“Cheap, very cheap, only 50 rupees !”
“Do you know where we’re going ?”
“No, but I cheap !”
That’s probably how you are going to be greeted as soon as you step out of any airport in India. This is the country of the mythical yet illusive motorized TUK-TUK ! Tuk-tuk drivers needs to be col-blooded to zig-zag through the city traffic with these little vehicles, cars, buses, people, cattle, carts, anything could be in your way ! Going on a tuk-tuk could be an awesome experience as well as a horrible one, during our stay in India we experienced all kind of stuff, reason for which I thought about giving you an idea of a few tips we found out by ourselves.
1. Bargain before you hop on it !
Rarely we ever found a tuk-tuk driver saying the right price for a certain journey, the price were always pumped up by at least 2 times than what we were supposed to pay ! Because we’re white tourist ? Because we looked young and not prepared ? I really don’t know but the amount of times that happened is infinite. The positive new is that you’re gonna find loads of tuk-tuk in most of the places. If the price of one doesn’t suit you even after the negotiation, go an look for another one, even stop it on the side of the road if necessary. Until you find the right one don’t give up. After a few minutes of bargaining you’ll start to have an idea yourself of a fair price for the journey.
2. Be sure to know the distance you’re gonna be covering !
Whenever you’ll tell the driver where you wanna go, they will start saying telling you how much that place is far from there. Obviously, since the price of the journey is related to its distance, they will try to tell you that the place you wanna go is far, that its x kilometers, that bla bla bla… The day before you want go somewhere with a tuk-tuk, check the distance from your starting point to your monument/place to see so you know the correct distance (google maps has been a gem).
3. Don’t trust the driver, ever…
It may seem a bit exaggerate to say but never too sure right ? It happened to us of drivers trying to tell us that “roads are closed”, “accident has happened”, “monument is close”, suggesting other places or routes we should take. Well, be smart enough to stick to your plan and don’t pay attention to these excuses. There’s a 110% chance that the drivers will tell you this to bring you to a textile shop of their friend, jewelry showroom or else, which casually its nearby to the “new” route you’re gonna do !
By meticulously keeping track of the “tuk-fares” we payed in the places we’ve been, we came up with some solid numbers as well. We found out that the fair price of a tuk-tuk can vary in range of 20-30INR/km. The total price will highly depend on your bargaining skills as well; in fact, a good bargaining could save you even a good 80% off the initial price ! Here a few useful numbers to help you when you’ll be there:
Travel Distance 10km = > 250-300INR
Travel Distance 8km = > 150-200INR
Travel Distance 3-5km = > 100-150INR
Travel Distance 2km or less => 20-80INR
Remember that sometimes fares might be a little more expensive if you’re taking a ride in the evening/night time. Fares will also vary a little bit depending on the city you’re visiting (we tuk-tuks in Pondicherry, Kumbakonam, Trichy, Madurai, Munnar, Kochi, New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi). For example, in Jaipur we paid 20INR for a ride of 3km, whereas in New Delhi we decided to walk as they asked us 70INR for just for 1km !
So the question now is, will you tuk a tuk-tuk ?
PLANNING A TRIP TO INDIA? CHECK MORE GUIDES BELOW!
[pt_view id=”4a9afaau8d”]