Gurgaon's Travel Problems

This post has been long overdue.Anyone who's been in Gurgaon and has had to travel locally will identify with what I have to say.

Gurgaon has no public transport.No buses.No trains.No autorickshaws.There are just the Kolkata-ishtyle man-pulled cycle-rickshaws which take people from place to place locally.But these are slow and take almost 4 times the time that a motor-vehicle would.People travelling within Gurgaon on business -and their kind is increasing- have no means of public transport.Pretty sad, coming from a city which seems to be exploding on the development front and is supposed to be competing with Bangalore as a major MNC/IT/BPO hub. This lack of public transport is a serious challenge for travelling salesmen, to people new in the city and the people on temporary stays - for whom, a personal vehicle isn't a viable option.

I was wondering what could be a good answer to this problem.The easiest would be ,of course, to go in for the 3-wheeler meter-based rickshaws which ply in most other cities.Which would be great.But the quick implementation of which would be difficult.

When I was in Goa a couple of years back, for the first few days,I did not have a vehicle to commute.There were the state run buses - which ran at their own speeds.But a quicker way to get around was using the 'pilot' - a guy on a bike who would transport you from one place to another at good speeds.Typically, you haul yourself onto the backseat and the pilot takes you to your destination for an agreed-upon priceThis is a state-supported concept in Goa - and it works great - because long distances are covered quicker on 2 wheelers - and the fuel-efficiency of the 2 wheeler keeps the costs affordable to the traveller and the operator.

Could this work in Gurgaon?Worth a try.