Coming back the same day, a round trip costs less than two one-way fares on every one of the 2 routes below — by ₹340 on Jaipur to Ajmer. Staying away for several days is where that turns round, and it is the part most people are not told.
How each one is priced
A one-way fare is a fixed price for a single journey, from your door in one city to your door in the other. The driver and the car still have to get home afterwards, and that empty return is part of what a one-way fare pays for — which is why a one-way trip is not simply half of a round trip.
A round trip is priced by the kilometre for the whole journey, out and back, with the same driver and car throughout. There is a floor: at least 250 km is billed for each day the car is with you. For a same-day return, the distance there and back is almost always more than that, so the floor never comes into it.
The figures on six routes
In a hatchback — the smallest car, and the fare most people compare — with the return on the same day. Tolls, parking and state tax are left out of all three columns, because they are paid the same way on either kind of booking.
| Route | One way | Two one-way fares | Round trip | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaipur → Ajmer163 km | ₹1,800 | ₹3,600 | ₹3,260 | ₹340 less |
| Jaipur → Delhi306 km | ₹3,200 | ₹6,400 | ₹6,120 | ₹280 less |
On every route here the round trip wins for a same-day return. The size of the saving does not follow the distance neatly, because the one-way fares are set route by route while a round trip is a rate multiplied out. That is also why it is worth checking the route you actually want rather than assuming from one you have seen.
Does the saving hold in a bigger car?
The same comparison on Jaipur to Delhi, in each of the four cars. The vans are left out because they are only booked as round trips, so there is nothing to compare them with.
| Car | One way | Two one-way fares | Round trip | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatchback | ₹3,200 | ₹6,400 | ₹6,120 | ₹280 less |
| Dzire | ₹3,500 | ₹7,000 | ₹6,730 | ₹270 less |
| Ertiga | ₹4,200 | ₹8,400 | ₹7,960 | ₹440 less |
| Innova Crysta | ₹6,000 | ₹12,000 | ₹11,020 | ₹980 less |
In every car the round trip is the cheaper booking for a same-day return — by between ₹270 and ₹980 on this route. The saving is not the same in each, which is the reason to look at the car you will actually book rather than the smallest one.
When one way is the better booking
When you are staying. The daily floor is the thing to watch. A round trip to Ajmer and back on the same day bills 326 km. Keep the car for two days and at least 500 km is billed, whether or not it is driven — the driver and the car are yours for both days and cannot take anyone else. On a short route, a stay of two or three days is enough for two separate one-way fares to come out cheaper. Put your return date into the booking form and the round-trip fare it shows counts every day.
The floor works the other way on a long route. Jaipur to Delhi and back is 612 km — already more than two days of the 250 km minimum — so staying one night does not raise the kilometres billed. What a night away adds is the night allowance, which is not part of the fare the form shows.
When you are not coming back by road. If the return is by train or by air, there is nothing to share between the two legs, and a one-way booking is simply the right one.
When the return date is unknown. A round trip is booked with its return in it. If you do not yet know when you are coming back, book the outward journey one way and the return when you know.
When the round trip is the better booking
A day out. Out in the morning, back in the evening: this is what a round trip is priced for, and the table shows what it saves.
Stops along the way. The same driver waits while you are somewhere and carries on when you are ready, which two separate one-way bookings cannot do.
Anything that needs the same car. Luggage left in the boot, your own child seat fitted once, a driver who knows where you are staying.
What is the same either way
Both are fixed before you travel: the fare shown when you book is the fare. Both include the driver, the fuel and GST. Neither includes toll, parking or state entry tax, which are paid as they arise on the road. A night allowance of ₹250 applies after 10 pm. And both can be paid in cash to the driver at the end of the trip.
How to book each
The booking form on every route page has three tabs — one way, round trip and hourly. Choose round trip and it asks for the return date and time as well, and the fare it shows is for those dates, with at least 250 km billed for each day the car is out. The route list has every route with a published fare; journeys that are not on it are quoted on distance when you call.