With fewer vehicles plying on roads in crisis-hit Sri Lanka which has been facing an acute fuel shortage, a tech company has come up with an innovative solution: a public carpooling app where citizens willing to share rides with other people can share their route. 

Faced with its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka is rationing its fuel sale. Queues at filling stations are only getting longer by the day, with waiting time sometimes running to days. 

Ironically, travelling even within cities, in a country that markets itself as a leading tourism destination has almost become a luxury for most people. 

To ease people’s suffering, Aventage Labs, a tech company in Sri Lanka, has launched its Aventage Carpooling app, reported Daily Mirror. This will not only connect people travelling on the same routes and allow them to share a single vehicle but also help save fuel, currently the most important commodity in the island country. 
   
“The need to explore technology-enabled, citizen-driven models to provide convenient modes of transport and ease the challenges faced by our people, due to the fuel crisis, is the key driver that led to the birth of this concept,” Dez Erskine, the CEO of Aventage Labs, was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror. 

Available both in Sinhala and Tamil, the app will allow people to publish their rides by selecting pick-up and drop locations. It also contains an option of sharing costs where the ride publisher can charge based on the number of available seats. 

The app, Dez said, is not intended for profit. “It’s more our way of helping our fellow commuters, which includes students, to go about their daily activities without any disruptions.”

(SAM)