A hotline has been introduced to receive public complaints of private buses which play excessively loud music in a manner that inconvenience the passengers.

The government decided to put a stop to the playing of loud music inside private passenger buses, starting from January 01, 2020.

The public is encouraged to use the hotline of the National Transport Commission (NTC) 1955 to lodge complaints against loud music played in private buses.

This would, in turn, enable the NTC to take legal action against the relevant bus drivers and conductors.

The hotline 1955 is also open for complaints other than loud music, such as private or SLTB buses traveling in a lethargic, unruly or illegal manner, and conductors behaving in a way that is offensive to the passengers.

Minister of Transport Management, Power and Energy Mahinda Amaraweera directed the NTC to issue another telephone number apart from the 1955 hotline for public complaints.

Meanwhile, the Ministry has taken steps to introduce a collection of 1000 songs that passengers can enjoy with ease and to introduce videos with important messages to passengers, from January 01, 2020.

The songs selected under the supervision of a panel of experts will be distributed to bus drivers at the Makumbura Multi-Modal Transport Hub at 10 am tomorrow (31) by Minister Amaraweera.

Only these selected songs can be played on buses after January 1, however, at a volume that is not offensive to the passengers.