VII – Taking the bus in Bangalore

As I live about 5km away from the place I work at I usually take the bus there and back. When you take the bus in Bangalore you have three options: A/C, non-A/C and private. As you can probably imagine, the A/C bus is the most expensive. It costs about twice as much as the non-A/C bus. What you get is air conditioning, which is especially nice on hot days. And due to their price the A/C buses are much less crowded. Considering that it takes the bus an entire hour to make the five kilometers I take the A/C bus every day. You might call me a spoiled, wimpy western girl but I am telling you: It’s worth it not having to stand crammed into a bus with far too many people, not being able to see anything, much less move.

Also, strangely, there are many more A/C buses running than non-A/C buses, although a lot of people cannot afford paying extra for the bus. I guess you could call this capitalism at its finest…

As for the private buses: They are not run by an official entity, they are colorful, they do not have air conditioning and their whole business is centered around cramming as many people as possible into their old vehicles, offering them a fare that is cheaper by about 5 Euro-cents per ride. I have taken a private bus once and decided that my safety is well worth ten cents per day. 

Two private buses parked at a bus stand. The left one is a “Rolls Royce” ;)

The private buses are very colorful, nicely decorated, there is cheerful Bollywood music playing and sometimes they even show movies. The drivers are crazy, there are no safety precautions.