Navigating Pettah bus stand chaos with large backpacks and avoiding touts
6 Answers from travellers
Do not talk to anyone standing outside the terminal doors offering "help" or claiming the bus is cancelled. Walk directly into the massive parking lot. The buses have digital signs or painted boards in English in the front window. If you cannot find it, ask ONLY a driver sitting in the drivers seat of a parked bus, or a police officer. Keep your backpacks tight, as pickpockets operate in the narrow gaps between buses.
The AC buses to the south are mostly lined up on the far right side of the Bastian Mawatha terminal.
Put your bags in the rear trunk before boarding, otherwise there is zero legroom inside.
No, you board, take a seat, and the conductor will come around with a ticket machine once the bus is moving.
Touts will try to grab your bags and physically pull you toward an overpriced private van. Just yank your bag back and say NO loudly.
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