There’s got to be a better way out.
I’ve been taking the bus or trishaw everywhere this week. It sucks. I’m a fan of public transit, it’s just that Colombo doesn’t have it. If you take the bus you spend like Rs. 20 max, but give up hours of time. If you take the trishaw you spend Rs. 200 min and save time. I, however, would rather pay Rs. 100 for a bus system that actually worked.
Buses
The incidental downsides of the bus are that it’s hot, dirty, uncomfortably, crowded and girls get routinely molested or harassed. Significant, yes, but the most significant downside is time. Unless you’re on Galle Road, the probability that the bus will stop on the road you’re going to is low. Colombo is also not highly urbanized, the probability that you’ll end up near is also low. The ‘city’ is actually residential, terrorism induced sprawl, so you inevitably have to walk. What this means is that a regular trip can take half an hour, but something at rush hour can take up to two.
Trishaws
Trishaws are fast and can cut through traffic and, more than ever, are meterized, so prices are kinda fair. They’re still too high for daily commuting. In Montreal I paid $20 a month for a student metro pass, I think $40 was the usual fare. That covered the metro and buses. In Colombo, taking trishaws, you can easily spend Rs. 1000 a day.
It’s a tradeoff. It breaks down to how much your time is worth. Let’s say you’re going from Dehiwela to somewhere in Rajagiriya. Including walking, that’ll take at least an hour and cost say Rs. 20. Or you can take a trishaw and get there in 30 minutes (for a cheap Rs. 300). If a half-hour of your time is worth Rs. 280, you’ll take the trishaw. After a while, however, that really adds up.
Middle
The problem is that there’s no middle ground. There isn’t a more expensive bus that would suit middle class travelers. There also aren’t concentrated urban areas where people work, offices are usually converted homes in the Colombo suburbs, down random lanes and far apart. Hence the middle class has to get cars, which makes more traffic, which makes public transit work worse and everybody’s life worse. Then you’re working to pay off the car to get to work and FML.
We need middle class public transit. A train system from Fort down the coast, through Rajagiriya, connecting A/C buses in bus lanes, and rezoning of Colombo’s center to move businesses into high density areas. And soon. I’m willing to pay for decent public transit that would replace trishaws, and even a car, and if you combine a lot of the middle classes, that’s a decent investment to make.
Hear hear!
It’ll be something if they can start with a decent school bus service. I used to take the public bus to school every day as a kid, but every route had at least one school bus too. Today, most kids go to school in a private vehicle or in a school van, resulting in total gridlock between 1:30 and 2:30. You just can’t go anywhere in Colombo city without having to go by a school.
Yeah. Or send more kids to Hogwarts.
I feel like the fact that buses don’t get you to exactly where you wanna go is slightly
unique to you since you are a journalist i.e. comes with the job: lots of traveling, random places to be at etc… (i may be wrong on this though).
For the women being harassed: wasn’t a women only bus service started recently?
also setting up a metro transit wouldn’t make sense: high cost, same problem as buses- i.e. reach would probably be further limited.
What i’m trying to get at is … There definitely is inadequacy in the public transport, yet I feel like Colombo needs a slightly more unique solution to this.
Inner city loop shuttle bus service?, using vans to run point to point? creating a 3-wheeler tram service?
I’m more of a columnist. I don’t get out that much.
I think a metro would make sense, but has to go hand in hand with higher density urbanization (which they’re doing). It is cost effective in that people would be a lot more productive, and they would pay for it as well. What I’m saying is that you have two choices now:
1. Spend Rs. 100 a day on transport and 3 hours
2. Spend Rs. 1000 a day on transport and 1 hour
Hence, a metro/tram/bus system can fit in at
3. Spend Rs. 500 a day and take 1.5 hours
This is a conversation that is needed for the City. Many people jump to the conclusion that we should get a shiny new metro. But they forget that Colombo is tiny (800,000 people in the city and maybe 3 million in the broadly defined metro area). In most places where MRTs are being built, the population exceeds 10 million. Even there, people debate the pros and cons of Bus Rapid Transit Systems (with dedicated lanes, regular frequencies, etc.) and metros (e.g., http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/apr/03metro.htm). We need to find a solution that work for Greater Colombo. We know it is not more cars and 3 wheelers. We need clarity on what the alternative are.
I don’t think an underground metro, but improved use of what we have. Basically better trains and buses.
There’s a train line that runs through Mount and up to Fort, that could take some pressure off the Galle Road if it was faster and less crowded. Bus lanes on Galle Road is a step, but there’s only one modern bus (A/C, spacious) that I’ve seen.
You could take the train from Mount to Wellawatte or even Slave Island and then take a bus from there. There’s also a train line that run through Rajagiriya and Nugegoda that could also connect to buses. That’s just one idea, there’s probably problems with it, but anything is better than this.
Cable cars or a raised covered solar powered conveyor belt. :D