Unlike going and coming back from classes by a taxi provided by the
program we preferred not to move by a car in Delhi. Instead we were
using Metro, Rikshaw and of course Bike.
METRO is the best means of transport in Delhi. It's very comfortable and flexible. We went to the Metro on the very first day оf my arrival and I was amazed to see how well designed and organized it was. After several days almost all our group members had already learned the metro map by heart and could move around the city quite confidently. Whenever anyone was telling us a name of a place to visit we would open up our Delhi map to find it and then Metro map to see the route.
Despite of having a Metro in Yerevan and being used to traveling by it whole my life I saw a big difference between these two in Yerevan and in Delhi. Just imagine the one in Yerevan has only 1 line with 9 stations and short trains have two coaches. Delhi Metro has 6 lines with more than 142 stations covering almost all Delhi area and Gurgaon as well.
It surprised me a lot when I saw police checking points at the stations with two different gates for both male and female. That was new to me and quite strange but in the meantime I felt more safe in a big and diverse city like Delhi. Another difference was double entry barriers at station for both entrance and exit. You can buy either a token informing the cashier about the station you want to get off or a smart card. Tokens for each destination have different value. While entering the station you put the token on the display of the entry barrier and you leave it inside the entry barrier while leaving metro. Similarly it goes with the smart card and while putting it on the display the system is calculating the value of your destination and charges accordingly. So being unfamiliar to this I would always forget to get my card out again while leaving the station and would create queues after me trying to find it in my purse.
It was a huge fun every time being in Metro in a group of foreigners accompanied by an Indian(s). We would speak in different languages attracting the passengers' attention to us who were trying to hide their smile especially when we were repeating the announcements like "kripya, darvazoon se hat kar khare ho" or "Agla station Udyog Bhavan hai". believe me it sounded quite funny and even we were laughing at ourselves. Whenever my sweetheart was not with us (it happened rarely) we were taking special coaches for women. These are separate coaches only for women to make their travel by metro more comfortable and troubleless.
Within
two months of my stay in Delhi only once I traveled by Metro alone when
I left the girls with their shopping at CP to get back to the hotel for
another meeting. Imagine that was also the only time when the automatic
announcement machine got broken and I couldn't get where actually I
was. When I decided to clarify it with the lady standing next to me it
appeared that I missed my station:)
Unfortunately, it was prohibited to take photos inside Metro. Especially I regret about one poster which was announcing "Spitting in Metro is prohibited". However my friends managed to click some and I'll post one here. Hope they don't mind:)
METRO is the best means of transport in Delhi. It's very comfortable and flexible. We went to the Metro on the very first day оf my arrival and I was amazed to see how well designed and organized it was. After several days almost all our group members had already learned the metro map by heart and could move around the city quite confidently. Whenever anyone was telling us a name of a place to visit we would open up our Delhi map to find it and then Metro map to see the route.
Despite of having a Metro in Yerevan and being used to traveling by it whole my life I saw a big difference between these two in Yerevan and in Delhi. Just imagine the one in Yerevan has only 1 line with 9 stations and short trains have two coaches. Delhi Metro has 6 lines with more than 142 stations covering almost all Delhi area and Gurgaon as well.
It surprised me a lot when I saw police checking points at the stations with two different gates for both male and female. That was new to me and quite strange but in the meantime I felt more safe in a big and diverse city like Delhi. Another difference was double entry barriers at station for both entrance and exit. You can buy either a token informing the cashier about the station you want to get off or a smart card. Tokens for each destination have different value. While entering the station you put the token on the display of the entry barrier and you leave it inside the entry barrier while leaving metro. Similarly it goes with the smart card and while putting it on the display the system is calculating the value of your destination and charges accordingly. So being unfamiliar to this I would always forget to get my card out again while leaving the station and would create queues after me trying to find it in my purse.
 |
| Smart Card |
It was a huge fun every time being in Metro in a group of foreigners accompanied by an Indian(s). We would speak in different languages attracting the passengers' attention to us who were trying to hide their smile especially when we were repeating the announcements like "kripya, darvazoon se hat kar khare ho" or "Agla station Udyog Bhavan hai". believe me it sounded quite funny and even we were laughing at ourselves. Whenever my sweetheart was not with us (it happened rarely) we were taking special coaches for women. These are separate coaches only for women to make their travel by metro more comfortable and troubleless.
 |
| Metro Map. New stations are being constructed yet... |
Unfortunately, it was prohibited to take photos inside Metro. Especially I regret about one poster which was announcing "Spitting in Metro is prohibited". However my friends managed to click some and I'll post one here. Hope they don't mind:)
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