Posting a trip is free, takes about five minutes, and does not commit you to anything. You describe the journey you want, and verified vehicle owners send you their prices. You then pick the one you like, or none of them.
Here is exactly what happens, step by step.
Before you start
You need two things:
- A Let’s Ride account. Free to create.
- Your travel dates. The start date must be in the future.
You do not need to know which vehicle you want, or what the trip should cost. Those are the things the bids are for.
Step 1 — Travellers
Choose how many people are travelling, from 1 to 50.
You can then pick a vehicle type, but this is optional. If you are not sure what you need, leave it blank. Vehicle owners will suggest what fits your group size.
Tip: picking a vehicle type narrows who can bid. Leaving it open usually brings more offers.
Step 2 — Preferences
This step is about comfort, not price.
Air conditioning. Choose With A/C or Non A/C. If the vehicle type you picked in Step 1 has no air conditioning, the page will tell you.
Who drives. Choose one:
- With Driver — a local driver takes you. This is the default.
- Self Drive — you drive yourself.
If you choose Self Drive, you must confirm you hold a valid Sri Lankan driving licence or an International Driving Permit.
If you choose With Driver, you will be asked two more questions:
- Will you provide meals for the driver?
- Will you provide accommodation for the driver?
These two answers matter more than they look. On a multi-day trip, a driver who has to pay for their own food and hotel will price that into their bid. Saying yes usually brings the price down. Saying no is completely fine. Just answer honestly, so the bids you get are real ones.
Special requirements. A free text box, up to 2,000 characters. Use it for anything a driver needs to know in advance: a child seat, wheelchair access, travelling with a pet, or a language you would prefer your driver to speak.
Step 3 — Route
Start with your pickup location, where the journey begins. For most travellers this is Bandaranaike International Airport or their first hotel.
Then build your itinerary. Add each place you want to visit, in order. For every stop you can set the number of nights you plan to stay there.
This is the part worth spending time on. A driver bidding on “Colombo to Kandy” is guessing. A driver bidding on “Airport, 2 nights Kandy, 2 nights Ella, 1 night Galle, back to the airport” knows exactly what they are quoting for, and can give you a real price instead of a cautious one.
Set your trip start date. It must be in the future.
The total distance is worked out for you as you add stops. You do not need to calculate anything.
Step 4 — Review
Check everything and submit.
What happens after you post
1. We check your trip. Every trip is reviewed by our team before vehicle owners can see it. This keeps obvious mistakes and spam off the platform.
2. You get an email when it is approved. Your trip then becomes visible to verified vehicle owners across Sri Lanka, and we notify them about it.
3. Bids start arriving. Each vehicle owner may place one bid on your trip, so every offer you see comes from a different owner. Only owners whose vehicles we have already checked and approved can bid at all.
4. You compare and choose. Each bid shows the price, the vehicle with its photos, the owner, and any note the owner has added. Some also quote a rate for extra kilometres beyond the route you described, which is worth reading before you compare on price alone.
You cannot message an owner before you accept. Messaging opens once a bid is accepted, so the note attached to the bid is what you have to go on. If something important is missing from it, that tells you something too.
5. When you accept one, the rest close automatically. The owner you picked is notified, and every other bid on that trip is declined for you. You do not have to turn anyone down yourself.
If your trip is rejected
Occasionally a trip is not approved. If that happens you will get an email telling you the reason, so you can fix it and post again. It is usually something small, like a date that has already passed or a pickup location that is not clear enough to price.
Two things worth knowing before you start
Let’s Ride never takes your money. Posting is free, and we charge no booking fee or service charge. Payment is arranged directly between you and the vehicle owner. We are not part of it. If anyone claims to collect payment on our behalf, that is not us.
Trips expire on their start date. If your travel date arrives and you have not accepted a bid, the trip closes automatically and any open offers are withdrawn. If your plans change, post a new trip rather than waiting on an old one.
Still stuck?
If something is not working the way this page describes, tell us. The fault is probably ours. Contact support and a person will reply.