India Guide
West Bengal
Getting around
The Metro, India's first and Kolkata's pride and joy, provides a fast, clean and efficient way to get around. It's also very easy to use, as it consists of just the one line running on a north– south axis. The river is also used for transport, with the ghats near Eden Gardens at the hub of a ferry system. You can beat the traffic by jumping on one of the frequent ferries from Chandpal Ghat to Howrah Station (Rs4), though they're crowded at rush hour; other sailings head downriver from Armenian, Chandpal or Babu ghats to Shibpur near the Botanical Gardens. Of more use to commuters than tourists, a circular railway loops south from Sealdah Station before moving upriver along the Strand and Princep Ghat, past Howrah Bridge and eventually to Dum Dum, with an extension to the airport. While using public transport, be wary of pickpockets, especially on crowded buses.
Despite a few small hiccups, Kolkata's Russian-designed Metro, inaugurated in 1984, is every bit as good as its inhabitants proudly claim, with trains operating punctually every few minutes. Services run from 7am to 9.45pm Monday to Saturday and 3pm to 9.45pm on Sundays. Tickets are cheap, starting at Rs4, and you can travel the entire length of the line from Dum Dum near the airport to Tollygunge in the south for just Rs8. The line follows Kolkata's main arteries including Chowringhee Road, with convenient stations such as Park Street, Kalighat, Esplanade and Rabindra Sadan. For more information, visit 
www.kolmetro.com .
Kolkata supports a vast and complicated bus network (for route information, check www.calcuttaweb.com ), in operation each day roughly between 5am and 11pm, and subject to overcrowding and pickpocketing. Useful bus routes include: #8 from Howrah via Esplanade and Gariahat; #S17 from Chetla near Kalighat via Esplanade to Dakshineshwar; and #5 and #6, which both travel via Howrah and the Esplanade– Chowringhee area, and stop at the Indian Museum at the head of Sudder Street; #5 goes to Garia in the south via Rabindra Sadan and Kalighat. The #C6 travels via Chowringhee, passing the top of Park Street before crossing the Vidyasagar Setu (the second bridge over the Hooghly) to the Botanical Gardens. Buses with an "S" prefix denote special express buses charging marginally more. Of the six Executive (Green Line) bus routes, the #GL1 runs from Esplanade to the airport. Recently, air-conditioned, white buses called Whiteliners have been introduced, with regular services between Tollygunge (via Gariahat) and the airport.
In addition, private brown-and-yellow minibuses travel at inordinate speeds on ad-hoc routes; their destinations are usually painted boldly in Bengali and English on their sides; getting on and off can be hazardous, as they tend not to pull over to the kerb to stop.
Taxis in Kolkata – painted black and yellow – are extremely good value, especially on long journeys such as to and from the airport (around Rs200 for a twenty-kilometre ride), but a few drivers can be unwilling to take you on short journeys or directions they don't like the sound of. Sudder Street's taxi touts are particularly averse to haggling, and you're better off walking around the corner and flagging down a cab. There's a night-time surcharge between 10pm and 6am; up to two pieces of luggage are free, but there's an additional charge for further pieces and for placing bags in the boot. Most cabs have working meters and tend to use them in conjunction with the conversion charts they are obliged to carry. Digital meters – very few taxis still operate the old manual ones – start on Rs15 (plus Rs1.50 per 200m) but this can almost double according to the chart, which is published in Cal Calling. When fare rises are announced, the Taxi Association finds it cheaper to issue the conversion charts rather than reset each and every meter. Where possible, you could also use the pre-paid taxi services found at the main railway stations and the airport. Recently, CNG gas-powered cabs, maroon in colour, offer an alternative to the city's diesel-choking vehicles, while the a/c Blue Arrow taxis ( 
13658 or 09239 244416) come equipped with tamper-proof meters that produce printed receipts; they can be found outside the airport, railway stations and major hotels. Car-Cab ( 033/2235 3535) is the most established of the private taxi firms.
Kolkata's cumbersome trams ( www.calcuttatramways.com ), barely changed save for a lick of paint since they started operating in 1873, have been phased down, but certain routes linger on. Despite the general dilapidation, they do have a quirky charm and provide an interesting way of seeing the city; female travellers may well be glad of the rush-hour women-only coaches. Routes include #20, Howrah Bridge via Sealdah to Park Circus; #25, BBD Bagh to Ballygunge via Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Park Circus; and #29, BBD Bagh to Tollygunge via the Maidan and Diamond Harbour Road, Alipore Road and Hazra Mor and Kalighat.
Despite the fact that they've been officially banned, Kolkata still has human-drawn rickshaws, though they're only available in the central areas of the city, especially around New Market where many drivers supplement their meagre income by acting as pimps. Rickshaws come into their own during the monsoons, when the streets get flooded to hip height and the rickshaw-men can extract healthy amounts of money for their pains. Most of the rickshaw-pullers are Bihari pavement-dwellers, who live short and very hard lives. Haggle for a realistic price but feel free to give a handful of baksheesh too.
Auto-rickshaws, rare in the centre of town, are used as shared taxis on certain routes (such as the Rashbehari to Gariahat; Rs4.50) and link with Metro stations in suburbs; try to avoid a share of the front cab as head-on collisions are frequent. Cycle rickshaws, banned from much of the city, are only available in outlying suburbs.