Sri Lanka bus routes and fares

How do long-distance buses work in Sri Lanka?

Quick answer: Most buses in Sri Lanka are privately owned, but the fares are set by the government. The National Transport Commission (NTC) list effective 6 July 2026 puts Colombo to Kandy at Rs 521, Colombo to Galle at Rs 496 and Colombo to Jaffna at Rs 1,701 on a normal bus. AC (luxury) buses cost about twice as much on the routes we checked, and semi-luxury is set at 1.5 times the normal fare. The state-owned SLTB runs on the same fare lists. The new Colombo Metro buses are a separate city service, and we could not find a published Metro fare table. You get your ticket from the conductor, so carry small notes.

Which buses are private, SLTB and Metro?

Three kinds of operator run buses you can ride. They are not the same, so it helps to know which is which.

Private buses are the large majority. The Deputy Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development told Parliament that 19,646 private buses are operating (Parliament news item, 13 October 2026). The same item says the NTC regulates private buses that cross provincial borders, and nine provincial authorities regulate buses that stay inside one province.

SLTB is the state bus operator. A Sunday Times report on a parliamentary committee hearing said SLTB has a fleet of 7,130 buses, with about 5,016 in operation. The rest were off the road for repairs or because of a shortage of drivers and conductors. SLTB's own Bus Fees page publishes the same NTC July 2026 fare PDFs, so SLTB buses charge the same fares as private buses on the same route and service type.

Metro is the newest. Lanka Metro Transit was set up in October 2025. The Sunday Times reported that SLTB holds 60% of it and the Treasury the rest. See the Metro section below.

What share is private? We found no official percentage. If you add the Deputy Minister's private figure to the SLTB and Metro numbers above, private buses are roughly three quarters of all buses, or about four fifths of the buses actually running. That is our own calculation from figures with different dates and sources, so treat it as a rough guide. The NTC statistics also say government policy is for 60% of scheduled bus trips to be run by the private sector and 40% by the public sector (National Transport Statistics 2024). Most of the buses you flag down will be private.

What bus types and fare classes are there?

The NTC fare page for 6 July 2026 is labelled "Interim Bus Fare Revision" and lists these service types:

• Normal: the standard fare. Every route on the list has one.
• Semi-luxury: where offered. The NTC set semi-luxury at 1.5 times the revised normal fare while a court case about semi-luxury fares is pending, according to an Ada Derana report of the NTC notice (3 July 2026). On every route we checked with a semi-luxury fare, the ratio is 1.5.
• Luxury (AC): air-conditioned. The English route list calls this column "AC". On the routes we checked, the AC fare is between 1.9 and 2 times the normal fare. That ratio is our calculation from the NTC table.
• Expressway: a separate fare list for buses that use the expressways.
• Sisu Seriya: the school service. The NTC says students over 12 pay 50% of the adult fare and students under 12 pay 25%. It is for uniformed school children and teachers, not tourists.

Fare stages. The first two stages on the NTC stage tables for 6 July 2026 are Rs 34 and Rs 44 for normal buses, Rs 51 and Rs 66 for semi-luxury, and Rs 66 and Rs 86 for luxury. Fares rise stage by stage, and the full-route fares below are for travelling from one end of the route to the other.

What changed in July 2026. The Ada Derana report says the Cabinet approved the revision on 30 June 2026 and the NTC announced it on 3 July, effective from midnight on 6 July. It says normal buses on routes under 100 km rose 12%, normal buses on routes of 100 km or more rose 20%, luxury buses under 100 km rose 12%, and luxury buses of 100 km or more rose 15%. That report also says super-luxury expressway buses and normal highway buses now use the revised luxury fare structure. We did not find the NTC notice itself, so these percentages come from the news report. We also found no Gazette notice. Our numbers below come straight from the NTC PDFs.

