With Diwali approaching, a high number of intercity bus ticket bookings are being registered on redBus, an online ticketing platform. Booking had already started 15 days in advance before the festival on November 14.
Around 1,900 plus private buses and 17 state regional transport corporations are gearing up to cater to the year’s peak travel days by running around 40,000 daily services, through which they are expected to transport 39 lakh passengers, across thousands of kilometers during the Diwali week.
A behavioural shift that has been evident post-Covid is the preference for online booking going up. This has gained traction lately due to the safety and convenience aspects associated with it, compared to offline modes of ticket purchase. Another interesting trend from the beginning of the festive season has been a surge in travel to tier 2 and 3 cities and towns, resulting in them contributing 80% of current bookings (up from 65% last year), a clear indication that a majority of the people are travelling to their home towns during the festival.
So far, data indicates that travel between Chennai and Madurai, is the nation’s most sought after bus route for Diwali. With railways continuing to operate limited trains across the nation, buses tend to be the only hope. Some of the popular train routes of the country where the demand is being met by buses are Patna-Kolkata, Ballia-Lucknow, Palasa-Visakhapatnam, Berhampore-Kolkata and Bhubaneswar-Kolkata. About 60% of the current bookings are for travel within states and the remaining 40% for interstate travel.
