As Sri Lankans, we have been living amidst a severe economic crisis for several months now, with rampant inflation, political instability, and worst of all a serious lack of fuel. The lack of fuel, as we all know, has resulted in our now-famous neverending fuel queues and a significant blowback on physical events owing to the practical impossibility of getting from point A to point B.
However, while things in Colombo and many of the major cities appear to be the same, with fuel lines, packed buses, and a shared impossibility of getting a tuk off the road or in getting any transport apps to work, intercity travel appears to be carrying on.
Although there have been a few hiccups with the railway system these past few months, for the most part, railways have continued to operate normally. This has resulted in the majority of the population turning to railway travel and consequently flowing into railway stations, but it has been a welcome respite for those who had absolutely no means of avoiding travelling.
Considering that intercity travel is still taking place, Brunch reached out to some travellers to share their experiences as they crossed city lines during a crisis.
The railway experience
Brunch spoke to Pujanee Galappaththi, who had travelled to Kandy at the end of June, back when the fuel crisis had reached its peak. Pujanee had travelled for leisure purposes and she shared that while the idea of going on a trip during that time felt like a gamble, due to the likelihood of ending up stranded somewhere without a way to get back home, it also felt like the perfect time because so few people were actually on the road, which allowed her privacy during her travel.
She shared that she had taken a trip to Kandy, and while she typically travelled to Kandy by bus, she had to take the train on this occasion due to the sheer lack of buses. “I wanted to avoid getting crushed in the back of a bus as I had to travel for about five hours. However, because I didn’t manage to book a ticket for the train, the train ride was just as bad,” she said, adding: “I had hoped to get a seat through a cancellation in bookings, but no such luck. I had to buy a general ticket, and despite it being a Thursday – a weekday – passengers just continued to pile on into the train car.”
She noted that when she inquired about ticket cancellations, the Fort Railway Station had informed her that many bookings were made two weeks prior and that she had absolutely no chance of getting a seat.
Pujanee noted that she had assumed the worst was yet to come, thinking that travelling within Kandy would be far worse, but she was pleasantly surprised to see that the buses in Kandy appeared to be working fairly normally.
“I cannot say for sure if I just happened to be lucky with the timing, but the buses were not delayed and there were only regular intervals between the buses. But I did ask around and people shared that while there were fewer buses, leading to crowding, it had not been too difficult, or not to the extent that they had ever been left stranded.”
The highway bus experience
Bhanujith Wijesinghe, who took a trip to Matara in mid-June, shared that he too did not face major issues in getting a bus and that there were plenty of intercity buses.
“Usually, there are a lot more buses. I have taken this route often and in the past, I have not had to wait as much as I did now, but otherwise getting the highway bus wasn’t a challenge. The bus did fill up quickly as there were several people who had come to get an earlier bus which had failed to arrive, so they all piled on to the 7 a.m. bus which was the first one out that day,” he shared.
He noted that the travel itself wasn’t that difficult, but that the prices were the shocking part. He said that he had been making this same trip for years and because he was also travelling with his mother, he had keenly felt the price hike given the cost of tickets for two people.
Bhanujith stated that when he arrived in Matara, he had to get another bus in order to reach his final destination which was in Thalalla. Possibly because it was a Monday there were no major difficulties. However, he shared that the real problems had occurred as he went further down the coast as no tuks were in sight, and all the vehicles on the road simply disappeared as soon as it became 6.30 p.m.
“Usually there are tuk-tuks at that time, but because of the fuel crisis people don’t take the chance to just drive around as they have no fuel to spare,” he said.
Brunch also spoke to several other travellers who had taken trips around the island, some to Jaffna and others to the east visiting Arugam Bay. Many of them shared that travelling across the island had not been the difficult part – the real challenge was travelling within the city, with all of them noting that nowhere had been as difficult as Colombo.
You may have noticed yourself that those who travel have found a way to get around. There are certainly challenges, but it has been interesting to note that while people were well aware of the difficulties, many adapted alarmingly quickly to the situation, so much so that the challenges that they must endure have become second nature, thinking of it as simply part and parcel of the travel experience.
This may also be very telling of the characteristics of Sri Lankans, of being incredibly passive and willing to put up with a great deal. Regardless, travel in Sri Lanka continues to happen despite the sustained lack of fuel.
