“At Uber, every city that we launch outperforms its predecessor and we expect nothing less from Colombo. In fact, for months now, we know that demand for Uber has been rapidly growing as more and more people and visitors are opening up the Uber app and trying to request rides in cities across Sri Lanka,” the company said in a statement.

“With over 1 million credit cards and 11 million debit cards in Sri Lanka and over 20 percent of the population on smartphones, Sri Lanka is poised for Uber,” the San Francisco-based company said.

“We bring our global technology, expertise and best practices in the on-demand mobility space, coupled with the hyperlocal knowledge of the local operations team in the city,”

Uber is a mobile app that connects people who needs a ride, to a private chauffeur service, to get around on-demand which launched in San Francisco in 2010 as a startup but a disruptive company.

The trip fare is calculated using GPS data via satellite, which is then forwarded to Uber’s servers for billing and immediate receipt generation.

At the end of the trip, the customer simply alights from the vehicle and goes on their way. The trip fare is billed automatically to the customer’s credit card and a receipt with journey details is emailed immediately after.

-LBO