National Transportation

7/29/2019 National Transportation

1/18

1

Contents

01. Background of the study ...........................................................................................................21.1. Introduction about the service. .................................................................................................2

1.1.1.Bus ...........................................................................................................................................21.1.2.Train .........................................................................................................................................3

1.2. The Importance of Transport Services....................................................................................41.3. Current Process Improvements ...............................................................................................51.4. Statistics - Sri Lanka Transport Board.....................................................................................6

02. Problem encountered ................................................................................................................703. Objectives....................................................................................................................................904. Re-Engineering plan ................................................................................................................10

4.1. Centralized information Centre:-............................................................................................104.2. SMS & web based reservation system for bus/train transport service:-.......................... 114.3. GPS tracking system:-............................................................................................................. 114.4. Automatic time table generation & SMS based system for passengers to be informedabout the transport time table:- ....................................................................................................... 114.5. LED display boards:- ...............................................................................................................124.6. Current process:-......................................................................................................................13

05. Cost benefits Analysis .............................................................................................................1306. Risks on the re-engineering process ....................................................................................17


2/18

2

01. Background of the study

1.1. Introduction about the service.

Public transport in Sri Lanka is a choice between Buses and Trains. Both are cheap but often

overcrowded. At least there's enough public transport to enable everyone to move around the island

fairly easily. Trains are a bit slower than buses, but a seat on a train is preferable to standing on a

bus. Transportation in Sri Lanka is based mainly on the road network which is centred on Sri Lanka's

capital, Colombo. The Ceylon Transport Board had the sole responsibility for providing public

passenger road transport from 1957 to 1978. Fares were heavily subsidized, but overcrowding was

severe. In 1978 private buses were again allowed to operate, and the Sri Lanka Transport Board and

nine regional transport boards replaced the Ceylon Transport Board. The Sri Lanka Transport Board

had responsibility for overall transport policy, budgeting, and production planning, whereas theregional boards were responsible for the operation of regular regional and interregional bus services.

The island's first railroad line, from Colombo to Kandy, was opened in 1867,

1.1.1. Bus

The bus services in the main towns are fairly frequent. Long distance services are operated

from Colombo at Pettah Central Bus Depot. There are two services, one operated by the Sri Lanka

Transport Board and the other operated by Private Bus Companies. The private bus station is quite

close to the Central Bus Depot. Bus services are more frequent in the Private Bus Station. Most of the

buses and coaches have air-conditioning. Buses to the coastal town ply every 1/2 hour, To Kandy

every 15 minutes. To other long distance destinations between 1 hour 1/2 hours. Both government

and private buses and coaches carry the same destination numbers.

Please observe the traffic plan which changes from time to time. All public transport gets

particularly crowded around poya (full-moon) days and their nearest weekends, so avoid travelling

then if you can. In long distance journey the buses will stop in one or two places to buy small snack,

for tea and toilet.

This began as an unregulated private enterprise in 1907 and remained and so until 1927 when

problem of competition began to surface. Buses are the principal mode of public transport. Bus

services are provided by the state-run Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) and by privately run buses.

SLTB serves both urban and rural routes. In many rural areas, it provides services in unprofitable

areas that would be unattractive to private operators. Inter-city routes connect many of the major

population centres in the country. A few services are available on the E01 Expressway. Expressway

services use modern Lanka Ashok Leyland buses.


3/18

3

1.1.2. Train

The Sri Lanka Government Railway serves all important tourist destinations in the island.

Town served from Colombo include Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Bandarawela, Hikkaduwa, Galle, Matara,

Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Negombo, Bentota and Batticaloa.

Train travel in Sri Lanka can be pretty good. Although the trains are quite slow, with badly

deteriorated tracks in some places, generally a train ride is a more relaxed experience than a bus

ride, although trains can be packed at weekends and public holidays. There are three classes on Sri

Lankan trains. Third class is incredibly cheap but invariably crowded and you generally sit on

benches. Although night mail trains have sleeper with fold-down benches. Second class at least has

padded seats and sometimes the fans work, its generally less crowded. There are no 2nd class

sleeping berths, only sleepers. First class comes in three varieties: air-con coaches, observation

saloons air-con with large picture windows for viewing the scenery and sleeping berths also air-con.

For groups of 20 - 25 people a diesel deluxe coach is available.

It's easy to buy tickets when you get to Sri Lanka. There is a special ticket window for tourists

at Colombo Fort station. Reservations for trains with reserved seating such as InterCity Express

trains open 10-14 days in advance. Other trains (shown as having 'unreserved' seats) don't require a

reservation, you just buy a ticket on and hop on. Seats in the 1st class observation car from Colombo

to Kandy can get fully-booked from time to time, so book a few days ahead if you can, but you maywell find seats available on the day of travel.

