A Travel Portal For Bus Travellers!

There are at least half a dozen online travel portals and they largely cater to airline ticketing. Here is one portal targeting the bus travellers. The website www.Redbus.in brings together private bus operators (mainly the long distance ones) and the travellers. The service was launched last month – it looks more like beta version at the moment (their bottom banner for payment link doesn’t look like working currently).
The portal co-founder S Phanindra (of Secundrabad-based Pilani Softlabs Pvt Ltd) told me by email: “We are like Makemytrip.com for bus travel industry. We partner with fleet operators to promote their ticket bookings online.” And how does it work? They get inventory from fleet operators and put them online for sale. The tickets are for sale till 12 hours before the travel date. Passengers can book tickets using credit card, debit card and bank transfer. They have already partnered with a few operators like Jabbar Travels, Rajesh Travels and Diwakar Travels – all South-based at the moment – adding some 60 buses to the system.
The company is part of the Bangalore’s TiE-EAP, and is not venture-funded yet. However, it’s rolling out in other cities too. By mid-September, they are starting a branch office in Hyderabad and in Chennai in early October.
The idea is good. Once the internet penetration reaches the hinterland in a big way, this business may gain traction. A lot of inter-city travel is done via buses. However, it would be a good idea to bring in mobile component too to this business.

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