Patrons of the PickMe app will now be able to see for themselves, the health condition of drivers and riders they hail. The mobility solutions company has added a special feature to all vehicles connected to their app, to ensure that body temperature readings of drivers and riders are visible to PickMe passengers, suppliers of goods, and end customers.
“This is done particularly, to create transparency and for the peace of mind of users, so they would have the comfort of knowing they are using a safe vehicle. They would know that PickMe is a responsible service provider and we will go the extra mile to keep everyone safe,” says Zulfer Jiffry, CEO, PickMe.
The temperature is taken at various points – there is a drive-through check done at the PickMe headquarters in Nugegoda and some merchants using PickMe for delivery, also check drivers’ temperature. These readings are then registered in the app. “We have asked anyone found not to be within the normal temperature range to stop work immediately. They can only resume after they get a clearance certificate from the Public Health Inspector (PHI),” says Gowshik Sathiyasiva, Head of Marketing and Communications.
“We are in uncharted waters during the pandemic, and with food delivery it includes the merchants who supply food, the delivery service, and the consumer. So it is important for everybody to feel safe. We have included this additional feature in the PickMe app to help minimise the risk as much as possible. This goes towards maintaining transparency and good governance, which matters during these times,” says the CEO.
PickMe ensures that riders and drivers making deliveries follow regulations as per directives given by the police. They wear fully covered shoes and clean clothes, besides the regulation gloves and disposable face masks. Hand sanitizers and disinfectants have also been made available to them for regular use.
“PickMe is a fully Sri Lankan owned company and even though we operate through an app, we maintain physical offices and staff who manage operations and every aspect of our services in the real world. We give a human face to all our services. People can call and complain if there is an issue and they can even visit us in our offices. This we believe is an important aspect in managing deliveries and transport during these dire times. It is also vital to have a transparent operation so that the state authorities in charge of handling this situation can ask us for information and data to trace individuals using our services or any other relevant facts that would be necessary for their work,” says the CEO of PickMe.