Planes, Trains, and Automobles - India 25

I seem to have missed a major method of transportation here in India: animal. At no point did I ride a palanquin atop an elephant, an arabian horse, or a donkey pulled cart. That being said, below is my analysis of the transportation system.

I rode every class of train at least overnight. For those who are unfamiliar, the trains come in 1st Class, 2nd class, 3rd class, and sleeper. In addition there are two classes for daytrips chair car and AC coach?. The numbered overnight classes all have AC but the sleeper does not. In first class, one has a private room, upholstered seats, and a servant on call 24-hours a day. This is comfortable, but like staying in one's hotel, this drasticly limits interaction. The price of first class is about the same as airfare for the same distance. 2nd class is the best place to expect interaction with Indians in English. While the AC is turned up full blast, each compartment's 6 beds are over 6'6" long and are separated from the hallway with a curtain. 3rd class increases the bunks to 8, drops the AC a bit, and reduces the width of the main bunks to slightly wider than a couch. The aisle bunks are reduced in length to below 6'. 3rd class does have one significant advantage over sleeper, the general public is excluded from the cabins. In sleeper, while the dimensions are the same as 3AC, during the day all sorts of people come in and out of the vehicle. Except unlike 2nd and 3rd, very few venders come in the train. The best part of sleeper is that even with the low price (a 24 hour trip costs about 100Rs) there are still some English speakers for conversation. The day trip AC cars are somewhat like a home theatre with the AC at full blast. Also in these day AC cars, there seems to be the largest variety of food vendors. I had some of the best friend plaintain then. For me, traveling by train would be a toss-up between 2AC and sleeper.

I took six flights within, to and from India, and I have to say that I enjoy the American/International plane luggage rules because I have trouble carrying more than my allowance. Within India flights drop the allowance from 25-35kg to 15kg. Nonetheless, being able to walk up to a counter and by a ticket for the plane departing in an hour for a price 500RS above a 2nd class train ticket is quite nice. I have nothing to complain about on all of my flights, and the international flights had some beautiful waiting rooms with open bars, free massages, or even massage chairs. The only drawback is that for most of these flights, one is going to sit down for several hours, so I prefer to walk the whole time. Also, one notes the price of food increases significantly each time one passes through a security checkpoint. Eventually, it becomes almost economical to eat in a waiting lounge, rather than from one of the venders.

Perhaps my favorite form of transportation were the compact auto, bike, and man-powered rickshaws. These were scaled to the size of the population and are truly stripped down to the bare minimum. I have heard that trafficked areas have deadly accidents when accidents occur, but these professional drivers seem quite adept at avoiding complications and traversing the distance quickly. In addition, many of the authorickshaws have switched over to liquefied/pressurized natural gas. The resulting reduced emissions in addition to their significant fuel efficiency is something any country could do well to emulate. I would love to import an autorickshaw to the US, but the lack of spare parts would be maddening.

Several times in Hyderabad and in Mumbai I rode in taxis. The Indian cabs are the same as in any other part of the world. I have little opinion other than they take more gas than is necessary for most trips, but they are safer than the autorickshaws. My favorites are the mini-taxis which combine a taxi front end with a rearfacing bench seat before the rearmost seat. 12 in such a vehicle is not uncommon.

Aside from traveling on mountain highways, the standard for safety in India must be the bus. While the standard Asian/African/South American/Eastern Europe rule of the largest vehicle controls the road applies, in the cities, more so than everything else, these vehicles slow to a crawl. While I wouldnt recommend riding the outside, decapatations from power lines or being smashed into nearby traffic are two possibilities, a crammed bus is occasionally so crammed that one need not worry about ones balance and could sleep standing up. Unless one has a multihour trip without a seat, I would recommend the buses. As with any crowd, watch your belongings.