Buses in Mumbai

Saturday, August 19, 2006

I took a bus in Mumbai for the first time today.

The entrance of the bus is in the back and the exit is in the front. The doors don't close I think because on a crowded bus, people need to hang out of the bus. If you are slow in getting up the bus, the bus starts to move and you need to hang on tight to get on.

The bus number in the front of the bus is in Hindi. Only on the side, near the entrance of the bus, do you see the arabic numbers and the destination of the bus.

If you want to take a bus, you need to findout the bus number from a local first because not all the bus stops have signboards that tell you the bus route. Even if there were signboards, they may not be in English. Also, since there are no road signs, you won't know which road the sign is talking about. Up till now, I still don't know the names of the roads I pass by everyday simply because there are no road signs around.

Conductors still operate on the bus and it's really cheap. The starting fare for a bus ride is only 4 rupees, not even S$1.

So now, I have tried the domestic plane and the public bus in India. I have yet to try their inter-state trains and their subways. Hope to do so one day.