There are three lines of most importance to travellers. One is from Colombo down to the west

coast to Aluthgama, Hikkaduwa, Galle and Matara. The second is from Colombo east up trough

Kandy, Nanu Oya (the station for Nuwara Eliya) and Haputale in the hill country to Badulla. The thirty

goes north from Colombo to Anuradhapura and Vavuniya and there's a branch line from

Anuradhapura to Trincomalee on the east coast.


4/18

4

1.2. The Importance of Transport Services

The change in transport services resulting from better infrastructure must also be affordable to

the poor. Bus and Train services are an important mode of transportation now more than ever

because of global warming as well as the state of the economy, it is vitally important for everyone to

do their part in helping to conserve our natural resources as well as provide greater levels of

protection for the land, air and water. By using a bus service, people are helping to conserve energy

as well as resources and thereby reducing the carbon footprint.

A dedicated bus chartered service is an important part of helping people get to and from work,

school and recreational events. Providing many people the ability to move across town or across the

nation who might otherwise be home bound with vehicles of their own or the ability to purchase gas,

oil, registration and insurance.

The public transport service, as well as bus charter services provide safe, clean transportation

with many safety feature like seat belts and floor light. Then there is the convenience that a good

transport Service can provide. For instance, if you ride the bus to and from your different locations

instead of driving yourself you can use the extra time to read, further your education, get some extra

office work done.

Perhaps you could use the time to sketch, or do some hand sewing. The ability to have a little

extra time to you is something that everyone could use. Maybe you could sneak in a little extra nap

while someone else does the driving, relaxing instead of having your blood pressure go through the

roof with the tensions and headaches associated with traffic.


5/18

5

1.3. Current Process Improvements

GPS tracking system:-

Currently GPS tracking facilities are given by the national transport commission for the private

bus sector. Small amount of private buses are facilitated by this service. But this service is only

available to track the current position of a particular bus to overcome difficulties like straggling, vehicle

accidents etc. which can be faced by bus drivers. This service is not available to support for the public

passengers.

Web based/telephone based seat reservation system:-

Web/telephone based seat reservation systems are available for bus/train in the current

situation. But these services are available only for few routes from few

railway stations/bus stands. And also there are third party private

organizations (e.g.: ExpoRail) addition to the relevant government

departments who are providing this service for monetary basis.

Availability of LED displays:-

Even today there are LED displays which are used for present information at bus stands/

railway stations and inside of bus/train. They are controlled through

divisional offices and most of times their services are limited to just

show simple information to the passengers and most of them are

used for static information presenting.


6/18

6

1.4. Statistics - Sri Lanka Transport Board

Figure 01: Basic Information

Name of the RegionsNo. of Depots

Colombo 11

Gampaha 09

Kalutara 05

Kandy 07

Ruhuna 11

Wayamba 12

Sabaragamuwa 10

Uva 09

Nuwara Eliya 07

Raja Rata 07

Eastern 10

Northern 07

Total 105

Figure 02: Operational (Per Day)

2009 2010 2011 2012

Buses and Employees

Bus Fleet (Average) 9,125 7,697 7,933 7,696

No. of Average Buses operated 4,482 4,595 4,366 4,299

Kilometres Operated 912,471 937,019 922,122 880,336

No. of Employees 35,895 34,772 34,263 34,132

Figure 03: The Greek alphabet

Letter name Uppercase Lowercase Letter name Uppercase LowercaseAlpha Nu

Beta XiGamma Omicron

Delta Pi

Epsilon Rho

Zeta Sigma

Eta Tau

Theta Upsilon

Iota Phi

Kappa Chi

Lambda Psi

Mu Omega


7/18

7

02. Problem encountered

01.Traffic jam in bus stand

Most of the bus stands fill with traffic jam. That is a huge problem to passengers because of

that they waste their valuable time. Other than that fuel consume also high because of traffic

problem. Main reason to this traffic problem is there is no proper system to handle traffic jam.

Sometime bus drivers also responsible to this trouble because they also try to compete with

other bus drivers. As a result of that traffic can be arise.

02.No proper time tabling or scheduling system

One of another problem is public transportation system lack of proper time tabling or

scheduling system. Since this problem sometime it can be seen insufficient and other time over

supply of buses. It will directly affect to the effectiveness and efficiency of public transportation

service. Sometimes buses are running with few passengers. That mean buses are not used their

full capacity. Sometimes buses are running with overload of passengers. That means buses are

exceeded their maximum capacity. This can be occurred while transportation system has good

scheduling system.

03.No way to find out location when person in a bus or train (Especially night).

The common problem which most of the passengers are facing is that they couldn't

identify the location they should drop from the bus. Especially this problem will more critical in

the night. Even day time also some passengers couldnt find like elder people, school children.

04.There is no mobile reservation system which can reserve bus or train and know the

arrival and departure time.

