rediff bus fare search - another marketing innovation !!

With rediff Bus FareSearch, rediff.com has entered into rapidly growing Bus reservation services market. This is truly a big bonanza for Indian consumer market which has been deprived of basic services for the most common transit system in India.
The unique thing about rediff bus fare search is it gives comparative details of trains for the same destination. For example if you are searching for bus from Mumbai to Pune, the search result will give you list of all the trains for that route with fares as well as the list of travel agents which provide buses on the route. The online bus reservation is done by redirecting the user to redbus.in while for railway reservation you are redirected to Indian railways web site. I must say with more and more companies eyeing for this space, it is fascinating to see how companies are changing strategies to acquire customers. For redbus.in, this is definitely a smart move to acquire customers without spending huge money on direct to consumer marketing.

MakeMyTrip.com : A new entrant in online bus reservation market

While I have been writing about the online bus reservation portals which have entered in the Indian e-space, the entry of makemytrip.com definitely signifies the big potential this space has got. It has taken up an aggressive approach to make an entry into the market place with a coverage of around 4000 routes, attractive bus deals, Holiday vouchers. The web site offers all the usual features like online search, seat selection, pick up point, online cancellation etc. A first look tells that it has a good coverage in northern, western and southern parts of India. The site however right now offers only one way reservation but I am sure it will be on its way to overcome this limitation. It would really interesting to see how the other players will react to a big market player like makemytrip.com. Check out the screenshot of a sales promo from makemytrip.com:

customerneedz - Another bus ticket reservation site

customerneeds.com is a Bangalore based outfit which provides online bus ticket reservation service to people traveling to southern part of India. The web site claims to have a coverage of around 300 cities with online return ticket coverage for over 100 cities. You can get your tickets delivered at your door steps or you can choose to print it online. Payment can be made online using your credit, debit cards or through online bank transfers. If you book tickets between Monday and Thursday you can get some discounts or will have lower fares than the premium charged during weekend rush. Usability is a major issue here. For example, it does not allow me to select the pickup points, nor does it gives me flexibility to specify my travel time preference upfront. I do not get a visual bus layout map to select seats. By and large I find it far behind other bus reservation sites in terms of features and functionality. However, a network comprising of 300 cities is still an encouraging sign but it would be help for the company to focus its energies in uplifting the web site from usability perspective to make it more user friendly. In this fiercely competitive marketplace the only way to get customers on your side is by delivering a world class service delivery experience offline as well as online. I hope the founders of customerneedz take these feedback positively and live up to its name which is truly to understand and fulfill customer's needs :) !!

abhibus - Online bus ticket reservation company

Abhibus is a Hyderabad based online bus ticket reservation company which offers travelers to book their tickets through web. The company appears to be quite young and has limited coverage as far as travel routes are concerned. The coverage is largely restricted to southern India with point coverage to cities like Pune, Kolkata and Mumbai. The booking can be only made through web site unlike other portals where you have the advantage of talking to a customer representative or use mobile for booking. The overall process is quite simple. Select a bus based on your requirement, select a seat from the seat map, give traveler details and make online payment. Though I found the overall process easy but it definitely lacks a lot of functionalities as compared to other major players in this segment like ticketvala.com or redbus.in. From the usability aspects, I would rate it as good but it should definitely look at providing some of the basic features like giving flexibility to select a bus type, select departure time, option to call a customer support number, home delivery of tickets, payment during delivery etc. This will help it to expand its target customer base which is currently restricted to only people who have access to Internet. Though the market appears to be quite big right now for different players to grow but in order to scale up it is important to expand your offerings and establish yourself at the earliest before the competition catches you or the place gets crowded!

rajtravels is a well known name in Indian Tours and Travel industry. Founded in 1976 this group has given a new dimension to the travel and tourism industry with its constantly evolving and innovative services. The latest contribution is the launch of www.raj.travel. It is a fully integrated portal offering reservation services around flights, hotels and buses. While the overall vision of the website appears to be moving into the direction of building a single one-stop solution for all your travel needs, but what caught my attention was the bus reservation service. It has presence in 16 states, covering 49 cities and operates a fleet of luxury coaches. The online reservation allows you to plan single or round trip journey. You can select a seat of your choice through the seat map functionality. Payment can be made online through credit or debit cards. Overall, it's a simple, easy to use web site. The overall process appears to be similar to other sites that I have covered in past. The only difference being that while redbus.in and ticketvala.com are intermediaries and offer you services from various travel agents while rajtravels is itself a service provider. An interesting strategy would be for it to grow its business in untapped territories by establishing alliances with various other operators with the use of its e-booking platform.

redbus.in - Online Bus Tickets Booking Service

redbus.in is online bus tickets booking service with a difference. It allows a great deal of flexibility and convenience in making reservations online. It claims to have a network of over 300 operators and a coverage of over 4000+ routes. For people in Bangalore for whom traveling to new International Airport is a major pain, it provides online reservation facility for comfortable Volvo buses run by state government! Here is how it works:
1. You can search for buses online based on your itinerary by giving details like source-destination, no. of passengers, bus type etc.
2. The search results provide you with options containing various operators. You can narrow down the search by selecting the point of boarding.
3. You can book the ticket online or in some cases will be required to submit the request for booking and a customer rep will get back to you once he is able to arrange tickets for you.
4. As part of booking process, you can online select the seat which you want to book. The system offers you a visual layout of bus and gives you availability in real time.
5. You can make payment online through credit card, debit card, through your existing net banking account or even through your mobile phone.

The company appears to have set up offices in various cities all around India and is in a major mode of expansion. The web site still need to improve from usability perspective. For example, it should allow user to book round trip reservations, there should be flexibility in terms of selecting the travel time in order to retrieve the relevant result in one click. Another important feature would be to allow commuters to rate each travel operator. This will allow the consumers to drive quality awareness within this sector which is the need of the hour.

ticketvala.com - Online bus reservation site

ticketvala.com is an online bus reservation portal promoted by Travis Internet Pvt. Ltd. The web site offers bus reservation facility across various cities in western and southern parts of India. The process is quite similar to online travel portals focused on air travelers. The ticketvala.com provides you with an option to specify your itinerary details like departure/arrival date, time, bus type(volvo, ac, non-ac), number of passengers, seat type (sleeper, sitting) etc. Once you specify your itinerary details, the web site provides you a number of options with details like pick up points, operator name, fare details, departure/arrival time etc. You can review and select a bus of your choice and request for booking. The booking can be confirmed online or in some cases you need to place your request and the customer support executive from ticketvala.com will call and confirm your booking request. You can either make the payment online or choose to pay at the time of delivery. The tickets can either be delivered at your home or you can print it online. At the time of travel you will be required to produce a valid ID Card to validate your date of birth and your e-ticket. The tickets can also be booked by directly calling 1-800-209-222.

It appears to be a very novel idea and I think will lead to some level of organization in this sector. We definitely need more of these kind of services to enable an average non-Internet savvy traveler to benefit from the technology.