Traditional Means

Walking

In ancient times, people often covered long distances on foot. For instance, Adi Sankaracharya traveled all over India. Even today it is not uncommon for people in rural areas to commute several kilometers every day.

Bullock carts have been traditionally used for transport, especially in rural India. They can still be seen in many of the cities and villages. In the recent years some of the cities have banned the movement of bullock carts and other slow moving vehicles on the main roads during daytime.

Palanquin

A photo of country made palanquin at Banaras. C. 1890s

Palanquins or "palkee" was one of the luxurious methods used by the rich and nobles for travelling purposes. This was primarily used in the olden days to carry the deity or idol of the god (many temples have sculptures of god being carried in a palki) later on during 15th century we have references that the nobles were also using it for transportation. Girls and ladies from rich families were ferried in palkee and were escorted by males riding on horses.

The word "Palkee" came from the word 'Palanki'. The Portuguese called it "Palan Queem" and the Britishers "Palan Queen". In Sanskrit it is called as "palkee". In Tamil it is called as "Pallakku". During the fifteenth century many Muslim families used it. Gradually many landlords and people with royalty also started using it. Modern use of the palanquin is limited to being an ostentatious method for the bride to make her entrance at some Indian weddings.

Horse carriages

The advent of the British saw drastic improvements in the horse carriages which were used for transport since early days. To today they are used in smaller towns and are referred as "Tonga", and buggies (Victories of Bombay) are still used for tourist purposes around india.The horse carriages are now rarely found in india.

Cycle rickshaw

From the early part of the century the bicycle rickshaws also became popular and are still used in rural India. They are bigger than a tricycle where two people can sit on an elevated seat at the back and a person will pedal (driver) from the front. In urban areas they have been mostly superseded by auto rickshaws.

Bicycles

Bicycles are an important mode of travel for much of India. A significant prejudice against bicycle riding for transportation exists in some segments of the population, generally stemming from the status symbol aspect of the motor vehicle.

In India, the word "bike" generally means motorbike, and "cycle" means bicycle.

Manually pulled rickshaw

A Manually pulled rickshaw in Kolkata

This type of transport was prevalent until 2005 in Kolkata wherein a person pulls the rickshaw. The Government of West Bengal banned these rickshaw in 2005 describing them "inhuman". While this was lauded in general, questions about alternative means of livelihood of those who directly or indirectly depend on hand pulled rickshaws were not immediately addressed. Manually pulled rickshaws are still a common sight on the streets of Kolkata.