Taxi
Taxi in Tanda
Almost every car booked to Tanda is a car booked to the medical college. That makes this a different kind of taxi job — one that waits, does not know when it is finishing, and carries somebody who is not well.
- A car reaches you
- 10–15 min
- Pickup points
- 4 in Tanda
- Cars
- Maruti Dzire, Maruti Ertiga, Toyota Innova Crysta
Call +91 88941 60344Answered at any hour, in English or Hindi.
Tanda
In short
Yes, and we run these differently from an ordinary trip. Tanda means the medical college for nearly everybody who books a car here, so we quote it as a wait-and-return rather than as two separate fares — the driver stays, and there is no scramble to find a car late in the evening when you are finally discharged. A car reaches the campus in ten to fifteen minutes from our base in Kangra. Tell us it is a hospital run when you ring and the whole booking changes shape.
- A car reaches Tanda from our base in Kangra in ten to fifteen minutes.
- Kangra town is ten to fifteen minutes away, which is where most of these journeys start.
- A hospital booking is quoted as one wait-and-return fare, not as two separate trips.
- Outpatient queues start early, so most of these cars are booked before seven in the morning.
- We also meet overnight buses at the 53 Mile stop on the highway, a few minutes from the campus.
Where we meet you
The spots a car can actually wait
- Point 110–15 min from KangraThe medical college gate
The main entrance, and where we pick up and drop off unless somebody cannot walk that far. The approach is busy with ambulances and it is not a place to leave a car standing, so the driver waits in the parking area and comes forward when you ring rather than sitting at the gate. For a discharge, that means one phone call and about three minutes.
- Point 210–15 min from KangraThe outpatient block
Worth naming separately from the main gate because the two are a real walk apart and a patient who has been queuing since six in the morning should not be asked to do it. If somebody in your party has mobility trouble, say so when you book — the driver will come to the closer point and wait for the gap in the ambulance traffic rather than taking the easy option.
- Point 310–20 min from KangraThe 53 Mile stop on the highway
A milestone on the main road a few minutes from the campus, and the place overnight buses set people down when they are coming in for a morning appointment. There is no shelter and no rank, so this one is booked rather than chanced — and tell us which direction your bus is travelling, because it decides which side of the carriageway you will be standing on and crossing a highway in the dark with luggage is exactly what we are here to prevent.
- Point 410–20 min from KangraKangra town, for the outward leg
Where most Tanda journeys actually begin. Families come in from the valley or from Punjab, stay overnight in Kangra, and go out to the hospital early — so the booking is usually a Kangra pickup before dawn rather than a Tanda one. It is ten to fifteen minutes and the easiest part of the whole day.
From here
What people ask us to drive
Local detail
What it is like driving here
Getting a car in and out
The campus sits just off the main valley road east of Kangra and the drive itself is nothing — a few minutes of ordinary two-lane road that any car manages in any weather. What is difficult is the ground itself. It is a large teaching hospital and the traffic around the entrance is ambulances, which have priority and take it, so a car that parks near the gate is in the way within about ninety seconds. The parking area is a short distance back and it fills. None of that is a problem for a driver who has done it fifty times and all of it is a problem for one who has not, which is the practical argument for booking rather than flagging something down. The same is true of the 53 Mile stop up the road: nothing about driving to a milestone is hard, and everything about stopping at one safely is. We send a saloon or an Ertiga; the larger Travellers have nowhere sensible to sit here, and a family of eight is better in two cars that can each get to the door than in one that cannot.
Who rings us from Tanda
People having a difficult day, and the job is mostly about not adding to it. Tanda is the referral hospital for the whole of Kangra district and a good part of Chamba, so the patients come from a long way — a village three hours out, or from Punjab — and they arrive with an attendant or two, an appointment slip and no idea how long any of it will take. That uncertainty is the defining feature of the booking. An outpatient appointment might finish at eleven or at four. A relative being admitted might mean somebody needs driving home at midnight and back again at six. So we do not sell these as point-to-point fares. The driver stays, the price is agreed for the wait, and nobody is standing outside a hospital gate in the evening negotiating with a stranger. A smaller group arrive by overnight bus at the 53 Mile stop and walk into a morning appointment straight off it, which is its own kind of tired. The other half of this work is the opposite direction and quieter: discharges, where the patient is fragile, the family wants the smoothest route rather than the fastest, and the driver takes the corners accordingly.
The car
What we would send
Read more about this placeClose
Tanda is a village with a teaching hospital in it, and for the purposes of this page it is the hospital. Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College and Hospital is where Kangra district sends anything its smaller hospitals cannot handle, which means the people booking cars here have usually come a long way and are not enjoying the journey.
Why this is quoted differently
An ordinary taxi booking has two known ends. A hospital booking has one. You know when you need to arrive and you have no idea when you will be finished, and pricing that as two separate trips punishes you for something you cannot control.
So we quote the wait. The driver stays, the number is agreed in advance, and whether you come out at noon or late in the evening it is the same car and the same price.
Arriving by bus at 53 Mile
Some of the people who need this hospital arrive on an overnight coach that sets them down at 53 Mile, a milestone on the main road a few minutes away. There is nothing at it — no rank, no shelter, and two carriageways of fast traffic between the two sides.
If that is you, book it and tell us which direction the bus is coming from. The side of the road is the whole job at that hour, and we would far rather collect you than have you cross a highway in the dark with a bag.
Most of these journeys start in Kangra
Families come in the night before an early appointment and stay in town, which makes the outward leg ten or fifteen minutes and the easiest part of the day. Everything difficult happens after you get out of the car.
Questions
What people ask before they book here
Will the driver wait while we are at the hospital?
Yes, and that is the normal booking here rather than a special request. Tell us it is a hospital run and we quote a wait-and-return, so there is no second fare and nobody is hunting for a car at the end of a long day.
We do not know what time we will finish. Is that a problem?
No, and it is the usual case. Outpatient appointments run to their own schedule and admissions run to none at all. We would rather you gave us an honest "somewhere between noon and evening" than a time you have guessed, because the driver plans his day around what you actually tell him.
Can you take a patient who cannot walk far?
Say so when you book. The driver will come to the closer point rather than the main gate and will wait for a gap in the ambulance traffic to do it. We are a taxi rather than an ambulance — if somebody needs to be carried or needs oxygen, that is a different service and we will say so plainly.
Can you collect us from the 53 Mile bus stop?
Yes, and it is a common enough run from here to be worth planning properly. Give us the bus — the operator and which direction it is coming from — rather than a map pin, because that is what tells us which side of the road to be on. If your bus is badly late we will move the pickup to somewhere with shelter rather than leave you on a verge.
Can you collect us from Punjab and bring us to Tanda?
Yes. A lot of these journeys start in Punjab rather than in Himachal, and we run cars to Ludhiana, Amritsar and Pathankot regularly. For an early appointment it is usually better to come the night before and stay in Kangra than to drive through the night.