I realised that I mention using Bajajs a lot in my Sri Lanka posts and some readers from outside Sri Lanka may not know what a Bajaj is. Bajaj is actually the name of the company that makes the vast majority (99%) of the 3 wheel taxis you see here in Sri Lanka. You will find them parked outside most hotels, bars and in fact on most street corners in Colombo. 95% of them are available for hire.
Bajajs are not metered and how much you pay is entirely up in the air. My wife quite happily gets in one anywhere in Colombo and doesn't bother negotiating the price, simply paying the driver what she thinks is a fair price. Sometimes they will argue but if my wife knows the usual price she will simply give them the money and walk off. We have had the occasional blazing row with a driver. Some of them live in a fantasy world when charging and ask ridiculous prices. If you don't know what the fare should actually be I'd advise you to come to an agreement before you set off. 150 rupees will see you get between most places in central Colombo. There are stories of tourists paying 2000 rupees for a 200 rupee ride. A rough rule of thumb would be 100 rupees for the first KM and then 25 rupees a KM after that. However, some people may bargin better than we do. Generally avoid getting Bajajs outside hotels, bars etc. You can save a lot of money by walking 100 yards down the road and hailing one off the street. Generally the more rundown the Bajaj the better your chances of bargaining. It is actually often cheaper to use an air conditioned cab but you have to ring for those and they are unreliable. A Bajaj is convenient. You'll also need to carry change as often Bajaj drivers will not have much on them. You can ask a Bajaj driver to wait and my wife often does this when she is shopping. Generally there is no charge as such for waiting. The promise of the return fare is enough for it to make it worth the driver's while.
I find Bajajs reasonably comfortable to travel in but note that the views from inside, despite the open sides are limited and you will often find you are sitting in traffic with exhaust fumes coming out close to the level you are sitting at. Having said all that we have travelled between Colombo & Galle (120Km) in a Bajaj and had a terrific time. Most of the other ex-pats think we're a bit strange though ;-)
Be prepared to be stopped by the police and soldiers when in a Bajaj. They seem to do this on a regular basis and the the stop is generally only for a few minutes whilst the driver shows his documentation.
I have included a picture of the Bajaj we took to Galle below:
