Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited has launched its online bus booking services that went live for the service of the nation on January 29, informed IRCTC on Friday.
“IRCTC under the leadership of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is gradually moving towards firmly positioning itself as the first government ‘One Stop Shop Travel Portal’ of the country,” read a statement issued by IRCTC.
“In a recent development for providing a more holistic travel experience to the customers, IRCTC that is already in the business of online rail and flight tickets booking launched its online bus booking services that went live for the service of the nation on 29th January 2021,” it added.
To ensure a seamless experience for passengers, IRCTC has tied up with 50,000 state road transport and private bus operators across 22 states and three union territories.
Within the first week of March, this service will be integrated with the IRCTC mobile-app, enabling people to book bus tickets through their mobile phones as well.
In the portal, passengers would be able to view a variety of buses, choose the appropriate bus after taking into account the amenities, reviews and ratings, and book tickets accordingly. They can also choose their pick-up and drop-off points. For passengers, the portal will also have images of the buses.
How to Book Bus Tickets Online on IRCTC
Now that you know the existence of the service, here’s how you can use it to book bus tickets. Do keep in mind that IRCTC Bus is limited to the web for now.
1. Open IRCTC Bus official website and enter the starting point, destination, and date of your journey. Once you’ve entered these details, click on the ‘Search Bus’ button.
2. On the next page, you’ll get a list of available buses. From the sidebar, you can set the departure and arrival time – before 6 AM, 6 AM to 12 PM, 12 PM to 6 PM, after 6 PM, and bus type – seater, sleeper, AC, non-AC. You can now browse through the available seats and pick one, along with the boarding point and dropping point. Once done, click on ‘Proceed to Book.’
3. If you haven’t logged in to IRCTC yet, the webpage will now urge you to log in. You can use your existing IRCTC account, sign up for a new IRCTC account, or use the guest login facility with an email address and mobile number.
4. When you log in, you’ll see your contact details. You should fill in the missing details if you have a new IRCTC account. After entering the contact details, check the ‘I agree to the Terms & Conditions’ checkbox and click on ‘Continue to Book’.
5. IRCTC Bus will now show the summary of your journey with all necessary details. Verify if you’ve added the right details and click on ‘Proceed for Payment’.
6. The final step is to pay the ticket amount. As you can see below, you can use credit/debit cards, net banking, UPI, wallets, international cards, and IRCTC iPay. Pick your preferred payment mode and complete the payment.
So, that’s how you can use IRCTC Bus to book bus tickets. IRCTC says that this service will enable last-mile connectivity to travelers who are already using IRCTC’s train and flight booking services.