The arrival and departure times are the important fact to the customers. This is very

important for passengers who are involving with government and private jobs. But unfortunately

there is no specific method or system that can know this. Because of this problem passengers

cannot scheduling their time employed people. The late attendance of these people can be

affected to their jobs and their performance.

Some people have special task or works such as interview, special meetings, business

discussions and lectures. In such a situation people cannot reach their destination on time. So

lots of chances or works miss because unawareness of arrival/departure time.


8/18

8

05.When a bus or a train faces an accident the passengers who are in bus stand or

railway station face in trouble.

When a bus or train met with an accident the whole schedule will change. In that time

passengers face difficulties because sometime they dont know the alternative roads, buses or

trains should go. In such a case passengers can go through relevant office which in bus stands

but sometime relevant person not available. Therefore there is no efficient system that can

provide information to passengers quickly.

06.Sometime passengers dont know particular bus fee related to their journey. It can be

caused to get cheat.

Some passengers especially old people dont know particular bus fee related to their

journey. So in that case bus conductor can cheat to passengers. Considering about that issuethere is no system to identify each bus fees according to destination while passengers travelling

in the bus.


9/18

9

03. Objective

Our main objective is increase the efficiency and effectiveness in the current transport system

(train and bus service) in Sri Lanka by providing more convenience, satisfying passengers and

reducing wastages related to the public transportation service in Sri Lanka.


10/18

10

04. Re-Engineering plan

4.1. Centralized information Centre:-

All the information generated from divisional stations and bus/train is collected to a centralized

centre and does all the management activities through it. Each of bus/train, passenger is going to be

communicate directly with the centralized system. Reservation activities, time table management, etc.

are going to be done directly via the centralized system and send the final output to the identified

actors (passengers, divisional stations, and bus/train).

All the functions which are going to be done through this system is interconnected with all

entities within the system. So, it becomes less efficient if those activities were done by divisionally. By

using this kind of strategy all the required processes can be done by considering all the constraintssince the enough information are available from all parties. So the final output from the centralized

system is acceptable by all the parties in the system.

As an example assume the time table management process. The train from Colombo to

Kandy delayed due to an unexpected reason. Now the whole time tables should be tuned system

wide (not division wide) to not to abandon the passengers from above train.

Another advantage from centralizing is the same resource set is not going to be duplicated

among the divisions. Electronic devices which need to implement the system is highly expensive and

it will be a wastage of resources if those were going to be duplicated division wide. Not only the

implementation but also the maintenance cost will be high.

Centralized system improves the ease of access to the system by the actors because there is

only one access point and actors can ask all their services from one place. As an example if a

passenger need to do a reservation of a particular bus that he is not very much familiar, with the

centralized system it is not difficult because he has not to bother about to which station/stand that he

should contact to ask for the service.


11/18

11

4.2. SMS & web based reservation system for bus/train transport service:-

Passengers can do reservations simply without long and unclear process with the new

system. Human interaction with the new process is extremely low. Passengers can access to the

service from both via SMS & web. Since mobile phone

facility is available for many passengers in present SMS

solution can be replace where web solution is not

possible. Both online and traditional payments are

enabled with the system.

4.3. GPS tracking system:-

Through the GPS tracking system it is enabled to locate the current position of a particular

bus/train at a moment and the time length which consumed to arrive to a specific location will be

calculated. With this system each bus/train will be connected

with a GPS device and centralized system will track them with

a GPS receiving device. With this system passengers can be

easily informed with accurate information about his bus/train

without depending on untrusted hear says.

4.4. Automatic time table generation & SMS based system for passengers to be informed

about the transport time table:-

All the transport time tables will be automatically generated by the centralized system and

distributed to the passengers when they requested via a SMS. Transportation time table is subject to

be changed according to the novel constraints. As an example time tables of whole system can be

automatically adjusted due to a delay of a train, road traffic, breakdown of a particular bus etc.

With this novelty passengers should not be bother on catching the next bus or train after a

delayed arrival of the previous bus/train.


12/18

12

4.5. LED display boards:-

LED display boards can be used to replace traditional printed sign boards, inside bus/train and

bus stands/railway stations. These are efficient in displaying

dynamic information with a great visibility. Same display can be used

to display different information time to time which reduces the cost

for number of printed boards.


13/18

13

4.6. Current process:-Time keeping processes of divisional stations are not integrated. Bus/train are working

according to a fixed time table. Passengers can get informed about the time table by calling to the

stations. Seat reservation can be done by calling with the support of third party organizations which is

not much more customer friendly. Passengers need to come to the station according to the fixed time

slots and get into the bus/train. Even though a fixed time table is maintaining, frequent delays can be

happened. With the current system there is no a method to know delays before arriving to the station.

