How to travel in New Delhi???

Its official!!! The rush hours in Delhi are just horrifying!!!

The beat of the engines of bumped cars and never stopping autos (understand small "taxis") are mingling in the streets with sweaty rickshaw drivers, tired man on bicycles going from/to work and crazy bike riders, who are cruising through the streets like maniacs (Especially if there is whole family sitting at one bike - Small kid standing up front with his father driving, few kids behind him and mother on the end sitting sideways, holding a new born baby - only the man wears "helmet". It seems like the veins of Delhi will never stop bringing people in and out of the city.

Only a mad man would buy a new expensive car and try to drive it in Delhi. Tanks and armored transporters are the only exceptions. I have just seen a new white Skoda Superb in a nasty crash yesterday.

So there is actually a lot more options then I have expected, how to travel in Delhi. You can either:
Take a rickshaw
Take an auto
Take a taxi
Use the metro
Take the bus
Or walk


Honestly, walking in Delhi is not a really good idea. Especially now, when the temperature is really high and it would probably take you ages to reach the point. Not talking about getting lost.
I really cant say anything about travelling with bus, because I have never tried it, but as I could have seen, getting into or out of the bus might be a life threatening situation by being attacked by bike and auto drivers. It doesnt really look comfortable either, because there is always a lot of people inside.
So talking about the public transport, the best choice is the METRO!


It is AMAZING!!! Its fast, new, not that pricey for internationals but the most important, it covers pretty much a whole Delhi and its really cool inside, because of non-stopping AC.
Although there are few significant differences comparing European metros, it blew me away!
1. The cabins are not separated and you can see from the first cabin to the last one.
2. Woman have the first cabin just for themselves. No man is standing or sitting there. Especially funny situation happen during the rush hour. You can see hundreds of Indians squeezing in few cabins, but the one for ladies is almost empty.
3. To enter the metro, you have to go through a security check that can be compared with the one in Prague´s airport.
4. There are two ways of paying the metro, either paying with token for exact number of stations or prepaid metro card. With th prepaid metro card you can travel for how long you want, but in the end the maximum price will be just 29 ruppies. Thats why you can always find a group of people just talking in metro and enjoying the AC, going there and back again.

And now about the options that Im and everyone really is using the most in here.

The taxi is not really common, but when the temperature goes over 40, you can be sure that there is heaps of business man, who are ordering taxis with AC to bring them to their work.

The rickshaw. You have to try at least once in Delhi. Im using it all the time. The first time is the worse. If you dont know how much you should pay, the Indian guys can sense it and then they will rip you off. I have paid 110 ruppies for a ride that I have taken in three days again for 30. It is really convenient way of travelling for short distances. Paying around 20-40 ruppies. Sometimes the guy just jumps down if the hill is too steep and walks next to the bike, sometimes you hit your head into the roof, since the Delhi roads are horrible and sometimes you can up ion the ground when the wheel breaks.

The autos. To be honest, I hate bargaining, but that is the only way how to pay the exact amount of what you are supposed to. There is two ways of paying. You either set the price before you get in, where the bargaining is really needed. (Using only when you know how far and how much you should pay) or you ask the driver to use a meter. This is something that might not happen. But you can always complain through phone call that the driver doesnt want to start up the meter and if 5 complains come to the same auto driver, his licence gets suspended. (Use meter only when you feel like you know the way, because you pay for every half a kilometer and if you dont know where to go, the auto guy will always try to find the longest way. ;)
The really amazing pat about autos is, that the drivers dont really speak that much of English. Therefor finding the place where you want to get to might be quite hard, before you get to know places, that are nearby and the local drivers would know them.

Im just falling in love with this city and the way of living here. The only thing that really makes me crazy is my housing, but about that in another post. ;)

Have a good one and I hope you have enjoyed my post... ;)