Meter trishaws, a boon for travellers

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

It was on a sultry afternoon we set out from our work place last week to attend to some work in the Fort area. As we stood out on the road side, a trishaw, pulled along-side and we hopped in and told the driver our destination. The trishaw had a name-board fixed above the windscreen which read as Highway Meter Taxi.

Anton Fernando

It was a trishaw with a difference, a metered trishaw, the newest trishaws to hit the street of Colombo. They are so ubiquitous and can be spotted anywhere in the metropolis.

The driver said the trishaws can be summoned by simply dialling a telephone number. Most trishaw companies today have issued leaflets regarding the availability of taxis at the doorstep of the clients.

The trishaws and four wheeler taxi cars can take clients anywhere they prefer, be it a short distance or to a distant place where they prefer to travel.

When we got into the trishaw what caught our eye was the taxi meter conspicuously displayed which hung above the driver's seat.

The metre not only displayed the fare, but the mileage as well, that gives the client a notion that they are not being cheated by the chauffeurs. As we boarded the trishaw the driver switched on the metre which indicated a fare of Rs. 50 for the first kilometre. As we proceeded along every 100 metres registered a fare of Rs. 3 for the journey. Finally when we alighted from the trishaw at our destination we had to pocket out a lesser amount than travelling in a conventional trishaw. Chauffeur Anton Fernando said the public response for metred taxis was good as the price was reasonable.

A young entrepreneur H.M.A. Vindana Perera is the owner of the Highway Meter Taxi Company which he floated just two months ago. He called over at our office to explain how the Meter trishaws operate. " I started with two trishaws and now own seven metered trishaws that operate mainly in Kotahena and in the Kollupitiya area. But I intend to expand the fleet to 15 trishaws to cover the entire metropolis in the near future." he said.

The impetus to start a metered trishaw service occurred to him almost three years ago while being employed in a mercantile firm in Colombo. He is a marketeer by profession and his job involved in travelling to various places to promote business. "I used to travel in metered trishaws, a few years back to attend to my work. It was the newest mode of transport in Colombo a few years back.

I gained sufficient knowledge and experience and an insight on how these Meter trishaws operate. "The metered taxis were known earlier as Fair Taxis and Budget Taxis. They were cars that operated in the Colombo city a few years back. The meter concept for taxis were revived after several decades by these two companies", he said.

Following an indepth study of the trishaw business Vindana Perera ventured out to start his own trishaw business in Colombo. He soon learned up the ropes and launched his first metred trishaw service in Kotahena area. "I came to know that there weren't very many metered trishaws in the Kotahena area. So I began advertising in a Tamil newspaper by publishing 5000 leaflets about trishaws in Kotahena.

I was able to build up a clientele soon, and people began inquiring about my metered trishaws. My idea was to attract the Tamil speaking community who lived in Kotahena, who often travelled to Wellawatte and Wattala."

He said the magic worked and the response was overwhelming. Thereafter he started advertising in several newspapers about the metred trishaws. "I printed 20,000 leaflets both in Sinhalese and English which were distributed along with the newspapers.

He said he intends to extend the service to Bambalapitiya and Wellawatte areas in the near future. Soon people from outstations such as Matara and Galle began inquiring from me whether I could start a meter trishaw service in their areas." However there is a tough competition among metred trishaws and metered cars that operate in the Colombo city.

Figures indicate that there are 65 meter trishaws that operate in the city.

Perera says that he manages his own business for the time being but has future plans to set up a call-centre with staff who are conversant in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages. "We gain the confidence of customers when we talk to them in their language." He remembers his first long hire was to Hatton.

Thereafter he has had several hires to the Katunayake airport and elsewhere. "I also remember a customer who arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) last month who called me and requested for a metred trishaw. I immediately despatched a trishaw to pick him up.

I have informed my chauffeurs to be courteous to the customers and greet them whenever they board or alight from the trishaws. "People don't get cheated travelling in meter taxis like in normal trishaws where chauffeurs demand more money at the journey's end," he said.Vindana Perera who has been in the marketing field for more than 10 years experience says that he had built up a customer base throughout the years that helped him to go ahead in the new venture.

"I want to offer special packages to those in the corporate sector." Vindana's wife is a flower designer who manages her own business.