Getting To The Airport. Ain’t Easy
The airport is kinda a black hole transportation wise. There’s no public transport and you have to take cabs at exorbitant rates. Well, there’s almost no public transport. They started and then discontinued a train service, and there is a bus which gets you vaguely there. Savan braved the trip for YAMU and made his flight to tell the tale.
Anyone who has made it past the first row of waiting family members, the second row of predatory tour companies and the final phalanx of hustling van and tuk drivers will have noticed a grimy, blue prison-like bus perpetually parked at the far end of the collection point.
With its barred windows and prominent rust patches I’ve always assumed that this was a conveyance for unfortunate airport workers or maybe some antiquate lepers’ transport as those using it seemed to be both generally ashamed and shunned by others on the platform. On a recent trip to the airport however I discovered that the vehicle in question was in fact the airport bus. (The Mythical Airport Bus)
His telling of the tale is actually hilarious, you should read the whole thing. Long story short, you can take the 187 bus (a normal commuter bus) which vaguely passes within a 20 minutes walk of the airport, or a Rs. 150 trishaw ride. It’s basically not intended as a airport service at all, but it does sorta vaguely work. Just not well.
Why is airport transport so messed up? This is partly because some political mafia controls cabs out of the airport, ie, the cab that drops you off can’t really pick someone else up. So you get fleeced at both ends. A trip costs at least Rs. 2,500 you can end up paying 5 Gs just getting to your flight. And right now, you can get a one way flight to Singapore for Rs. 7,500, so it’s seems wrong.
It’s also because the Negombo Road is one of the craziest in Sri Lanka, combining both an airport express and people’s front yards. I’ve gone to the airport in a trishaw, which is cheap, but it felt very, very dangerous. On the plus side the Katunayake Expressway should be functional next year and one can, perhaps vainly, hope that the put an airport bus on there.
Not to quote Ice Cube, but the Sri Lankan police are hardly beloved. A 
I just gave a talk at the University Of Sri Jayawardenapura along with Reeza Zarook of Anything.lk and Rohan Jayaweera of Google. These are my notes: Devin Jayasundara asked me for a subject for this talk and I told him Internet property. But I talked to my fiancé Shru and she had a better idea. Startups aren’t about creating property at all, not really. They’re about creating territory, about creating land.
I haven’t been blogging much, I know. It’s partly because we’ve been doing a lot of work on YAMU, especially shipping 1.0.1 of the Android app today. It’s on the 
I met an old-timer who said they used to drop acid and sleep atop Sigiriya, but the place has taken on a more commercial and quasi-spiritual role now. It was built by a king as a sort of retreat and used as a monastery. Now it’s a prime tourist and cultural destination. Hence it’s a bit odd to see a Japanese beer commercial shot up there. There’s a bunch of people eating, um, deep fried cream filled coconuts and then drinking some bracing beer. I hear the whole thing cost Rs. 25,000 (I’m presuming they used stock images).
The best option right now, bar none, is to get a friend or a relative to drive you there. I’m hoping the Expressway will improve things though.
Why is “friend or relative” a good option?
A taxi can be had for around LKR 2000 from the city. Your friend/relative does two trips, spending around 2 hrs and causing congestion on the road. That should be in the range of LKR 1000, even if the time is not paid for. The taxi on the other hand can pick up passengers on the way, even if not from the airport, resulting in less useless driving.
If you ask your friend/relative to meet you on return, there’s parking charges, parking congestion, delays in getting the vehicle to pick you up, etc. Just talk to one of the local tour operators (not the van service), they’ll take you to the city for around LKR 2500. No delays, good drivers. I agree that we need public transit (and a city terminal). That is first best solution. Taxi is second best.
What Katu needs is long-term parking so that you can drive there yourself, park, fly out, fly back in, and drive off home.
The drive to and from the airport has got to be one of the worst drives in all of Sri Lanka. I wonder what tourists think when they drive into Colombo? Do they have a pang of regret for choosing SL as their holiday destination? I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. Arriving at night and getting a taxi is a nightmare and no doubt a creepy experience for a tourist travelling alone. Would you get into an unmarked van and then drive into Colombo with a strange man through crappy roads, with random dogs running about?
Sri Lanka needs a new airport, or a major overhaul of the current one. Right now it is a dump – especially the old section. The drop off and pick up points are simply gross. Maybe things will be a little better when the new highway is built. I do have to say a big f*** you to the UNP for postponing the airport highway project for so long.
