The Pathfinder Foundation presents White Paper on ‘Digitalization of the National Transit System’

The Pathfinder Foundation together with its strategic partner Visas International presented a White Paper on ‘Digitalization of the National Transit System’ to Minister of Transport Pavithra Wanniarachchi, at the Ministry of Transport earlier this week.

The study, led by Rajendra Theagarajah, Senior Visiting Fellow of Pathfinder Foundation and Sheran Fernando, Mobility Specialist, suggests that through digitization, efficient resource optimization can reduce congestion in cities and reduce carbon emission from transport.

The White Paper analyzes transit from the viewpoint of all stakeholders and aligns recommendations to benefit them. The public can enjoy more efficient commutes, with shorter travel times and multi modal door-to-door solutions. The business community can enjoy enhanced competitiveness through more cost-effective transit. From the perspective of the Government, digitization can deliver a better quality of service more cost effectively.

Furthermore, as digitization optimizes the efficiency of the resource pool that is presently in use, high capital expenditure on expensive infrastructure upgrades could be postponed and digitization can enhance the collection of transit revenues.

During the research for the white paper consultations with key stakeholders including: the National Transport commission, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Card Payment Operators Association of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Lanka Clear, were carried out.

This Pathfinder study on National Transit is aligned to a broader economic vision that was presented by the Foundation to the Government of Sri Lanka in July under the title “Beyond the Box: A New Economic Vision for Post Covid-19 Sri Lanka.”

In August 2021 the Pathfinder Foundation in collaboration with Visa also handed over a Report on ‘Connecting Micro & SME Sectors to Contribute towards Economic Prosperity: In a Digital Savvy,  Post—COVID-19 Sri Lanka’ to Finance Minister, . Basil Rajapaksa.