The Journey of Redbus

Rakesh Gupta and Ajay Pandit
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Rakesh Gupta: Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi
Ajay Pandit: Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi

Asian Journal of Management Cases, 2011, vol. 8, issue 2, 171-188

Abstract: E-ticketing in India has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years and has become a common and popular tool for booking airline and rail tickets. However, nobody thought it could work for bus reservations considering the fragmented nature of this segment. It was not until Phanindra Sama (Phani) felt it to be a huge customer dilemma, which could become a potential business opportunity. It was in the month of October 2005, when Phani decided to go home from Bangalore to Hyderabad to spend time with his family on Diwali—a major Indian festival. When he went to the bus stop to buy a ticket, he found that there was no ticket available as buses were running full on account of festival season. The agent had suggested that Phani contact other agents to find out the possibility of getting a ticket from one of them. Phani was extremely disappointed—he could not spend Diwali with his family. Yet, it also made him think; why weren’t there other ways to find out about the availability of bus tickets rather than running from agent to agent? Phani wondered why one simply could not book a bus ticket online—just like airline and railway bookings were made via the Internet. In this question lay Phani’s answer. Thus, Redbus was born.

Keywords: Ticketing; business opportunity; fragmented segment; business model; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anjomc:v:8:y:2011:i:2:p:171-188

DOI: 10.1177/097282011100800205

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