Tensions between traditional tuk-tuks and ride-hailing apps

With the tourist season underway, the battle between the conventional tuk-tuk drivers and riders using ride-hailing platforms like Uber and PickMe has reached unprecedented and alarming heights with confrontations being featured in prime-time news bulletins as well as newspaper headlines. Due to the widespread ownership of smartphones in the island, the demand for mobile app-based hires has increased tremendously, which has adversely affected the livelihoods of traditional three-wheel drivers. 

Ride-hailing services have become extremely popular as they offer more transparency with up-front and predictable pricing apart from GPS tracking while providing greater safety for commuters and travellers. Importantly, their charges are much cheaper than the rates requested by conventional taxi drivers. Once passengers who use ride-hailing services end their trips, they are given the opportunity to rate the respective drivers in terms of a wide range of measures. Hence, riders consciously take precautions to drive their vehicles safely, knowing that recklessness could result in them receiving poor ratings from clients which could eventually lead to them being blacklisted from the ride-hailing app. Customers can also reach out to the customer service centres of the ride-hailing apps if they want to dispute the travelling fares in addition to making complaints against drivers whose behaviours they found unethical and intolerable.

In contrast, traditional taxi drivers are frequently accused of overcharging passengers and often come across as rowdy and unpleasant. In certain parts of the country, three-wheel drivers are addicted to drugs and request unreasonable amounts from passengers to maintain their harmful lifestyles. It is also felt some of these conventional taxi drivers are involved in nefarious activities such as drug trading and distribution, working with the underworld apart from facilitating prostitution rings. At the height of the 2022 economic crisis, tuk-tuk drivers faced the wrath of the general public for overstocking fuel and selling them at black market prices. Furthermore, most of the taxi drivers used to request exorbitant fares during the period of the country’s worst economic crisis, capitalising on the dearth of vehicles in roads. 

Traditional taxi drivers have also been the bane on the Sri Lanka’s tourism industry over the years. On numerous occasions, there have been reports of foreign travellers experiencing harassment and exploitation at the hands of taxi drivers. It was recently revealed that in the tourist hotspot of Sigiriya, although an app-based hire to Pidurangala costs only Rs. 270, a conventional taxi ride charges Rs. 800. In such a scenario, the presence of an internationally accepted ride-hailing platform like Uber provides comfort to tourists who come to Sri Lanka. In fact, many tourism advisory websites recommend tourists to avoid conventional taxis and instead use apps like Pickme and Uber. The emergence of ride-hailing platforms has also enabled motor bike riders to earn income by transporting passengers for the first time in the country. Motor bike-based rides are much cheaper than three-wheel rides and the entry of the two-wheel vehicle has eaten into the income sources of the three-wheel riders, further compounding the anger of tuk-tuk drivers.

The resentment of taxi drivers towards Pickme and Uber could develop into a political headache for the Government. Many of these conventional taxi drivers were at the forefront of supporting the NPP at the previous two national elections, and they represent a significant vote base.

Nevertheless, ride-hailing apps have become extremely popular among the passengers and any effort to curtail their activities would attract a considerable backlash from the public. The Police must take decisive action to prevent the recurrence of incidents of few organised tuk-tuk drivers threatening and intimidating riders who use ride-hailing platforms.