Now in Bikaner http://bikaner.nic.in/h1.htm , on the east edge of the Thar Desert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thar_Desert near the border with Pakistan. There are few trains to this area as its the last town of any significance before the desert really kicks in. There are only 2 trains that head here but both arrive very late at night, which I wanted to avoid.
So in Jaipur I did some web searches for buses from Jaipur to Bikaner, but unlike air and rail travel where there are excellent web-based services such as http://www.cleartrip.com/ which makes purchasing train and plane tickets stunningly effortless (Train tickets used to only be available at train stations where you could wait in line, for an hour or more going from counter to counter filling out arcane request forms asking such absurd questions as father's occupation, date of birth, etc).
So without the amazing (and taken for granted efficiency of web transactions) I walked over to Station Rd where the buses leave from. I finally found a bus going the next morning and the booking agent had these books with each page a seating diagram for a particular bus. He put me in seat #4 and I paid him $1.50 for the 7 hour 240 mile journey. I noticed that few other seats were taken.
As I was walking home, I was wondering how they make any money at that price. I was to find out shorty.
Next morning I get on the bus and there are only a handful of people when the bus starts moving. I am thinking 'whoa this is great, I may even be able to get out the laptop and get some work done".
Over the 4 or 5 stops still in Jaipur the bus got fuller and fuller. People kept stream on so that by the time we were on the outskirts we had more than 130 in a bus with seating for 42. The isle was completely packed from back to front. The "sleeper" compartments an inch above my head were not filled with just two people as designed but 10 or more. People were standing packed in the entrance way as well as around the driver.
These folks stood the entire 7 hours.
The children, of which there were dozens, didn't make a peep of boredom or discomfort.
So in Jaipur I did some web searches for buses from Jaipur to Bikaner, but unlike air and rail travel where there are excellent web-based services such as http://www.cleartrip.com/ which makes purchasing train and plane tickets stunningly effortless (Train tickets used to only be available at train stations where you could wait in line, for an hour or more going from counter to counter filling out arcane request forms asking such absurd questions as father's occupation, date of birth, etc).
So without the amazing (and taken for granted efficiency of web transactions) I walked over to Station Rd where the buses leave from. I finally found a bus going the next morning and the booking agent had these books with each page a seating diagram for a particular bus. He put me in seat #4 and I paid him $1.50 for the 7 hour 240 mile journey. I noticed that few other seats were taken.
As I was walking home, I was wondering how they make any money at that price. I was to find out shorty.
Next morning I get on the bus and there are only a handful of people when the bus starts moving. I am thinking 'whoa this is great, I may even be able to get out the laptop and get some work done".
Over the 4 or 5 stops still in Jaipur the bus got fuller and fuller. People kept stream on so that by the time we were on the outskirts we had more than 130 in a bus with seating for 42. The isle was completely packed from back to front. The "sleeper" compartments an inch above my head were not filled with just two people as designed but 10 or more. People were standing packed in the entrance way as well as around the driver.
These folks stood the entire 7 hours.
The children, of which there were dozens, didn't make a peep of boredom or discomfort.
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