How many cars enter Colombo everyday? 170,000 actually. How many people enter Colombo overall? That would be 1.8 million. Find this and more answers by scrolling down.
These are 2015ish statistics for car/vehicle use in Colombo. The source is this Daily Mirro [sic] infographic, which itself cites the National Transport Commission and Central Bank. Shout out to Thilina Weerawansa.
![this Daily Mirro [sic] infographic](http://indi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-10-12-at-12.26.08-582x1024.jpg){kind=link}
Vehicles
| Total Vehicles | 509,248 | % |
|---|---|---|
| Private | 443,586 | 87.1% |
| Public/Mass | 29,064 | 5.7% |
| Goods | 36,598 | 7.2% |
Humans
| Total Passengers | 1,880,777 | % |
|---|---|---|
| Private | 828,788 | 44.1% |
| Public/Mass | 977,024 | 51.9% |
| Goods | 74,965 | 4% |
500,000 vehicles enter Colombo every day
… carrying 1.8 million people
Private
| Private Vehicles | 443,586 |
|---|---|
| Cars | 169,448 |
| Trishaws | 113,481 |
| Motorbikes | 102,783 |
| Vans | 57,874 |
Public
| Public/Mass Transport | 29,064 |
|---|---|
| Route Bus | 21,905 |
| School Vans | 4,107 |
| Non-Route Bus | 1,470 |
| School Bus | 795 |
| Route Bus (On Service) | 787 |
Goods
| Vehicles For Goods | 36,598 |
|---|---|
| Medium Goods (2 Axle) | 16,881 |
| Light Goods | 8,940 |
| Delivery Van | 3,941 |
| Multi Axle | 3,350 |
| Heavy Goods | 3,155 |
| Others | 331 |
Analysis
I can basically break the analysis down to one graph. Each private vehicle carries an average of 1.87 people. Each bus carries 33.6 people.
Alternately, this Awantha Artigala comic basically sums it up.
Another thing I find interesting is that there are more cars on the road in Colombo than any other vehicle type. For a long time Sri Lanka had more motorbikes and three-wheelers being registered but that seems to have changed, in the CMB at least.
The Solution
The answer is obvious, we need less vehicles carrying more people. That means public transit. The problem is that our public transit is so bad that this isn’t fair, or even really possible.
Changing the bus system involves dealing with a bunch of vested interested (unions, bus owners, government) and will be as complicated as American health care. We do have a rail network which is under-utilized, and the government has tendered for urban rail, but that wouldn’t start until 2019. For more on how messed up the current rail system is, read Yudha.
In the meantime, it’s basically just shit out there and we’re getting more and more cars on the road, 14,000 units in September 2015, a 400% increase from last year. There are too many cars and it’s slowing down everyone – average speeds are 17 kmph if you’re lucky. The Police have basically left Battaramulla for dead.
Things have gone super-bad in the past few months and something’s got to change. This traffic, besides being annoying, will actually cost us billions if not trillions in lost productivity and economic growth if we don’t invest intelligently now.
Please differentiate between the Govt Vehicles and Private Vehicles
Private car leased to the Govt should consider as Govt Vehicles
Private Vehicles also should be divided as Company owned vehicles and Private individual owned vehicles
This would show more Government used vehicles and Company owned vehicles not much of Private individual owned vehicles
Donald
I don’t have that data, would love to include if you can find.
I doubt that the majority of new cars are government or company owned. The government seems to own about 59,000 vehicles total, and those are spread all over the country (http://nation.lk/online/2015/09/23/govt-owns-over-59000-vehicles/). Dunno about company vehicles but those are used by employees so not sure what difference it makes.
Over 50% of new registrations are for Maruti’s and the like. My guess is that the private vehicles really are private.
you mention that 500,000 vehicles enter Colombo. what can be done is take a small toll, say 50-100 when entering the city limits, from Nugegoda, Nawala, Kotte, Kelaniya – also one can start buses from there. people will cut down coming to Colombo also reduce this fee is there are more than 3 people.
