What in your opinion, is the best way to transport yourself from one city to another? Not the fastest, or the cheapest or the most hassle free. Inter-city travel in India is as cumbersome and frustrating as travel within the city. So, what exactly are the options one gets to choose from?
1. Railways has and will remain the cheapest mode of transport for the middle and lower class of India. Transporting millions of people across the country everyday, trains are the preferred mode of travel for most Indians. Depending upon the distance and the class, fares can start from as low as Rs.15 and can cost as much as a flight ticket. Sleeper class fares are kept low and in reach of the lower middle class. But, you get what you pay for, and in this class, in the name of affordability comes a dirty coach, a very very stinky and unhygienic toilet and an that stays with you even after the journey. Food served (not included in fare) is subpar, though quality has significantly improved over the past few years.

A/C fares, have been artificially pegged higher for reasons best known to all the ex-railway ministers. Packing sardines into a freezer should not cost your an arm and a leg. How else did the ex-Railway minister, Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav manage to introduce exclusive 3rd class A/C trains at nearly 1/3 the fare of that on a regular train? Added to this is the fact that he managed to somehow fit a third birth into the side sleeper. Pack more sardines. And the best part of these trains is the name – Garib Rath – which means – A charriot for the poor.  If the poor man had that kind of money, he’d spend it on some food and decent clothing.

Railway stations do not fare any better. Important junctions and tiny little stations alike, there is an apathy towards hygiene and little is done to ensure comfort for travellers. Rest areas or whatever they are called, are dirty, dark rooms with a few chairs strewn around. People with connecting trains are left to fend for themselves on the platform and they often end up sitting on their luggage since there always seems to be a serious dearth of seating space in most busy stations.  Railway tracks accommodate a whole breed of germs and species ranging from rats, dogs and sheep to human and animal excreta lying around in a mess of plastic covers, bottles and bags. Add to that are people spitting exclusive juices obtained by fermenting ghutka with saliva for a couple of hours in the mouth; and you have a recipe for the most extravagant fragrance ever.

One of the (not so) recent facility that allows customers to book tickets online is a boon and with Tatkal(last moment) ticketing and with travel websites allowing online booking, it definitely has become easier to travel, allowing them to avoid the great Indian rush and queues at reservation counters.

Verdict: Cheap but gross.

2. Buses are a nice option for those have the extra buck to spend and are willing to forego access to a toilet for the duration of the journey. This actually could be an advantage since you do not have to bear with a stinky toilet at all.  Buses have been catching up with trains ever since private operators were allowed to ply on the roads. Goverment run buses were forced to match up with the quality of their private counterparts and have remarkably managed to do so. The main areas of concern remain poorly(hardly) maintained public bus stations and the lack of bus bays for private operators.

Another major concern is the quality of drivers hired by both private and public operators alike.  Public bus drivers do not fear anything, and in an accident can simply walk away since the government protects its employees. RTC (Road Transport Corporation) buses are often seen overtaking when you think is absolutely impossible and often drive way too dangerously. On the other hand, private operators might resort to employing subpar drivers in order to save costs, thus endangering the lives of those in the bus and on the road.

Verdict : Comfortable, but dangerous.

3. Air travel remained a dream for most of India’s middle class until the start of the 21st century, when the entry of private operators coupled with increased salaries(thanks to IT) allowed 2nd and 1st A/C train travellers to opt to travel by air. Low cost airlines of the likes of Kingfisher and Spice changed the way India travelled, though this celebration didn’t last long. Airline fares are tightly coupled with crude prices and with crude touching $145 at one time, it was increasingly becoming difficult for the airlines and the government to bear the burden and this was eventually passed onto customers.

This fuel commodity trading bubble burst with the start of the world economic recession. The airline industry has had to survive through all the job cuts and salary cuts. While some of them have managed to stay afloat, air travel faces another challenge.

Tremendous growth in air traffic led by the boom meant airports got packed over capacity and air space got congested. Governments of various states decided that it was time to move onto bigger airports. But, this came a bit too late. By this time cities had vastly expanded and become ‘Greater’ cities and the only way to get a bigger airport was to build them outside the city. Public Private partnership also meant that the private contractor would not want the old airport running, lest they lose money. This effectively meant that cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore no longer had a local airport. Instead, citizens were forced to travel miles across to a location outside city limits. Lack of proper and fast connectivity rendered the once comfortable air travel into a huge traffic headache.

Verdict: Fast, but not so fast due to distance to airports and time needed to check-in.

4. Private transport or owned vehicles are quickly becoming one of the preferred mode of inter-city travel, often within the state. Traveling by a motorcycle or a Maruti 800 over distances farther than a couple of hundred kilometers is a great pain in the rear and lack of safer and faster alternatives effectively prevented Indians from traveling too far on their puny and uncomfortable vehicles. But, with the advent of newer vehicles, came better power and comfort, and Indians are now traveling far longer than their previous generation did.

Still, Indian roads require one of the highest amount of concentration on the road when compared to those of other (non-Asian) countries. A non-exhaustive list of hurdles and speed-killers on Indian roads include: potholes; manholes; autos that are either parked or drive extremely slow right in the middle of the road; buses and other cars trying to overtake when not-supposed to; tractors; shepherds with sheep/goats; straying buffaloes; well elevated speed-bumps; stray pedestrians; drunk bicyclers; naxalites and robbers. Coupled with these is the fact that most of the existing ‘highways’ are extremely insufficient, narrow 2 laners. It is only recently that a few of these highways were ‘upgraded’. I guess the government thought that we had sacrificed enough lives to please the God of roads. However, these upgraded highways were built for current traffic and extra lanes will be needed within a few years to carry the ever-increasing number of cars on the road.

The icing on the cake is when the day turns into the night when people decide to blind others using the dipper light. These lights almost destroy the vision of  the driver coming from the opposite end temporarily, and many a time, I’ve had to either slow down or completely stop so I could see what was coming.

Verdict: Comfortable for passengers. Nightmare for the driver.

So, have you decided the best mode of travel in this country? Well, I shall remain confused.