You do realize that a SLFP led government has been in power for almost 20 years barring the period between 2001-2004 right?
2001-2004 – why didn’t the UNP start and finish (1) the southern highway (2) airport expressway (3) expansion of Colombo port? The UNP has controlled Colombo for how long now? Why was Colombo still a dirty shithole, with garbage everywhere? Dutch hospital an eyesore, racing grounds crumbling, streets poorly maintained. Basically, WTF did the UNP do? I will admit that Chandrika’s administration was also composed of a bunch of lazy twits who did nothing.
Do you think projects of the scale of the expressway and the port are built to the same time frames as paving a road? ADB and JICA reviews aren’t exactly done in the space of a week. EIA’s for such large projects can take over a year to prepare and satisfying stakeholders can take years as well. I have seen relatively small commercial developments take 4-5 years because you can’t just run roughshod over people who may be affected. You are completely ignorant of the development process.
Since when did the SL government give a flying puck about EIAs? There has been more shit built over the last 3-4 years than have been over the last 30-40 years combined. I’m sorry, but the UNP has had a fuck load of time since independence to do something there. Truth be told, the UNP has been an absolute joke, they couldn’t even do something as simple as keep the streets of Colombo garbage free – forget about building expressways or ports. And let’s not forgot how they let the country get trashed by the LTTE for so long, with a spineless leadership (nothing’s changed there) that kowtowed to all and sundry. I would venture to say that only ignorant people around are the rat droppings that populate the United National Party, a coterie of conniving, self-obsessed prats who are ignorant of the obvious need to improve infrastructure in the country, ignorant of the desirability of having clean streets and ignorant of the fact that they are getting wiped out election after election.
Lol, the funding agencies such as the ADB do care about EIAs. Can’t argue with you on one point though, there has been a lot of ‘shit’ built in the last 3-4 years. Most done in an unsustainable manner and with little attention to quality.
Of course it is typical of ‘patriots’ to change the subject when it doesn’t suit you to the LTTE. For the record, I think both parties are shit, I was just pointing out that your understanding of development is even worse.
Don’t you be using any of the expressways now. But I won’t be surprised if you do however, despite your caterwauling online. I suppose your definition of ‘quality’ is garbage on the streets, a beira lake stinking to high heaven, checkpoints every 100 metres, potholes, broken pavements, no expressways, no expansion of railways or ports, random bombs going off left and right etc. Ties in with the UNP’s idea of development quite nicely.
I see you chucked in the word ‘patriots’ there. Very original. And for the record, yes, the UNP let the country get trashed by the LTTE – a bunch of spineless, clueless twats. Absolutely zero investment in infrastructure. Well I guess it does take more than 30 years for an EIA to be completed and another 20 years to build a simple expressway. So smart, so efficient.
What a cogent response when you completely lose your argument and look like a moron.
For one thing if not for Ranil’s ceasefire Karuna would not have split, which arguably would have made the final war a lot bloodier and longer. It looks like your understanding of the political game is on par with your understanding of development.
Who said anything about the UNP’s idea of development, quality and sustainability you will find is a global concept, one that anyone who has spent money in doing anything wants.
None of your ‘points’ can deny one plain and simple fact. You have little idea of how the world works.
I had a suspicion that you were a soup boy for the UNP. Thanks for confirming it. May I ask: how’s all the electoral defeats working out for you losers? Does it feel like someone’s taken a huge ass sledgehammer and smashed it against your head? It’s funny that you mention Ranil and Karuna – wasn’t Ranil the man who supported ending the rebellion by allowing the LTTE to enter the east and take on Karuna? Yes, let’s credit Ranil for the split shall we? If not for Ranil, just maybe the LTTE wouldn’t have been able to strengthen itself with yet more arms and ammunition, effectively control most of the north and east of the country and legitimize itself in the eyes of the international community. Keep pretending that Ranil is a winner, it’s clearly working out for him isn’t it?
Tell me, why was it so hard for the UNP administration to keep Colombo garbage free? Does that require a degree or something?
I” repeat my questions: why didn’t the UNP start and finish (1) the southern highway (2) airport expressway (3) expansion of Colombo port? The UNP has controlled Colombo for how long now? Why was Colombo still a dirty shithole, with garbage everywhere? Dutch hospital an eyesore, racing grounds crumbling, streets poorly maintained. Basically, WTF did the UNP do?
