Tak tak on tuk tuks

Motorists love to hate:

Jayanthi LIYANAGE

Generally, he honours that deal. For men, women and children, returning home after a late night’s entertainment, or work, the three wheeler is an indispensable mode of transport.

Three wheelers have a knack for scooting in and out of congested traffic to hurry before the slow trudge of a bus and squeezing through narrow by-paths and alleys. A metered vehicle do away with the haggling for a cheaper fare but more often than not, what the driver asks for come across as reasonable.

May the vehicle be a tuk-tuk, trishaw, auto rickshaw, trike, tricar, cycle car, baby taxi or coconut-shaped coco-taxi as in Havana - what goes on three wheels in different shapes in different parts of the world - is a three wheeler.

K.A. Laxman, conveying foreign guests of Hilton Hotel with its managerial consent, says he is adept than an English degree holder in understanding tourist communication. One of the six three wheeler drivers operating from the park near the hotel, he has depended on tourism for the past 23 years.

“Tourists come to shop or to sight see and hire a three wheeler with only an address in their hands,” Laxman explained his modus operandi. “A Japanese would say ‘Hilthon gobacku to Liberty Plaza’. Whether the tourist be Chinese, Italian or any other, we should be able to take him where he wants to go.”

According to him, Colombo Fort has five major tourist hotels and 100 three wheelers operating in their vicinity while Fort also accommodates 36 parks with 562 three wheelers.

“Right from the airport, tourists are promoted outstation locations,” says Laxman. “The Tourist Board should find out why not enough tourists come to Colombo. There must be a systematic program to benefit thousands dependent on tourism, right down to fish and vegetable suppliers.”

He also says that though three wheeler drivers are the first to assist in an emergency, what is highlighted of 5.5 lakhs of local three wheeler drivers are instances when few are nabbed for a wrong-doing.

“When the bomb near the Hilton Hotel exploded, we drove the injured to the hospital before ambulances arrived.” That no training is required to become a three wheeler driver, places some risk on the occupation, he feels.

J.P. Sunethra Hemamali, based in the suburbs of Rajagiriya, is from the sparse tribe of women three wheeler drivers in the country.

When her husband became paralyzed in an accident in the Middle East, she became the bread-winner of a family of a young son, and a daughter who will be married soon. “From childhood, I did a man’s work.

When I saw another woman driving a three wheeler, it caught my fancy and did not come across as a male job,” says Hemamali who has been featured on print and electronic media because of her struggle to obtain a parking place.

She was required to obtain the consent of the three wheeler groups operating in the parks she applied for, before receiving the municipality licence. She had a case so aggravated that it had to be argued for at the Supreme Court by the human rights lawyer Kalyananda Thiranagama.

She expected a less populated park closer home but is now operating from an urban park. Hers are issues confronting a woman competing in a tough and male-oriented job. She speaks of psychological trauma arising from some colleagues trying to discourage her from working through various means.

At times, there is conflict arising from drivers “jumping” their “turns” with the hirers and she is made to feel disillusioned about her job. The absence of a separate toilet facility makes her return home twice during the day.

“I categorically state that this is a highly respectable job,” says Hemamali. “Reputed people hold my courage to this job in high esteem. For people who cannot recognize its value, it’s a third class job, seen to be among alcoholics and drug addicts. I am seen as an ill-reputed woman. Its all due to competition.”

Hettiarachchige Maduka Lasantha in Thalangama is a discharged army soldier, paralyzed from waist down, with left leg amputated from the knee.

A garage he knows devised a hand-operated three wheeler and he entered business a couple of weeks ago, in an effort to earn a supplementary income. His liabilities are a housing loan taken from his pension and the instalments to be paid on the purchase of his three wheeler. His earnings provide for his mother and his brothers.

His perseverance overrides the discomfiture of being seated in the same position for long hours. “When I first began driving, I needed help to get into the three wheeler. Now I can climb in, drive and climb out all by myself,” he says. It has also produced a therapeutic effect on his condition and he feels in better health.

1979-Three wheelers imported to Sri Lanka

Up to 2009 September: 431,912 t-wheels registered

2001 Recessed economy

2007-8 Conversion to four stroke engines to reduce air pollution

2009 Sept. World recession. Loans reduced

2010 More registrations anticipated, expecting tax reductions

Information provided by Narahenpita Motor Traffic Department Statistician Anura de Silva.

R.F. Sunil from Battaramulla, drove his way through eight three wheelers, bringing up and giving in marriage three children, after he lost his job in a bank strike.

“The Government is plying more buses day and night so we have less hirers,” he says. “But we are glad that the country is experiencing peace. During war, bomb scares made us very edgy about hires out.” He feels that more people prefer predetermined charges, starting from Rs.50, to meter charges.

His park being some distance away from the main bus halt, is a draw back as “people get down from buses and hire three wheelers closer to the halt.” He is thankful to President Mahinda Rajapaksa for ridding the streets of underworld influence. “Once one put a knife to my throat and took my three wheeler away which I could find only the following day.”

Many youth enter this profession as an easy manner of livelihood, he observes. Drivers owning their three wheelers are the majority, he says. Tenant drivers bear more expenditure as plus their own expenses, they are required to pay the owner around Rs.300 a day from daily earnings averaging around Rs.1,000.

W. Ajith Kumara, from the same park, feels that if meters, usually priced around Rs.8000 are given at a subsidized rate, more three wheeler drivers would opt for them. Meter charges begin with Rs.30 per kilo meter.

“It benefits the hirer more than us,” he says. A pension for the profession would be most welcome for about 4-5 lakhs of families dependent on it. “If there is a system to issue petrol on a credit card, it will lessen our financial burden,” he is hopeful.

“Many commuters benefit from three wheelers, specially in the night,” he points out. “Any man or child can travel with us in trust. Some women come to our park after work in the night and wait until we come for the hire.” That trust he says, he will not betray for any reason.