Trying to figure out if buses and metros in India take cards or if Ill need small cash. Any recent experiences?
Cash cash cash. I did a whole trip from north to west of india - rajasthan, delhi, hrishikesh, gujarat, mumbai etc. i'd say 70% of the time i had to pay by cash, it was just easier and faster. online bookings i paid by card. general rule i came up with - if super local short distance buses, cash is the way. long distance and goood comfortable buses, they take cards. but i see cards being taken when you buy a ticket at the counter and not necessarily when you buy it on the bus itself.
Trying to figure out if buses and metros in India take cards or if Ill need small cash. Any recent experiences?
Oh I had a whole variety of experience on this. So there are public buses and private bus companies. then within those, there are public higher class (AC, better seats, less stopping) kind of buses and the super local stopping everywhere, no air con, common seats kind of buses. on private - usually they have AC, non-AC but assigned seats, sleeper seats etc. If you are an Indian, pretty much all of these kinds have like prepaid cards, apps you can pay via. but as a foreigner, I was buying tickets last minute. so if i booked online on an app for a cross state bus, i paid online in advance. where i just got on the bus without a ticket, i paid cash (i am sure if i did more research on what app locals were using, could have prepaid that by card too and i did see some buses have like QR codes you can scan and pay, but did not see full fledged swiping or POS machines where you can tap and pay types). so net net -- just take cash if you're gonna be spontanious with your plans. if you're gonna take a proper private company cross state kind of a bus you can pay by card at the terminal counter or online.
Local buses inside the cities will not, at least the ones i used in Mumbai (non AC ones), unless you have a pass you have bought before. i did pay via card at the Mumbai-Pune intercity bus terminal ticket counter. but honestly, you're better off having cash, i also say this because the lines are so long and sooo many people that the transaction is just super fast if you pay by cash.
Trying to figure out if buses and metros in India take cards or if Ill need small cash. Any recent experiences?
Oh they are always super willing to take cash - India loves cash. It mainly depends on how you're getting your ticket. so if you're taking like a local intra city bus and buying the ticket on the bus, you're better off having cash. not all buses you can swipe cards, only a handful. if you're taking like an intercity and interstate bus and if you are booking online via like redbus or any app or irctc website - then you can pay by card. if you are paying at the bus stop at the office of a tour company - i have seen that they prefer cash but many of them, depending on the size of the company, will have card machines too.