So you want to travel to: your hometown/some tourist spot/attend a function/generally wander around/emergency travel etc. You choose to take a Bus because: Trains are always full/late/slow and the place you are going to does not have an airport/it has one but its too far away/rates are high. And more over, buses are comfortable enough these days with Volvos and Mercedeses and what you have. So you try and book your ticket, but find to your dismay, those are full as well! Now you hear about a magic website and service called’Redbus.in’ which will have tickets open for routes which you cant find anywhere else, not even on the operator websites or booking offices! Hurrah! Thanks to Redbus you are saved! Wrong. You are screwed.
Had to write such a lengthy prologue only to vent my anger at these people. Redbus is a web based service offering specialized services for booking bus tickets for private operators between and city/town/village in India. They have a nicely designed website and booking process is a breeze, the site is so designed to guide you through the process very easily, and in no time your payment is approved and you have a print of the ticket in your hand. You can opt for home delivery of the ticket as well, and booking info is sent to your mobile and e-mail as well! Wow!
Trouble starts once you leave the cyber world and step down to the real world, you will be literally taken for a ride(Pun intended). Well I have this habit of not learning from my mistakes, so I made the same mistake of booking through these people twice without learning from what I went through. Let me describe:
CASE 1:
I had to get to my home city for New Year and my regular bus guys did not have any free seats. So I went to Redbus.in, searched: Bangalore to Kottayam and found: Akbar Travels, Volvo, 800 bucks, Dept 9:30, Arrival 8:30. Fantastic! A Volvo in this rush holiday season? Bang! Booking done, ticket in hand, seat 9.
So I reach the Bus stop(Madiwala) and cant find any Akbar travels, but finally turns out to be Sharma travels. ok. Sharp at 9:30, a bus arrives(A normal Leyland front engined bus you see everywhere.) I was still looking around for the Volvo. So a guy runs from the office and announces 9:30 Kotttaaaayaam over and over again. So this is the bus? Where is the damn Volvo? He explains: "Bus is waiting near the church in front. Cops will not allow parking here." Oh how thoughtful. They are sending another bus to pick us up. Then I realized that there were far too many people trying to get in than would fit into even the new Double Axle model. As if on cue, one more bus of the same type arrives.(Both are Sharma). People were herded into them and were asked to’Sit anywhere you like’. Some minor scuffles broke out but it was fine since this was just a pick up bus right? The buses idled for around 20 min and at 9:50 the buses started and reached as far as the Emzen office building(100 m in front) before they stopped and engines turned off.
The driver fled, and two guys who look like bouncers came and asked everyone to hand over their tickets. When asked, the reply was "There is no Volvo, this is the bus and you better sit here." But why? "That is the way. You better." Whole pandemonium erupted, with some Sabarimala pilgrims from AP even started calling the cops. After lots of shouting between these’Operators’ and passengers, they grudgingly agreed to pay 150 bucks back. The bus was Hot, Stinking and no AC. I had booked a Volvo A/C 2+2 bus and here you have a local non-AC 2+1 bus. Called up Redbus but all I got was their Automated IVR. Some people asked what was the reason for this, reply was "ask Redbus", "we just run the buses, they are the one who collect money from you", "Volvo broke down", "permit problems", "Redbus never told us about any Volvo. Arrangements were made for this bus." And so on. Some guy who got through to Redbus informed that they are saying the opposite. Now who is lying? Go figure!
Finally, the bus left at 11:00(!). Stopped for dinner for 1 hour(!) and reached Ernakulam at 10:00 am. And to cap it off, the driver didnt know the proper route, went on a "Kerala Darshan" tour all around Ernakulam district and we had to yell at him to coax him take the correct route and not the one he thought was correct. Lost 1 more hour due to all these detours. Finally reached Ktm at 1:00pm, Tired, exhausted, hungry, sweating & stinking and over all a wasted day. I should have learned.
CASE 2
Last weekend: Again emergency. Not wanting to learn from experience, went and searched again. This time: Non AC, 2+1, Bus. Suspiciously, there were only 21 seats in the bus. What bus has only 21 seats? and that too, for 650 only! Maybe a mini bus? Thought had crossed my mind. Heck no, will book it anyway. Turned out to be a Van! Yes, a Tempo Traveller! Not one, but three of them. Each has 21 seats an engineering marvel as to accommodate maximum seats in minimum space. Push back, but just for name. Zero legspace, once you sit, you can just about wiggle you toes. Cramped and uncomfortable, bags strewn all along the floor, I had to sit sideways and tried all sorts of acrobatics to try and sleep. And I got the back row, just my luck. Anyway, they left right on time and without any hiccups reached Ernakulam at 6:30 in the morning.
Contacts to reach Redbus were again futile, with the usual passing the buck story. And then they have the nerve of sending me a mail asking for feedback!
WHAT/WHY?
Redbus needs to clearly show what the Bus actually is, when the customer is booking. The operator finds it convenient to blame Redbus, just because we did not buy the ticket from him and has no binding. And Redbus has mentioned in T&C that they are not responsible for anything. Operators and RB can be hand in glove also? Anyways they know that demand far outweighs supply taking this to their advantage they have the sheer impunity to do this over and over again, knowing that people will keep falling for it and as long as they somehow reach where ever they have to, there wont be much problems. Another point to note is that there were no RB people present anywhere.
So in short, "Pay, Book and we wash our hands off it. - Bus might be there, might not be there, maybe will leave on time maybe wont, A Volvo can become a Normal Bus, A normal bus can become a van and tomorrow: a van might become an Auto. And there is nothing you can do about it. Hah! Happy Journey."
ADVICE:
Take State Transport buses. They are pretty good and punctual, and will not cheat. Kerala, Karnataka, AP, Delhi and many other SRTCs have booking websites as well. Else get off and go to the operator office and book. You can atleast hold him responsible. Never trust these third party sites. You will end up with backpain, head ache, stress, sleepless nights, time loss and wasted money.
Travel Smart!
vadakkus