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Getting There

Getting There

For a major capital, Bombay is quite easy to negotiate. This is because most tourist facilities are concentrated in one place: a narrow 3-km (2-mile) strip running down from Churchgate to the bottom end of the island (Bombay is connected to the mainland by a series of bridges). This strip is bounded to the south-east by the Taj Hotel, Colaba, and to the south-west by the Oberoi Hotel, Narimari Point. The former hotel is in the area of most of the budget hotels, the latter is in the ‘classy’ end of town where you’ll find many of the airline offices, banks and snobby hotels! Irestaurants.

For transport round town, you’re best off with (black and yellow) taxis. They normally know where they’re going, and many carry electronic tamper-proof meters. Taxi rates in Bombay are revised every time there is a petrol price rise or devaluation in the value of the rupee. Consequently, while a meter may indicate a Rs2 fare the tariff card displayed in the taxi will show Rs10. Also, the meter clocks up time, not distance, so traffic jams can be expensive. As a general guide, a clear 2-km run from Colaba to Nariman Point (from the Taj to the Oberoi Hotels) should cost about Rs10.) Auto-rickshaws are on a similar metering system, and are usually restricted to airport!suburb routes.

Horse-drawn carriages or ‘Victorias’ can be found at the Gateway of India for an evening promenade up Marine Drive—also at Bombay Central and Chowpatty. Catching local buses is real pot-luck: drivers tear across town like men possessed, passengers tumble off like D-Day landing forces hitting the beaches, but it’s all great fun, and very cheap. There’s only one problem: how do you find the right bus and bus-stop when the numbers on both are so often in Hindi? For what it’s worth, BEST bus depot in Colaba (next to Electric House) sell a decent local bus timetable.

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