Today, a company called me for arranging interview. I wasn't able to give a date for interview because of my current workload. I said I have to check it and I will call them tomorrow.
I have to travel for 5-6 hours to another city for the interview.
Is it rude to ask HR personel on the phone if the company pays travel expenses for interview? If It is not bad what is the right way to ask?
Absolutely ask, albeit politely.
You may have some clues already about whether or not such a request is likely to be granted, based on whether or not the position you are interviewing for pays for relocation expenses or not.
But if there is any doubt or uncertainty, it does not hurt to ask whether or not they would be able to provide any reimbursement for travel expenses since the interview is quite a trek from where you live. If reimbursement is available, you may want to follow up with clarifying questions about whether the reimbursement only includes the bus tickets or whether it includes other expenses such as meals and hotel costs.
Point to keep in mind:
Do keep in mind that if the company isn't paying your travel expenses to get to the interview it probably won't pay to relocate you either, so you may opt to decline the interview if you can't afford to get there or to move. (from http://jobsearch.about.com/od/relocating/qt/interview-expenses.htm)
Of course, even if the employer will not reimburse you, the job search expenses might be tax deductible, even if you do not itemize your taxes.
In any case, I would ask.
If they reached out to you first, then its very reasonable to expect the company to pay to get you to their office to interview.
Similarly, if you reached out to them, its reasonable for them to assume you are in the city they are posting the job for and that they wont' necessarily be willing to foot the bill for you to get to their offices for an initial interview.
