Remember we wrote about a bunch of apps that will make your travel easier? Here’s another one to add to the list: Online ticket seller redBus has launched its Android app. Until now, Redbus only had a mobile site. Which means you’d have to open your browser and go to www.redbus.in/mob/index.aspx and book tickets from the site. The new app, sits pretty on your mobile and opens up to a smooth mobile friendly interface.
redBus app is available for Windows and Android and has bus tickets for more than 10,000 routes across over a thousand bus operator. It allows the user to see ratings for buses and select seats in near real time (depending on your data connection). It’s a great app for people looking to book tickets on the go, says RedBus. The move is also in line with the increasing mobile data penetration in the country.
The app lets you pay for your tickets through credit cards, debit cards, net banking and has a cash on delivery option. The payment gateways and data connectivity might prove tricky. Any payment solutions provider will tell you what poor connectivity does to their transactions.
On our travails in rural and semi-urban India, we’ve often encountered situations where there is no mobile connectivity, let alone data. So if you are a city slicker out of your depth, armed with an app and a phone which constantly runs out of juice, don’t keep your ticket booking for the last moment. Unless, you like nasty surprises. Surely, the folks at RedBus know this. If your booking doesn’t go through, one of their customer support people will call you to find out what went wrong. They’ll even offer to deliver the ticket home if you pay Rs 30 more.
Considering that the app was designed to make booking “on the go” easier, it comes as a surprise that it isn’t location aware. But that again, could be intentional to keep the app from hogging resources.
Do give the app a download and share your experience.
There’s also an interesting fact about smartphone users in India: They love Android but only half of them have active data access.
