Did not get a train ticket? Hop on to a bus with this new IRCTC feature

Mumbai: Online e-ticketing platform AbhiBus on February 25  announced its partnership with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to provide bus ticket facility to the latter’s customers.

The move will enable IRCTC get the bus inventory across 1,00,000 bus routes and its customers the option to book AC/ non-AC tickets/ buses as per their requirement, a release said.

IRCTC enables over nine lakh train tickets every day, while AbhiBus has catered to over 45 million customers till date since the launch of online passenger reservation system before launching the e-ticketing platform – Abhibus.com and its mobile apps, said the release.

With this collaboration, IRCTC plans to ease travel booking for its customers wherein if they find train tickets in waiting list, they can quickly refer to bus availability without hopping from one platform to another, giving the travellers a hassle-free booking experience, it said.

“The partnership with IRCTC will allow AbhiBus to grow exponentially, while IRCTC customers will have hassle free and immediate access to India’s largest online bus inventory with innovative payment and promotional options to take care of their first mile, last mile and alternate connectivity choices,” said Shashanka Koona, Chief Commercial Officer, AbhiBus.

Currently with its tie-ups with various state transport corporations, AbhiBus has consistently clocked over 30,000 bookings per day, over the last three months, said the release.

“IRCTC tie-up with AbhiBus will help it in reaching out to the millions of travellers with the most exhaustive bus inventory available online for bridging not just the first and last mile connectivity gaps, but also provide an alternative travel option in case of train unavailability,” it said.

The various state Roadways Transport Corporations and private bus operators’ fleet will let the users choose from over 100,000 routes, IRCTC said.