The Hindu : Karnataka News : KSRTC to confirm ticket booking through SMS

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Saturday, May 22, 2010
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Karnataka

Karnataka

KSRTC to confirm ticket booking through SMS

Anil Kumar Sastry

Conductor may call up passengers who don't turn up on time

Online booking accounts for
Rs. 1 crore daily
SMS alerts to be sent on changes in bus departure

BANGALORE: You have told your travel agent over the telephone to book a KSRTC ticket to Belgaum. Despite his subsequent assurance that the ticket has been booked, you are not satisfied.

To address this issue, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) recently introduced SMS alerts on confirming booking of seats.

While booking the ticket either through KSRTC counters or through franchisees or on their own on www.ksrtc.in, the passenger has to provide his or her cellphone number. The number is then stored in the server and an SMS is generated automatically once the ticket is booked.

The SMS sent will have the PNR number, the seat number, from and to, date of journey, and departure timing. Sitting anywhere, the passenger can ask the franchisee to book the ticket and get the confirmation. If the franchisee has made any mistake in booking the ticket, the passenger can immediately call him and ask for the ticket to be cancelled, which has to be done within 10 minutes of the booking. KSRTC claims this is the first of its kind service in road transport industry in the country. The SMS service has been added to the Any Where Any Time Advance Reservation (AWATAR) system to enhance passenger comfort, KSRTC Managing Director Gaurav Gupta told The Hindu.

Apart from confirming the seat booking, the service enables the bus conductor to contact the passenger in case he or she does not turn up by the departure time. To facilitate this, the mobile number is printed on the trip sheet of the conductor.

Asked whether SMS alert could be an alternative to the printed ticket, Mr. Gupta replied in the negative and said it was not a valid travel document.

However, KSRTC was planning opening of kiosks at bus stations where tickets could be printed after the passenger shows the SMS. Also on the anvil is SMS alerts about changes in the bus timing or cancellation or alternative arrangement. “Right now we are busy handling the peak season traffic and additions to the SMS service will be considered later,” he added.

Robust booking

Meanwhile, advance booking through AWATAR have been bringing in good revenue to the corporation, which was more than one sixth of the total traffic revenue. While the daily traffic revenue on an average was about Rs. 5.6 crore, bookings through AWATAR alone brought in over Rs. 1 crore a day, said Director (Operations) K.A. Rajkumar. An average 22,000 seats were booked online every day, he added. The increasing online bookings indicated the popularity of the service as passengers were comfortable in booking tickets either sitting at home or office, said another senior office. During the peak season, the number of seats booked online went up to 27,000 a day, he added.

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