo of locally-built no. 815, as depicted in Dr. David Hyatt's excellent book "Railways of Sri Lanka". Therefore, it could be one of the Wickhams."

Thanks to everyone for their input. Well, there is indeed still an extensive railway system in Sri Lanka, covering most of the island apart from the "hill country". It's mostly single track, but double on some main lines, and is very busy. The gauge is - to English eyes - rather wide in appearance at 5ft 6ins, and most of the rolling stock looks somewhat dated, with 2nd and 3rd classes only, as far as I could see - neither of which are exactly luxurious !

On the left is an interior shot of a typical third-class carriage. The outside shot on the right shows the inscription "For Clergy" over the window, although I doubt if that works in the rush hour.  The open window is the key to getting a seat.  As the train pulls into the station, and while passengers are getting off, you throw your bag through the window on to the seat within, and this reserves your space for when you finally get on board.

The locomotives on the route we used (Kandy to Nawalapitiya) were diesel-hydraulic, made by Henschel in Germany, but I did see one ancient steam tender engine hauling a mixed-traffic train into Colombo on the first day - sadly too far away to photograph. More modern DMUs work the main line down the coast from Colombo to Galle and they are very busy at peak times - about one every five minutes in each direction in the rush hour. I saw some blue and white class S9 units on that route, imported new from China in 2000.  These are of particular value because they can convert to overhead power collection, as electrification is apparently planned for the future (that sounds pretty frightening in view of the fact that the local population swarms all over everything the railway system uses!).

A general view of Platform 2 at Kandy.

The population seem to use the railway tracks as a pathway - the quickest route between two points I suppose - and the trains are constantly hooting to clear them out of the way. We travelled for about an hour and a half out of Kandy, heading south. The timekeeping was very 'fluid' (the first 1/2 hour delay doesn't count !). Our Volvo coach took the road route, and we saw it several times from the train; we raced the coach all the way to Nawalapitiya, and beat it by about 5 minutes !

A Henschel diesel-hydraulic loco, No.673, has just arrived at Kandy with typical Sri Lankan rolling stock. These were new in 1969 as Class W1 locos, but were later refurbished, re-engined and upgraded to become Class W3.

Another Class W3 Henschel waits in the yard for its turn to pull a train north out of Kandy (Kandy is a terminus on all but one of its platforms). The new power plants in these refurbished locomotives are 1000 hp Caterpiller V12 monsters.

Colour light signals were used around Colombo, but semaphore signals seem to be in use everywhere else.  The track buckles and bends a bit as the trains pass by, and it can be a bit of a roller-coaster at times, but the speeds are not that great and you don't feel unsafe.  It's the people on the line that should feel unsafe !

The destination and timetable board at Kandy - times are 'approximate' !

Well, that's my story, but if you would like to follow up this topic, here are some fine Sri Lankan Transport websites;

BUSES

http://www.bokhans.com/bussar.html

http://www.bokhans.com/trollybus.html

RAILWAYS

http://www.lankanlocos.tk/

http://www.infolanka.com/org/mrail/slrails.html

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