Analysis The Potentials and Barriers of Applying Flexible Ridesharing Method in Southern Expressway in Sri Lanka

The ridesharing arrangement means the transportation of persons in a motor vehicle when such transportation is incidental to the principal purpose of the driver, which is to reach a destination and not to transport person for profit. Internet based ridesharing is the method that allows individuals in need of transportation to access a pool of drivers through a mobile app. The research aim is to find out the potential of applying internet based ridesharing in Sri Lanka under three main objectives; to ascertain the problems of the current transportation system available in Southern Expressway, to analyze the commuters’ perception towards the internet-based ridesharing concept and to examine the potential barriers and constraints of application of internet based the ridesharing system in Southern Expressway. Accordingly, data is collected using three samples representing 30 commuters from each group; the public bus users, personal vehicle users, and arranged hired vehicle users who are frequent commuters of the Southern Expressway. According to the research findings, the majority (90%) of the commuters use Southern Expressway to travel their work place and perceive travel cost as fair cost in contrast to time. The majority of the commuters’ view is the availability of buses in Southern Expressway is not at a satisfactory level. More than 90% said Southern Expressway is much comfortable to travel. The majority of the commuters (85%) willing to use the ridesharing if it is available for Southern Expressway. More than 90% have internet access and therefore the application is not much difficult to implement in Sri Lanka. Even though, people are willing to use ridesharing application, there are some barriers have identified through this study such as gender issues, social status and fear to travel with strangers. Anyhow, research findings have shed green light to implement the ridesharing methods in southern Expressway despite of the prevailing barriers