Yunhi chala, chal rahi...

Today, there are more than 1.6 million registered buses in India. The public bus sector operates approximately 1,70,000 out of these buses, carrying almost 70 million people a day. Several state-owned and private bus aggregators are allowing citizens to travel across the country via comfortable and safe buses.

Private bus aggregators are now inculcating latest, innovative technology in order to attract more customers towards the mode of transport. Here are a few reasons why inter-state bus travel is so popular in India:

Easy availability
Through technologically advanced bus booking services, travellers can easily find the buses available on their required route. Since there are thousands of bus operators functioning across the country, buses for any given route are easily available. On the other hand, flight and rail tickets are hard to procure, especially when bookings are placed at the last minute. However, since there are numerous buses travelling the same routes every day, travellers can easily find a bus even at the last minute.

Time convenience
As mentioned above, numerous buses travel the same routes throughout the day and night. Therefore, bus travel offers the utmost time flexibility to travellers. Certain busy routes witness buses departing every one or two hours. Travellers can also easily book late night tickets if they wish to reach their destination early in the morning. If a traveller accidentally misses his bus, another one can be hailed in no time. Whereas, if a flight or train is missed, it can be hours or even days before another one can be booked, depending on the destination.

Hassle free booking
Leading tech-driven bus service providers allow hassle-free online booking and cancellation of bus tickets. Travellers can choose their desired bus seats, bus type, and bus operators, and pay online in just a few clicks. With thousands of routes and buses within their network, bus booking portals ensure that travellers are matched with their required routes at their preferred price points.

Low prices
The cost factor has played a major role in the popularisation of buses. Air travel still counts as a luxury in several parts of the country due to high ticket prices even for short distance travel. Bus tickets are delightfully affordable and top online bus booking services also offer massive discounts and deals to frequent as well as first-time travellers.

- Aurvind Lama, Co-Founder & CEO, Travelyaari