Taxies in India

Taxies in India

On our recent trip to India we travelled from North to South India by train and taxi. About half of the journey was by taxi. It sounds expensive but is really quite reasonable. Our budget was $500 US a week for a family of three, which was far more than most budget travellers were living on. We stayed in mid range hotels and ate at the best restaurants.

We are experienced India travellers who have in the past relied more on local public transport but as we are now retired and a little less able to cope with the buses and bus stations we enjoyed the flexibility and freedom of using taxis for journeys of up to 500ks at a time.

Travel on public transport works well if you understand how it works but it can be very wearing particularly if your timeframes are short and you are travelling in the peak Christmas period. If you don’t get it right it can ruin your trip. Taxis are great for medium to long journeys where trains aren’t available. They’re preferable to local buses so use them if you can afford it. The down side is the extra greenhouse gases you generate.

Not all taxis are registered to take tourists; many are private vehicles for private hire. They will congregate at the taxi stand usually near a market. You already know what your journey will cost if you take account of the rules of engagement below but as usual you will have to negotiate hard. The drivers will of course tell you the distances are greater and the cost has gone up because of fuel costs. I always bargain for the lowest price then decide on a tip at journeys end. Remember that with diesel costing R33 to R36 a litre these drivers have small profit margines. They are often decent hard working people struggling to survive.

So here are the hiring rules as I understand them:

- First calculate the kilometres to your destination (buy a road map with the kilometres on it) don’t trust the distances in your Lonely Planet guidebook they are often wrong.

- Then decide what kind of taxi you want - Maruti and Indicar are the cheapest, Ambassador and four wheel drives are more expensive (and safer) The rate depends on vehicle (Maruti usually R3.5 to R4.5 per kilometre, Ambassador R4.5 to R6 with AC up to R7) This price varies slightly from state to state with Goa in tourist season being by far the highest. Ambassadors predominate in the south while Marutis are more common in the north. Outside tourist towns on share taxi routes it can be cheaper and sometimes you don’t have to pay the return journey.

- So a 250k journey negociated in an Ambassador at R5 a kilometre should ll cost around R2500 or around US$60 or US$30 if you don't have to pay the return journey price. With serious bargaining you could get this down to around US$50, it depends on your attitude to paying a worker for his services.

- Always inspect the car first, deal directly with the driver and have absolute clarity on the agreed route, waiting times and price (most of the time you must include the cost of return journey) Instruct the driver that you are not in a hurry and be prepared to insist on this during the journey if you want to arrive safely.

- Don’t hire through hotels or agents unless you want to pay high commissions although sometimes agents will provide better cars.

- Crossing some state borders may incur large tourist taxes if you are in a registered taxi so either avoid such crossings or hire private vehicles and be prepared to contrive with the driver to tell customs that the owner of the vehicle is your personal friend and is not taking you for profit. Private vehicles for hire usually congregate at the taxi stand.

- Always choose your car and driver yourself. DON’T LET THEM CHOOSE YOU. The drivers who approach you are often pushy, more expensive and sometimes touts who will negotiate the price then on sell your business to some poorly paid driver. At train and bus stations just walk past all the touts and drivers who approach you and you will usually find friendlier, less harassing drivers sitting in their cabs eager for business. This rule applies to all business negotiations in India, including hiring auto rickshaws. I often take a cab to a hotel and try to size him up before opening negotiations.

- I don’t think it’s a good idea to hire a taxi for longer than a single journey. Some people hire a taxi for a week or more but I think this is too restrictive and expensive. There is absolutely no problem negotiating the day before you start each leg of your journey at the taxi stand.

- I normally wouldn’t make a recommendation for a driver, as most are surprisingly good, but we did have a particularly pleasant, safe driver out of Dalhousie. He took us up into the Himalayan valleys where he lived to his family home to stay where we were really made very welcome. This was in remote country in the Bandal Valley near the Kashmir border close to the Pir Pangal Mountains. It was particularly good to have a driver from the culture and region we were travelling in. His name is Zahoor Hussain and he can usually be found up at the Subhash Chowk taxi stand at Dalhousie, his mobile number is 09418015653

Finally for long journeys where there is a rail network the train is always safer and more comfortable than car.

Travel slowly
Howard