The festival of Holi begins to move the needle for the bus transport sector
· 3.8 lakh seat bookings recorded 3 days ahead of the festival on redBus
· 3000 Private bus operators and 21 RTC’s gearing up to cater to travellers during the Holi week with 50,000 services
· Highest demand for travel around Holi in the north is between Delhi and Jaipur
· South India too is witnessing high demand for travel owing to the extended week-end
National, March 17, 2022: The delight for the approaching festival of colours, Holi, is evident from hectic bus ticket reservations being undertaken across the country, as people prepare to enjoy the occasion with family and friends after a long interval, owing to restrictions associated with the pandemic. redBus, India’s largest online bus ticketing platform, has recorded a 14% rise in reservations during the Holi week compared to last week. The upcoming weekend, from 18th to 20th March, is the first major travel occasion this year, post waning of the third wave of the pandemic.
Key highlights:
- 100% recovery of seat inventory in private buses across India, compared to Feb-2020
- Uttar Pradesh witnesses inventory recovery of 184% for private buses, ahead of Holi
- About 3000 private bus operators are offering 23000 services during the week of Holi across the country
- 21 State Road Transport Corporations are offering 27000 services during the same period
- The top 10 routes on the redBus platform, witnessing a spurt in traffic for the Holi week, are:
- Delhi – Jaipur – Delhi
- Ahmedabad – Rajkot – Ahmedabad
- Delhi – Lucknow – Delhi
- Mumbai – Pune – Mumbai
- Kolkata – Durgapur – Kolkata
- Indore – Bhopal – Indore
- Delhi – Manali – Delhi
- Ahmedabad – Surat – Ahmedabad
- Jaipur – Bikaner – Jaipur
- Ahmedabad – Udaipur – Ahmedabad
On the redBus platform, Delhi is witnessing the highest growth in ticket sales during the week of Holi, recording about 48.7% higher bookings compared to the previous week. This is followed by Punjab, at 41.1%, Gujarat at 32.4% and Madhya Pradesh at 26.4%.
Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus stated, “I think it is safe to say that since the pandemic hit us, this is a new phase where we are witnessing high confidence amongst customers to undertake travel aided by unrestricted access to all parts of the country. The festival of Holi is being looked at with eagerness by the bus transport sector as it is the first major travel occasion since the waning of the third wave of the pandemic and initial trends point to a strong demand for homecoming. This is allowing our partner bus operators to gradually restore full services and we are delighted to witness a 100% inventory recovery in the private bus sector. We are also seeing a rise in bookings from tier-1 cities, which is an indicator of return to full normalcy and heralds significant growth for the industry as we move ahead.”