Sigh, I was merely providing some context jujubes to your understanding that the ceasefire was a bad thing. Did I state that Ranil put the ceasefire in effect to get Karuna to split? No. I merely stated that the CFA provided the fortuitous conditions for the split. Also the rebellion was an internal matter, what was the government supposed to do, throw its weight behind Karuna? Your lack of understanding of politics is simply appalling.
I in fact voted for MR against Ranil because I thought Ranil was too pacificst and the LTTE was clearly not interested in peace. I would have voted against MR the last election because it is abundantly clear that he was interested in only making himself prosperous vs. the entire nation.
With regard to your obsessive interest in garbage, can I ask what makes you think the problem is solved? The problem has in fact only been moved from the streets of Colombo to the wetlands just outside. That is simply a window dressing solution that the small of mind would find acceptable. The core issues of the undercapacity of the local councils in dealing with waste, the lack of a proper policy for waste management, etc are still very much unsolved.
Do you even know what kind of social headache the southern highway was? How many times it had to be redrawn because of social impacts, that some people still have not received compensation for land acquisitions? Do you have any understanding of the land issues that have plagued this? Have you read the EIA for the Colombo Port to realize the issues there?
Your ignorance and blustering in light of the exposure of your lack of comprehension would be funny if not for the fact that it is so tragic. You are symptomatic of the problem of this country, the silly tribalism combined with an inability for critical thinking which leads to fools thinking that the window dressing, the planting of ‘national trees,’ the Dutch Hospital, a new road is development vs. investment in education, a long term public transport policy, a sound energy policy, etc.
What is sad is that when you are shown the error of your ways, you can only sink to blustering on about political parties instead of educating yourself about the issues you are ranting about. Pathetic.
Yeah probably it is. That is because the Katunayaka expressway is also a very old project which got delayed (like many other important things).
There used to be private buses to fort, that parked near the airport. I seem to recall that they started from near the airport parking lot. I took one once for fun. But I travel light, with just a knapsack.
Once, on the flight to SL from SG, a tourist from Italy sitting next to me enquired about how to get to the Colombo city from the airport using public transport. Not wanting to expose him to the public transport in SL as soon as he set foot on our country, I suggested he take the A/C train from the airport (which they operated for the IIFA). Later on while waiting outside for my ride, I bumped into him again. He had been told the train operated once in the morning and once in the afternoon (now that the IIFA awards was over). He glumly boarded the ”prison-like” rusty bus, which was the shuttle bus to Nainamadama Junction from where he intended to board the 187 to Pettah. I ended up giving him a lift to Fort Railway Station in end.
Yes, taxi or getting someone to drop you unfortunately is the only mode of getting to airport for most concerned. A train that runs every 30 mins between CMB and Katu (station at the terminal) would be the ideal situation.
The airport does need an upgrade. Even the Indian airports notably, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore have had very significant upgrades that put them on par with american airports. Though, there is always Chennai to make us look better :)
You do realize that the SLFP led government has been around for almost 20 years now barring the period in between 2001-2004 right?
everything in airport is “Sucks”. Their aim is to grab money from you but not to provide more/better facilities to the uses.
Parking: exorbitant rate. The park is not a well laid out park. there huge septic tanks or some tanks in one area.The park is full and at times you got to wait to at the gate.
The entrances: The get off/pick up areas are always crowded and difficult to find a slot to unload or pick up.
Entrance fees: exorbitant. generally at airports there is no fee to enter the common area before the check in & immigration counters.
The taxis: the charges are high. It is a “Mafia” of the politicians.
The toilets: Filthy. no proper cleaning.
Exaggeration at best, either that or you haven’t traveled extensively. I’ve found the airport, apart from the transport to and fro, to have improved vastly and compares well to other developing countries I have been to. There is always room for improvement of course and they could do with keeping the bathrooms a bit cleaner though compared to India, well at least you can use the Colombo toilets.
I love this complaint “The get off/pick up areas are always crowded and difficult to find a slot to unload or pick up.” If you think that is excluive to Katunayaka, lol, you haven’t been around much.
I dunna why ur complaining. 3rd world countries have 3rd class airports, 3rd world roads, and 3rd class people. Combine all of them and you get the situation you described. What’s the big deal??? This is the problem with most people who live in 1st world countries and come here due to them not getting due respect there due to skin color. I have travelled to the airport over 8, 9 times and I have absolutely no complaints. Only way to live in country like sri lanka is, stop complaining and accept the reality or leave. It’s very simple.