Instead of giving cars Every 3guys could be picked by a taxi and drop them to working place. For short runs they could use taxi.
Also Colombo city should ban all parking except on coupons. 100 rs every hour. Self driven elderly n handicap parking is required.
The traffic congestion in Colombo has become the worst. I still don’t understand why government doesn’t take measures to provide better public transport (than the Indian layland crap).
Thanks for the stats. Improving the public transport is indeed essential. But, would that provide a long lasting solution for the problem? I think we should see the bigger picture here. 1.8 million people coming into Colombo daily…! And apart from that, the number of permanent residents of the Colombo city also keeps on rising at a staggering rate! To provide a more robust and long lasting solution, shouldn’t we try to reduce the massive population that is coming in to Colombo? That means, we should build/renovate other main cities of Sri Lanka at least up to the level of Colombo so that people do not need to visit Colombo for most of the purposes that they are coming in now. Hambantota is a classic example for such a city, around which some other cities could also be built and it is unfortunate that people do not try to look at such projects in a positive mindset. Be it for their jobs or else other needs, we should keep on trying to deviate the massive crowds into other cities, while improving the public transport sector. Easier said than done of course. :-)
I have better solution to handle public passenger transport, yaa i know what all people here saying now “we also have better solutions” yes that’s true what public has more ideas and solutions than government.
yes, the solution in the short term is to provide better transport to Colombo..but i would say the long term solution is to decentralize the development so the industrial base can spread out of Colombo so all the problems can vanish. You have only mentioned the vehicle problem..but what about the housing? in colombo it’s crammed…so the offices, schools, facilities and factories should reach other areas like Kurunegala, Kandy, Galle so the colombo bound traffic would reduce. The previous government did take some measures aimed at this, such as the development of the South, thru highway links, ports etc, but i suppose it didnt come to fruition due to politics….however, with well planning, the government could first of all decentralize it’s plans of development, and secondly, rent the railway to private firms…etc and the previous government introduced luxury low-floor buses to enter colombo…so we have to increase those buses. Also, monorail is a viable option too….this makes me think one thing….the previous government has had better idea of this problem than the current one.
Great Analysis…. Actually as everybody mention here, the best and , one and only answer is to develop the public transport media. Whether it is colombo or kandy or what ever , the best method is to limit the incomming traffic.And , as all of us know , “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. Its where the rich use public transportation “.
My point of view is we need to introduce car pooling system for public. Other thing is comfortable public transportation definitely reduce this congestion..Both Government and private sector should contribute to become a win win situation..otherwise it will be effected our economic efficiency and effectiveness.
Forget it Indi. This is country is doomed. There is no solution to any problem. We are going down………
More public awareness on car pooling is needed.
Like everyone else mentioned increase public transport (ie Buses).
Tolls for entering the city.
More strict rules for tuk drivers who always manage to create a lane and ends up in a bottleneck.
So called politicians will not do anything unless it is impacting their votes. Further they either don’t notice or pretend as if they didn’t see because they get the roads cleared however much the traffic is worse.
The proposed sharing system will not be practical due the criminal activities taking place in the country.
Probably we should have area wise car parks developed and implement an efficient and luxury bus service from a radius like 12 Km from the city.
Investing in Railway, Completion of outer circular road and similar ones (may be along the coastal line), Developing Schools outside the city that would be better than leading schools and construction of Fly-over bridges in Rajagiriya, Townhall, Piththala Junction, Borella Junction, Senanayake Junction, Peliyagoda Junction, are feasible options. further, As someone mentioned, 3 wheelers and private buses should be strictly monitored (Now Lane rules and other traffic rules are not applicable to them).
Government should establish a task force purely to improve the traffic in and around Colombo.
Useful info. Thanks for sharing
Good article with fact and figures.