Here's some good news for travellers, especially those who miss out on booking train tickets on time. The IRCTC website will now have the option to book bus tickets. Yes, you read that right. The e-ticketing and catering vertical of the Indian Railways Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has joined hands with online e-ticketing platform AbhiBus.
The move will enable customers to book air-conditioned and deluxe buses on the same platform if they can&rsquot find confirmed tickets in trains. So, now if your train ticket is on the waiting list, you could check bus availability to your destination on the same portal. IRCTC will be enabled to include the bus inventory across as many as 1 lakh bus routes in the country, under this arrangement. According to officials, it will be the largest online bus inventory in India and will offer easy payment and promotional options.
According to a report published by news agency PTI, IRCTC generates more than nine lakh train tickets every day, while AbhiBus has provided its valuable services to over 45 million customers since its launch. AbhiBus has partnerships with several state transport corporations and has recorded around 30,000 bookings daily over the last three months.
The aim is to provide a hassle free experience to IRCTC customers and ensure that they are able to make it to their destination, even in the case of unavailability of a train ticket.