Inside of railway stations/ bus stands, inexperienced passengers difficult to find a relevant

place of a particular bus due to the poor sign board system.

05. Cost benefits Analysis

This re-engineering process has benefit as well as cost. Mainly that government has to


14/18

14

allocate the fund from the annual budget this process. One hand it can be the investment for the

transport service in Sri Lanka. For long time more benefit can be arising through this.

The main cost Criteria

The re-engineering employee wages

Have to assume software engineer, technical engineer, Project manager, Other labors and

sum administrative people to Re-engineering process.

The new technological tool and equipment cost

Need to add new Electronic control board, and other equipment to the bus and train.

cost for bring foreign technical support

Sometime need to get technical support from the foreign countries. So have to spend some

money on it.

Admiration center establishment cost

It is better establish the new Administration center under the department of transport to start

re-engineering process and maintain that new system. So on that has to allocate the fund.

The existing employee and people make aware Cost.

The existing transport service employee may have to Training and give some understanding

about the new re-engineer process. It can help to reduce the employee resistance and

increase the effectiveness of the system Usage. Also they people should aware about the new

Process and how interact with it .so the people need to make aware to the new technology.

According to above main cost criteria the government has to allocate huge amount of fund to

the re-engineering process. But there are more direct and indirect benefit can be arising on the

economy.


15/18

15

Direct benefit

I. Time wasting in the transport system can be reduced.

Traffic problem, overcrowding problem in the bus hold queue can be remove. So it is help to be

more efficiency to the people.

II. People easily can access to bus and train time table details in any time.

III. Transport service value will increase.

IV. The passenger can see extract road place where he is travelling at that time.

V. The passenger can reserve the bus and train at any time using the mobile phone.

VI. The new system guide the passenger with more effectively

VII. Bus and train time table will automatically update in the station.

VIII. Passenger can get the bus fees details to his mobile phone.

IX. Traffic inside the bus holt can reduce

X. The bus driver receives the massage and reminds about in and out time from the station.

Indirect benefit

I. Because of the time serving for traveling , effectiveness increase and it help to develop the

economy

II. The transport system will be more flexible to the user.

III. The new job opportunities can arise to the information technology employee.

IV. Can get more new technological knowledge from the foreign counties via this kind of project.

So the knowledge share opportunities can be help to develop the country.

V. Under the new government development concept the road system has been developed. While

that happen this project can increase the Quality of the Transport management. So totally that

will create good transport system in Sri Lanka.

According to above mentioned cost and benefit there are more benefit can see although the initial

cost high. So this re-engineering process more effective to the Sri Lanka Economy.


16/18

16

Re-engineering operation Process.

Figure show the main three stage of Operation process under re-engineering process. This is

have the summarize process steps to achieve the goal. There are more operation have to done under

one task.

Establish the main Administration

Make Plans and Work flow to manage the

Recourse

Allocate need resources. (People,

Equipment)

Add re-engineering processon one main Transport

division.

Add Re-engineering process to whole

country

If Success

Correct the

drawbacks If have

drawbacks

Testing

with real

world

Stage 1

Take 6Months

Stage 2

Take 6

Months

Stage 3

Take 12

Months


17/18

17

06. Risks on the re-engineering process

In this chapter risks which can be arisen on the re-engineering process will be descriptively

discussed. As this service is a well-established public service during a long period, risks relate with

the stake holders of this service can be especially considered addition to the technical and economic

risks.

1. Staff resistance for the re-engineering process:-

Employees/Employers who are working relate to this department will commonly show up their

resistance for the new changes in the process due to the fear of job elimination, less confidence in

adopting to the new technology, fear of losing the controlling power of the position etc.

Employees/Employers will come up with union actions against to the project.

2. Resistance from private sector:-

Transport service is consisting of both government and private sector regarding the public bus

service. To achieve the success point of this re-engineering process private sector also should be

participated and controlled by the central system. But problem comes if the private sector disagrees

to be participated with the government policies.

3. Public passengers' resistance for the re-engineering process:-

At the beginning passengers will not understand the benefits which can be gain from the re-engineered process. As a result of that general public, especially the old generation will see the re-

engineering process as a wasteful investment. This can be generate a negative feedback to the

government in the process of making the decision to re-engineering.

4. Initial testing steps of the re-engineered process can disrupts the regular system ofservice:-

Process of re-engineering needs more testing phases. Testing phases should be done at the

place when it comes to a expected level. As this system is highly complex many errors can be

happened which can disrupt the regular process in the service. That may be a reason to be

developed objection from the public.

5. Changes in political policies:-

This kind of processes are long time re-engineering processes which would take number of

years to complete the whole process. During that time period, changes of national transportation

policies can make a great affection on the process. If a new policy is created which negatively affect

to the re-engineering process can eliminate the project.


18/18

18

Documents

National Transportation