SLT: From Rainbow Pages to ‘SLT muve’ car rides
Turning Sri Lanka’s traditional taxi service upside down, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), through its digital subsidiary company – the publisher of SLT Rainbow Pages – is set to offer car ride–sharing services.
Sri Lanka Telecom Digital Info Services (Pvt) Ltd is now diversifying its business portfolio from the publishing of telephone directories to its latest addition of car pooling for the digital era using a mobile app developed by an Australian IT company, SLT sources revealed.
This new passenger and destination ridesharing service named ‘SLT muve’ will be launched soon.
It would provide transport services to one or three passengers at a time depending on the seating capacity of the vehicle.
This innovative mobile app will help customers looking for fast and easy transport service to connect with a well-disciplined and company trained driver who is heading in the same direction that they want to travel, a senior SLT Digital Info Services official explained.
Payment for the car ride could be made using credit or debit cards or in cash, he said adding that all drivers registered with the SLT Digital Info Services are independent contractors but not employees of the company.
Car pooling (car-sharing, ride-sharing and lift-sharing) is the sharing of car journeys enabling more than one person to travel in a car.
The company will pre-compute the fare subjected to the vehicle and the distance of the total trip. It will charge 10 per cent from each completed ride as a service charge from the driver.
The official noted that they plan to deploy around 200 SLT vehicles in this venture during its initial stages.
“The service is fully secure and will be comfortable for the female passengers especially,” he said adding that it also provides a “Ladies Only” option to restrict ride-sharing only for female passengers.