Epic Bus Journey: From London to Colombo – 66 years ago.

We bring you story of the epic Bus Journey from London to Colombo that commenced 66 years ago.

It was the time when the British Ruled Sri Lanka. They ruled the island nation for a period of nearly 115 years.

Colombo port was the central entry point for the country, with hundreds of thousands of British citizens checking in and out of the country. When some visited their home country, some young men arrived in Sri Lanka to work as civil servants, planters, and in many more professions. Some came for trade etc.

Even though British rule ended in 1948, it took at least two decades for Sri Lanka to completely come out of the British influence. Still there remains some.

It is in this backdrop, in 1959, that the Dover-Colombo Intercity Bus Service commenced.

The service, which was initiated by England’s Penn Overland Tours Company, was regarded as the ‘second’ longest bus route in the world.

Its route was Colombo via Dover – Dunkirk – Paris – Venice – Istanbul – Tehran – Kabul – Lahore – Delhi – Rameswaram

In total 42 days of travel time and 20,000 km of distance.

It had a 4-member crew and 10 passengers included in one journey, while a person was charged £78 (Rs. 31,750) for the journey.

That charge in today’s context would be around £2300 (Rs. 936,000) in today’s terms.

Food and beverages were prepared inside the bus, and it had beds, electric fans, and heaters for the passengers’ comfort.

The bus used a ferry to reach Dunkirk in France from Dover Port in England, and then up to Rameswaram Port in India, it was all land travel via Paris, Italy, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India to Rameswaram Port.

From there onwards the bus is loaded on a ship and brought to Colombo.

There is no record as to when this bus service came to a halt.