Can Sri Lanka Stop Losing Millions From Bus Fares Every Day?

Can Sri Lanka Stop Losing Millions From Bus Fares Every Day?

A simple idea to make SLTB revenue, buses and passenger payments easier to track

On 22 July 2026, Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake told Parliament that the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) was losing approximately Rs. 20 million every day because of ticket-revenue fraud by some employees.

Think about that number.

The Rs. 7.3 billion figure is simply the daily estimate multiplied by 365. It should not be treated as an independently audited annual loss.

But even if the real loss is lower, the question is important:

Can Sri Lanka make every bus fare easier to track from the passenger to the SLTB?

Where Is the Weakness?

Today, a passenger can enter an SLTB bus, pay cash and receive a ticket.

Electronic Ticket Machines have already improved this process.

But the actual money can still be cash.

That leaves an important gap.

Consider a passenger travelling only a few stops. They enter at Stop A and leave at Stop C.

What happens if the fare is collected only shortly before that passenger gets off?

An inspector would have to be on that particular bus during that short journey to observe what happened. There may be many short-distance passengers during a single trip.

This does not prove that conductors generally misuse this situation. It identifies a weakness that should be tested through proper field research:

Physical inspections can only check a bus at a particular place and time. They cannot continuously verify every passenger transaction.

We Already Have Evidence That Better Controls Are Needed

This concern is not based only on observation.

The Auditor General reported that 19,950 passenger ticket books had been printed without serial numbers in 2017, weakening the ability to track tickets properly.

Historical SLTB reports have also recorded ticketing irregularities and passenger fare evasion.

More recent Auditor General findings identified major accounting issues involving SLTB waybill and special-travel revenue.

These findings should not automatically be called theft.

But together they raise a simple question:

Why should billions of rupees in public-transport revenue depend so heavily on cash handling and later reconciliation when every transaction could potentially be digitally recorded?

What If Paying for a Bus Became as Simple as Reloading a Phone?

A future system does not have to force every Sri Lankan to own a smartphone or bank card.

Imagine a simple transport wallet.

A passenger could have several ways to access the same wallet:

• Mobile App
• Transit Card
• QR
• Bank Card
• Potentially NIC/e-NIC integration, if future government identity infrastructure, privacy rules and security requirements allow it.

The passenger simply keeps money in the transport wallet.

No cash needs to change hands inside the bus.

But What About Someone Who Doesn’t Know How to Use a Smartphone?

This is one of the most important questions.

“My grandmother doesn’t use a smartphone. How will she recharge?”

She should not need one.

She could take her transit card to an authorized physical location, pay cash and ask:

“Please add Rs. 1,000 to this card.”

The agent collects Rs. 1,000. The digital wallet receives Rs. 1,000. Done.

Potential existing locations could be studied instead of immediately constructing thousands of new top-up centres:

• Post offices
• Banks
• SLTB depots
• Pradeshiya Sabha or other suitable government service points
• Authorized shops or agents

The exact network would need agreements and feasibility studies, but the principle is simple:

Keep cash available for recharging, but reduce cash handling inside the bus.

“What If I Know How to Use a Phone?”

Even easier.

Open the app, choose Rs. 500 / Rs. 1,000 / Rs. 2,000, pay through a supported banking/payment method, and the balance is updated.

Then use the phone, QR, transit card or another linked payment method when travelling.

“What If I Don’t Have a Bank Account?”

Use cash at an authorized recharge point.

“What If I Don’t Own a Smartphone?”

Use a physical transit card.

“What About Schoolchildren?”

A student/concession account or card could be provided.

“What About Tourists?”

Allow supported bank cards, QR or temporary transit cards.

“What Happens Where There Is No Internet?”

The bus device should be able to securely record permitted transactions offline and synchronize them when connectivity returns.

One system should not force every passenger into the same technology.

The Bus Itself Should Become Trackable Too

The fare system could solve more than a revenue problem.

