Pre-book your Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport transfer

Kolkata still has more ways to move than most Indian cities: the metro, the suburban railway, city buses, ferries on the Hooghly, and the tram. The metro is the straightforward one for a visitor. The Blue Line has long run north–south through the city.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport now has a metro station on the Yellow Line, Jai Hind Bimanbandar, on the stretch from Noapara. From Noapara you can change toward the rest of the network. The station is the public-transport answer to the airport. It is still a metro, with its own hours, and a hotel off the line still needs a road at the end. Suburban trains and the long-distance station at Howrah or Sealdah are elsewhere in the city, not inside the terminal.

Park Street, the river and the southern neighbourhoods are easy to name and uneven to reach. A pre-booked car keeps that last address fixed before you land.

Hours, stops and fares on public transport are set by the operator and they change. What is written here is the shape of the network, not a live timetable. Check the operator on the day you travel.

Booking the transfer with Buddy on Move is the reliable way through Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, because the arrangements are finished before you land. You are not comparing a rank of cars at the kerb, and you are not guessing a meter. On this page you set the airport and the other stop, a hotel, a home or an address, then the date, the time and the vehicle. The fare shown is the full price for that ride. Checkout does not add a booking fee, and the amount stays the same after you pay. If you need the return as well, you add it with its own time and you still see one total before any payment.

After you pay, Buddy arranges a driver for that transfer. The meeting place at the airport is the arrivals meeting point. This is not a hunt for a name on a scrap of paper. The driver's name, phone and vehicle appear on the trip before pickup, so you know who you are walking toward. The same booking works in the other direction, from your door back to the airport, which is often the early-morning ride public transport is worst at. Add the flight number when the airport is the pickup. Buddy uses it to coordinate if the arrival time changes, and does not follow the flight on a live status feed. The driver waits up to 60 minutes after the scheduled landing.

The booking itself is short on purpose. People and bags, so the vehicle you choose actually fits. A date and a time. A stop you can point to. There is no second negotiation when the car arrives, because the fare was already the fare. If the plan changes, you can cancel up to 24 hours before pickup for a full refund of the transfer fare. The cancellation page is there if you want the conditions in full. An airport pickup in India can be booked for the current time or any later time.

Public transport remains a good choice when you are light on luggage, inside the hours the trains or buses run, and close to a station. Buddy is the easy choice when any of those is untrue: a family, a late flight, a resort off the line, or simply an address you would like to reach without planning three connections. You confirm the fare, you pay, and a driver is arranged for that one ride.