Tourism Breaking News
IntrCity SmartBus, the first & the foremost player in bus mobility has registered the best ever growth since travel re-started in the post lockdown era. The Company has been experiencing 2x faster growth than last year due to change in consumer mindset and expects to maintain that over the coming year
Particularly, due to the pandemic, the consumers have started expecting better overall quality of experience – including safety, comfort and convenience than ever before. An understanding of the shift in consumer preference helped IntrCity SmartBus scale-up its performance and cross all time high peaks. A comparatively lesser known fact but hardcore reality is that COVID 19 opened floodgates of possibilities for IntrCity SmartBus and helped it carve out a niche in the intercity mobility segment.
The company is today expanding to newer routes and reinforcing the market dominance in the inter-city mobility segment driven by stronger brand pull and traveler’s loyalty, faith and confidence. The Company already resumed full-fledged operations on all existing pre-COVID routes on all the seven hubs in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Lucknow — connecting more than 200 cities. All this is a clear reflection of the confidence in the mind of the passengers who feel confident, faith and trust in the brand’s IntrCity SmartBus fleet.
Commenting on company’s accomplishment, Manish Rathi, CEO and Cofounder, IntrCity RailYatri said, “Our brand gives a lot of weightage to understand the customer’s requirements and offer the best travel experience. The number of satisfied customers being serviced by us is growing each day. All our pre-COVID routes are achieving 15-20% better fill rates and our unit economics have also improved significantly. This is a matter of pride for us.”
“Besides, a survey conducted by us during the lockdown helped us gain an insight into the consumer mindset and introduce a number of innovations. These helped us retain our position as the market leader in inter-city mobility and move ahead faster than we ourselves had expected” he added.
As far as the travel and transport industry is concerned – a bulk – almost 60% of the passengers are carried by rail and government owned state road transport corporation buses. This number has more or less remained the same in the last nearly 10 years. This is the need for private players who are expected to expand their network and provide the bulwark for additional passenger transportation.
This is the background story why private inter-city buses are expected to fulfill the unmet demand and provide the missing link in the last mile connectivity.
Today private inter-city buses are already the single largest and most preferred mode of travel. As things stand the role played by the private inter-city buses is going to expand exponentially in the next 5 years. This unprecedented growth in inter-city travel segment is directly linked to GDP growth and investments in highway networks across the country.
Some of the other initiatives propelled by brand IntrCity SmartBus include Safe+ initiative to ensure the safety of its travelers, and crew. Apart from this the Company pioneered the concept of SmartBus Lounges where due attention was paid to maintaining social distancing and sanitized interiors. Every SmartBus has a Bus Captain to look after passenger convenience and safety. In addition to these a self-help portal and app allows travelers to track the bus journey, set a wake-up alarm, as well as order for meals and snacks, just to name a few.
The brand pioneered the concept of convenient and comfortably air-conditioned lounges where the bus travelers can wait for their bus and spend time indoor in a safe environment. Each of the lounges have a waiting area with comfortable seating space and recliners for taking power nap besides free Wi-Fi capability, mobile charging points, and basic amenities like clean drinking water, coffee and toilets.
