It’s no secret that getting around Colombo is hectic! The number of vehicles that whizz through our roads are steadily increasing – soon we would have to Jetson’s our way over the streets just to get to our end destination on time.
1.9 million people enter Colombo every day, our roads are so flooded that our average vehicular speed has dropped to 8 kmph!
And this is just the beginning of the list of daily struggles each one of us face.
Apparently, if Colombo is to accommodate the growing number of vehicles on its roads, the road network would have to be increased by three-fold by 2030. I highly doubt that we can make 45% of Colombo, road.
Luckily for us future project like the LRT will revolutionize the way we move in and out of Colombo. A trip from Malabe to Fort which would normally take an hour will be a mere 20 minutes. Say goodbye to to those painful hours being stuck in your car.
Furthermore with the advancement of smartphones, ride hailing apps have decreased the necessity of needing a car to travel around Colombo.
At least we can always count on these guys to criss-cross and take us where we want to go. 5 years ago, I used to have to stand on the road for a good while, negotiating prices with them and getting rejected so many times. Now with PickMe and Uber, life has got so much easier!
We interviewed a ride hailing driver and asked him a few questions.
How has PickMe and Uber changed your tuktuk experience?
Driver: it’s much easier to find and pick passengers, we can work on our own schedule, do it part-time after work and on the way home to get some extra cash
Ride hailing initiatives like PickMe have grown by 250% in one year! Do we even need car park spaces anymore?
The future of transport is connected to the future of convenience. Our convenience.
So, are you ready for what happens next? Colombo is.