Each SLTB bus could have a small GPS-capable device integrated with or connected to its fare terminal.

Then the system knows:

• Bus ID
• Route
• Location
• Speed
• Time
• Stops
• Fare transactions

This creates an operational record of the journey.

Could It Help Reduce Speeding?

Potentially, yes.

If a bus repeatedly exceeds a defined speed threshold, the system can record:

Authorities could review repeated or serious events.

The system should not automatically punish a driver based on one GPS reading. GPS errors and legitimate situations need to be considered.

But repeated patterns provide much better evidence than having no continuous record at all.

What About Buses Racing Each Other?

Passengers regularly complain about unsafe competition between buses.

GPS data could help identify patterns such as unusual acceleration, excessive speeds and buses repeatedly competing closely along the same route.

Not: Computer says guilty → automatic punishment.

What If an SLTB Bus Doesn’t Stop Where It Should?

The approved route and bus stops could be mapped.

If a bus repeatedly passes required stops without stopping, the system can flag the pattern.

There can be legitimate reasons why a bus does not stop, so human review remains important.

But at least there is data.

Now Connect the Two Sides

This is where the idea becomes much more useful.

Instead of having separate information about tickets, revenue and bus movement, one journey could produce:

• Bus ID
• GPS route
• Speed
• Stops
• Passenger transactions
• Revenue

Now SLTB management could potentially ask:

• How many fares were recorded on this journey?
• Where were those transactions made?
• How much revenue did the bus generate?
• Did it complete the assigned route?
• Did it stop at the expected locations?
• Was it repeatedly speeding?
• Were there unusual transaction patterns?

This is not simply a payment system.

It becomes an accountability system for the bus journey itself.

A Lower-Cost Way to Start: Don’t Replace Everything

Before putting a large price on this idea, there is a much simpler question:

Do we actually need to replace every ticket machine and change every passenger at once?

Probably not.

Sri Lanka already has Electronic Ticket Machines, existing SLTB infrastructure and passengers who already use season tickets.

So instead of replacing the entire system, the first stage could build on what already exists.

Start With Season-Ticket Passengers

Season-ticket passengers are an ideal group for the first trial because they already pay for repeated travel.

Instead of changing the system for everyone, introduce a simple digital season card for them first.

The process could be:

Everyone else continues using the existing ticket system.

Nothing needs to be removed immediately.

This gives SLTB a controlled way to test whether digital passenger records actually work before expanding them to the general public.

If successful, the system could gradually expand:

This is much safer than trying to convert the whole country at once.

Do We Even Need a New Machine?

This should be investigated before purchasing anything.

The Ministry of Transport says 3,800 Electronic Ticket Machines were purchased for Rs.115.01 million.

That historically works out to approximately:

Rs.115.01 million ÷ 3,800 ≈ Rs.30,266 per ETM

This is not today’s price and it is not a quotation for the system proposed here.

But it gives us something much better than simply assuming that a new device must cost Rs.75,000, Rs.100,000 or Rs.150,000.

The first technical study should ask:

Can the machines and infrastructure SLTB already owns be upgraded instead of replaced?

There could be three possibilities.

Option A — Upgrade the existing ETM

Add only the functions that are missing, where technically possible:

Option B — Add a small companion device

Keep the current ETM and install a small separate device for:

Option C — Replace the ETM

Only where existing machines cannot technically support the required system should a complete new terminal be considered.

That means replacement becomes the last option, not the first option.

Start With 50 Buses, Not 4,581

Our research indicates that approximately 4,581 SLTB buses were operating daily in 2024.

There is no reason to equip all of them before knowing whether the idea works.

50 buses + selected season-ticket passengers

Choose different operating conditions:

• Urban
• Rural
• Short-distance
• Long-distance

The existing fare system continues operating alongside the pilot.

Then measure:

• How many season passengers used the card?
• Did every tap create a correct journey record?
• Did it work without internet?
• Did GPS work reliably?
• Could existing ETMs be upgraded?
• How much did each bus actually cost to equip?
• How much did the system cost to operate each month?
• Did passenger/revenue records improve?