Super luxury and intercity. "Super luxury" was a separate class in the NTC's 2023 statistics, which counted 178 private super-luxury buses among about 3,150 private inter-provincial buses (178 super luxury, 431 semi-luxury, 1,985 normal and 557 luxury, as at 31 December 2023). SLTB still lists super-luxury fare PDFs, but under "Previous Fares", dated 2025. We found no super-luxury table in the July 2026 lists. We did not see "intercity" used as a fare class on the NTC lists. The NTC says "inter-provincial" for buses that cross provincial borders. We found no new AC class on the 2026 NTC lists, and the Metro buses are not on those lists.

Old fare files. SLTB also keeps the March 2026 interim table and the July 2025 tables online as "Previous Fares". Do not use them. Some old NTC links no longer work.

How much are the main bus routes from Colombo?

Fares from the NTC inter-provincial full-route list effective 6 July 2026. "None" means the list shows no fare for that service on that route. We checked each figure against the NTC PDF on 26 October 2026, using row positions and page images, because the PDF text mixes up rows.

These are the same fares whether the bus is private or SLTB, as long as it runs that route and service type. For the east coast, route 98 Colombo to Akkaraipattu is Rs 1,621 normal. Route 98-4 Colombo to Pottuvil is Rs 1,450 normal and Rs 2,175 semi-luxury, and route 4/86-10 Kalpitiya to Pottuvil is Rs 1,765 normal and Rs 2,648 semi-luxury. Pottuvil is the town beside Arugam Bay. The list does not name Arugam Bay, and it has no Pottuvil to Ella row. Our Arugam Bay to Ella guide covers the last leg.

How much are expressway buses?

Expressway buses use the expressways for most of the trip. They cost more but skip the slow coast and town roads. Fares from the NTC expressway list effective 6 July 2026:

Several routes start at Makumbura, on the edge of Colombo, rather than in the city centre. Compare the Colombo to Matara expressway bus (Rs 1,320) with route 2 on the normal road (Rs 681). You pay close to twice as much for a faster trip. The NTC also publishes a longer expressway fare table (38 pages in the PDF), so check the route number on the bus.

What are the new Metro buses in Colombo?

Metro is a city bus service run by Lanka Metro Transit (LMT), a state-owned company. It is not the same as the old private buses or the SLTB buses on the routes above. What we could confirm:

• Launch. A pilot with 10 buses began on 21 April 2026 on Makumbura to Kadawatha and Makumbura to Pettah, according to the Sunday Times. The Daily Mirror reported that 112 new buses were deployed on 29 September 2026 at the Thalangama Metro Bus Depot, 104 bought by Sri Lanka and eight given by Japan.
• Fleet. The Sunday Times of 4 October 2026 said 122 Metro buses were operating on seven routes, which is the 112 new buses plus about 10 on the two earlier routes (our subtraction). The Daily Mirror gave the 112 figure only, so you will see both numbers. They do not conflict.
• Buses. Low-floor, air-conditioned, and accessible for wheelchair users, according to the Sunday Times and the Lanka Metro Transit website.

Route names and lengths are from the Sunday Times (9 August 2026). The Daily Mirror gives the total as about 188.7 km, which matches. LMT's own website did not list route fares or a route table that we could open, so route numbers, timetables and live bus positions are in the LMT GO app.

Metro fares are not published that we could find. LMT's site says it uses stage fares, and its FAQ says it accepts cash, LMT smart cards, mobile QR tickets and LMT GO wallet payments. Its home page also promotes cashless tap and go ticketing, so carry a little cash and a card or the app. We did not find a fare table, so we cannot give a price. In August the Daily Mirror reported a Metro Weekend Pass of Rs 799 for unlimited rides from Saturday 12:00 am to Sunday 11:59 pm, sold only in the LMT GO app, with children under 12 free. We could not confirm it is still on sale.

What is coming. The minister said another 50 buses are expected before the next Sinhala and Hindu New Year, for inter-city services to Jaffna, Kandy and Galle. That is a plan, not a timetable. For now, Metro is a Colombo service, so do not plan a Kandy or Galle trip on it. There is also an unofficial site, metrobus.lk, with its own route list. We did not use it, because it is not run by LMT.

Can I take a bus from Colombo airport?

