Importance of emphasis on fuel efficiency of SLTB: An avenue to support organisational profitability

Abstract

Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), the foremost public bus transport provider in Sri Lanka, recorded "financial surplus" in 2017, a rare occurrence for the persistently loss-making organisation. Fathoming the roots of this apparent performance turn-around, one of the most important cost components, namely fuel expenditure, its constituents and their trends over the period from 2009-2017, was subjected to detailed examination. The study used depot-based and region-based data published by the SLTB and deployed analytical techniques such as graphical method and trend analysis. The study outcomes revealed that the surplus recorded in 2017 could in no way be attributable to any gain in fuel efficiency (number of bus kilometers operated per litre of fuel consumed) in that year over the preceding years.