Only after obtaining those answers should anyone calculate the cost of installing the system on thousands of buses.

Get Real Quotations Before Publishing a National Price

Instead of estimating a nationwide cost, ask qualified suppliers to quote three configurations:

1. Upgrade existing ETM
2. Add a low-cost companion device
3. Supply a complete replacement terminal

The quotation should separately show:

• Hardware
• GPS
• NFC/card reader
• SIM/connectivity
• Installation
• Software
• Server/platform
• Cards
• Maintenance
• Support
• Training

Then government can compare the total cost, not simply the purchase price of one machine.

This would give us a defensible cost per bus based on real market quotations.

Government May Not Need to Pay Everything Upfront

There is another major advantage.

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Transport has already issued an RFP for a national Electronic Fare Collection System (EFCS) under a Build, Own and Operate (BOO) model.

Under the published model, the selected provider is expected to:

• Design
• Build
• Finance
• Operate
• Maintain

The published project period is eight years.

This means a future system does not necessarily require the Government to purchase every piece of technology upfront.

A suitable financing and operating model could spread the cost over the life of the system.

And This Doesn’t Replace the Revenue Argument

The Transport Minister’s reported estimate of approximately Rs.20 million per day in ticket-revenue fraud still gives us a reason to investigate the idea.

But we should not say:

“Spend Rs. X and recover Rs.20 million tomorrow.”

We don’t know that.

Instead, the pilot should measure the actual recovery.

Start Small, Prove It, Then Expand

Sri Lanka does not need to throw away its existing ticketing system and start again.

Use what already exists. Start with passengers who already use season tickets. Test the technology on a small number of buses. Measure the results. Then invest only where the evidence shows that it works.

That could make the transition cheaper, safer and much easier for both passengers and the Government.

The Real Goal

This should not be presented as:

“Conductors are stealing, so replace them with technology.”

That would be unfair and would immediately create resistance.

The better objective is:

Give passengers easier payments, give honest employees better protection, give SLTB better revenue control and give the Government better information.

The technology should make the entire journey easier to verify.

Passenger side

Revenue side

Operations side

Management side

One Simple Question

If Sri Lanka may be losing around Rs. 20 million per day from ticket-revenue fraud according to the Transport Minister’s July 2026 statement, should we continue depending mainly on cash, ticket checks and occasional inspections?

Or should every SLTB journey eventually create a reliable digital record of:

where the bus went, how it was driven, how many fares were recorded and how much revenue was generated?

We do not need to build everything tomorrow.

We need to research it, build a small prototype, run a controlled pilot, measure the results and then decide whether nationwide implementation makes financial sense.

Even recovering a small percentage of currently lost revenue could potentially generate substantial value for the SLTB.

And if the same infrastructure can also improve route monitoring, passenger convenience and road safety, the benefit could go far beyond ticket collection.

Sources and Research Note

The latest Rs. 20 million-per-day figure comes from Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake’s statement to Parliament on 22 July 2026, as reported by The Morning on 23 July 2026. It is treated here as a government minister’s estimate, not an independently audited daily-loss calculation.

Other evidence used in this research includes reports from the Auditor General’s Department, Sri Lanka Transport Board, National Transport Commission, Parliament of Sri Lanka and Ministry of Transport.

The Ministry’s 2024 Electronic Fare Collection System procurement documents also confirm that Sri Lanka is already pursuing a cashless public-transport fare system under a Build, Own and Operate model.

All investment and revenue-recovery calculations in this article are illustrative scenarios, not quotations, budgets or guaranteed savings. A real proposal would require supplier quotations, technical design, field research and a controlled pilot before making financial claims.

Written by Mohamad Husni
Founder & CEO, Mistravora

This article is part of an independent Mistravora research initiative exploring practical technology solutions for improving transparency, efficiency and safety in Sri Lanka’s public transportation system.