Yes. The Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) website lists two air-conditioned airport buses:

• Route 187, Airport to Colombo Fort: runs 24 hours a day, takes about 50 minutes, and costs Rs 325 per passenger. Board at the Departure Terminal Outer Porch. Baggage over 23 kg costs an extra Rs 325.
• Airport to Makumbura Multimodal Center: about 50 minutes, Rs 410 per passenger, boarding at the Arrival Outer Porch, opposite the Buddha statue. Baggage over 23 kg costs an extra Rs 410. From Makumbura you can join the expressway buses above.

The NTC list also includes:

• Route 5/245 Katunayake to Kurunegala: Rs 331. This is the usual first leg for the Cultural Triangle by bus. Our Colombo airport to Sigiriya guide explains the change at Kurunegala.
• Route 2/187 Matara to Katunayake: Rs 810, along the south coast.
• Route 1/245 Negombo to Kandy: Rs 513 (AC Rs 1,002). Negombo is close to the airport. See our Colombo airport to Kandy guide.

The NTC list does not show a direct airport to Kandy route. Our airport arrival guide covers your other options after landing.

Which bus routes are useful between tourist areas?

Fares from the same NTC full-route list.

For Ella, both routes 21 and 31-2 run to Badulla. The NTC list shows only the two end points, so ask the conductor whether the bus stops at Ella and where to get off. Our south coast to Ella guide covers that trip in detail.

How do I catch a long-distance bus?

1. Find the right stand. In Colombo, ask your hotel which stand serves your route. Some expressway routes in the NTC list start at Makumbura instead.
2. Look for the route number. It is on the front of the bus and matches the NTC list.
3. Pay on board. The conductor sells tickets. The NTC passenger rights page (in Sinhala) says you have the right to a proper ticket that shows the bus number, and that the approved fare table and timetable must be displayed on the bus.
4. Ask for your stop. The NTC list shows only end points. Tell the conductor where you want to get off.
5. Know your seat rights. The same NTC page says non-ordinary services should carry only seated passengers, and luxury buses should have enough air conditioning. These are translations by us, so ask a Sinhala speaker if a dispute is serious.
6. Overcharged? The NTC said operators charging more than the approved fares face legal action, and asked passengers to complain on hotline 1955 or WhatsApp 071 259 5555 (Ada Derana report of the NTC notice, 3 July 2026).

Booking a seat online. SLTB says it sells seats for regular route services at sltb.lk/seatBook, with seat selection and e-tickets, and the booking site sltb.eseat.lk lists a 24 hour hotline, 1315. We did not make a booking or test payment, so we cannot say which routes you can book. The NTC fares page also links to an online reservation site, which did not load for us on 26 October 2026.

Bus times. There is no single official timetable for ordinary routes. The NTC timetable page links three public Google Drive folders: expressway timetables, normal-way timetables and time cards for bus operators. When we opened them on 26 October 2026, the expressway folder held 13 PDFs, and most of the normal-way subfolders showed a last change in October 2023, apart from a Puttalam corridor folder from August 2025. The individual PDF links listed on the NTC page itself returned a "not found" error. Treat any timetable you find as a guide, and ask at the bus stand for the next departure.

How are fares set?

The NTC sets fares by stage. The route tables in its normal fare list effective 6 July 2026 start at Rs 34 for the first stage (Rs 44 for the second) and rise with each stage after that. Separate tables cover semi-luxury, AC (luxury) and Sisu Seriya services. That is why a short hop costs a few dozen rupees and a cross-country trip costs over Rs 1,000. The Ada Derana report says the 2026 revision is an interim step until a national transport fares policy is formulated. Before a long trip, check the date on the NTC fare list.

Bus or train?

Trains and buses serve many of the same towns. We cannot compare them today because the Sri Lanka Railways website did not load on 26 October 2026. Train fares we checked on earlier dates are in our train booking and prices guide and Colombo to Galle train guide. If a train you planned is not running, the bus routes above are the usual backup.

For a bigger picture of trains, buses and drivers, see getting around Sri Lanka. Planning a whole trip on public transport? Our 10-day solo itinerary is built on buses and trains, and the budget travel guide and trip cost guide show how bus fares fit into a daily budget.