This weekend just gone we caught a bus to get us between Colombo and Negombo. I thought I'd write up my experiences in using the bus service in Sri Lanka as it may be a useful reference for other foreign travellers.
There are a number of bus stations in Colombo and we relied on one of the Bajaj drivers my wife uses regularly to get us to the right one. We opted to use a private, A/C bus (there are also public non A/C buses available and I hope to write a review of using these too). The bus station we used was in Pettah and was a fairly chaotic affair. You do need to be careful where you are walking as the bus station is merely a huge area of dirt with buses coming from all angles. However, the drivers are driving at sensible speeds within the confines of the station.
Not all buses have English signs on but we managed to find one clearly marked with a Negombo-Colombo sign on it (number 240). The conductor pointed us to another bus also maked with 240 and the conductor on this one ushered us on when we simply asked Negombo? The bus was similar to a mini bus in the UK. It has double seats running down the driver's side and single seats running down the passenger side. Around half a dozen people were already on the bus and so we managed to get a double seat.
The buses appear to work on the principal that they wait until all the seats have been taken before setting off. We had a 15 minute wait, during which time a hawker came on board selling CDs & a device that aided blowing up balloons! At around 12:10 we departed. One thing worth noting is that the bus we used has seats that pulled down into the aisle so the aisle area was fully utilised during the journey. Standing room was only available immediately where the door was located. When someone got off everyone in the aisle shifted one seat back, the person in the aisle closest to the vacated seat taking it. We picked up a handful of people after we left the bus station.
The A/C was pretty good and kept the temperature to an acceptable level. Singhalese music was playing quite loudly, but not too loudly to talk over for the journey. All the windows had curtains on so you could easily pull these to and get some sleep on the journey.
The conductor asked for the money and distributed the tickets about 05-10 minutes after the journey had started. The people sitting in the aisle seats seemed to take it for granted they were responsible for passing the money down to the conductor and the tickets and change back up. It cost us 37 rupees (around £0.20) each for the fare to Negombo.
Luggage space is pretty limited. There was an overhead luggage rack on the way there (but none on the way back) so you are limited to what you can fit on your knee or under the seat. We simply took two small rucksacks which was about the limited you could easily carry. One way my wife has found to get around this is simply to put you luggage on a seat and pay for two seats.
The journey took around an hour and we were dropped off right outside the bus station, which is pretty much at the center of Negombo. The bus back was caught at the same place, just the opposite side of the road.
Note that the main hotel area in Negombo starts a km or so north of the town centre so you'll have additional walking to do or get a Bajaj (there are plenty around).