The Affordable ride, Hyderabad

Getting around the Hyderabad by Buses is very cheap.

Buses are operated by APSRTC ( Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Coperation).

The APSRTC operates point to point bus services which connects all the places within the Hyderabad city.

If you are game for it, ask for a lift. Being a local native and having seen and experienced the attitude of locals, if you are a tourist, you will most probably find ppl stopping their bikes, two wheelers, (not cars though) to give you a short free ride, for about 2 -3 kms. This is for those times when you have a short distance to travel and the 3-wheeler auto guy will never agree to drive that distance and even if he does, he will rip you off with an exaggerated fare!

So here's the exercise, just stand near the foot path and extend your thumb up, jus like Barrack Obama does, you will have a few good souls stopping by to give you a lift or a free ride.

This tip is of absolutely no use to a women. Women tourists should never ever ask for a lift here as that has many many connotations, permutations, and combinations. So woman, never ask for a lift here!

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The cheapest means to get around is the yellow colour auto-rickshaw or mini-taxi, but you will need a strong heart largely because of the way the drivers move around and the lack of road courtesy. These are available almost everywhere. The potholes in the ground, however, can make such rides very bumpy. While in Hyderabad, I read in the newspaper that there is a high incidence of bad back probelms among the residents arising from years of using these auto rickshaws.

When you are touring India and the guide book mentioned that road trip to next destination is more than 6 hours, it is always worthwhile to take a train. In India, train transportation is considered the best and economical. It's also the only mode of transportation where you get to rest (sleep) if you catch a night sleeper train. Even the tourist pay the same rate like locals and sometime you get to purchase tickets from special counters meant for tourists and senior citizen.

I have not filled in the train details yet. Once I search out my infor, I will come back and populate the details.

The best way to get aorund HYD is in a Auto. They try to con you a bit, but thats OK, as the prices are very low and you hardly loose few 10's. Talk to them lil friendly and they will not charge you extra.

Safe way is to book a call taxi, they charge you by KM's travelled, and are pretty cheap. You need to call them 10 mins before and they will reach you. One of the service number i remember is : 23242526.

Yellow rikshaws, ring a bell?
..hmmm....I....well....
what??? You still haven't try it, what are you waiting for?

Cheap and definitely unique experience, however be prepared for all kinds of smog.
Anyhow..you can negotiate the price.
It's really suitable when you can make deal for whole day and even for couple of days, that way you're sure and don't have to think on finding transportation for every drive you want make.
Drivers are mostly friendly, but it can happen that they don't understand English very well, so try with a map or write down name of the place you want to go and good luck!

For decades now, the auto has been the most common and integral part of Hyderabad. All u have to say if u wanna board one of these 3 wheelers is "Auto chalte kya" which means would u come along. n he would say chalo. We hyderabadi's share a love-hate relationships with the auto-drivers. We desist them but they are always there when we desperately need to reach a destination. The auto has almost become synonymous with Hyderabad.Traveling by the autos has become the part and parcel of Hyderabadi life. While in most other cities of India it is the cabs that are heavily used for traveling in the city, in the city of Hyderabad the autos have been growing in strength. It is indeed a surprise that a happening city like Hyderabad hardly has any popular cab services. It was only just about recently that a City Cabs have been pressed into service.

But the small autos have competition in the form of 7-seater autos all over the city and outskirts. The seven seater autos are run on diesel and are very airy and cheap. Its fun travellin in them but not safe though.

Hyderabad finally has its own Metro and definetely a new attraction - the Multi Modal Transport System or MMTS. So the next time you are in the twin cities, you may look at this new train taking you between Hyderabad and Secunderabad at blazing speeds, which saves your time and money. Thanks to the Indian Railways and backed by Chief Minister and 'CEO' Chandrababu Naidu.

This local train coves bout 30 km between Secunderabad-Hyderabad covering some major stations- more stations will be added enroute. It goes thru secunderabad - James Street - Sanjivaiah Park - Begumpet - Borabanda - Hi-Tech City - and Lingampalli. In Hyderabad - It connects Necklace Road Sanjiviah Park and Begumpet.

Unlike others metros like the one in UK and Europe, the tickets are not exorbitantly priced. Ticket for the train is also valid and can be used for travelling in the city buses aswell.