Evening slow bus into India's capital of Delhi
Trip Start
Dec 03, 2005
1
50
52
Trip End
Jun 20, 2006
New Delhi,
India
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Got in late in evening, but found things at the bus station were organised enough for me to book an autorickshaw without the battle for which driver to take and which price to pay. This is mainly thanks to the pre-paid system which operates at many Indian city railway and bus terminals, so the fare is fixed - on account of distance, supposedly. However, the system does not - 1) stop entrepeneurial tuk-tuk drivers from accosting passengers as they disembark from the bus, hoping that the innocent tourist does not know of the existence of the pre-paid booth, (and of course pay a higher price), and 2) prevent other attempts to boost the takings, through the driver forcing a surplus charge of his own for each item of luggage. I guess I was just lucky to have avoided this from my driver, although I did tip him because it proved to be a difficult guest house to find in the middle of a hectic bazaar street (even though quieter at night when arriving, we still had difficulty finding it from the map - my own fault in part for using the photocopied version of the lonely planet guide where the maps do not print clearly!)
