SIP (Repaired) (1)

1 Xavier Institute Of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................3
Objectives ...........................................................................................................................................3
Findings...............................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................4
2. Methodology.......................................................................................................................................5
Reason for choosing questionnaire ....................................................................................................5
Sampling Plan......................................................................................................................................5
3. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................6
Overview of the online travel industry in India ..................................................................................6
Reasons for growth of the online travel industry...............................................................................8
Overview of the online bus ticketing industry of India.......................................................................9
Reasons for Growth of the online bus booking industry..................................................................10
4. Data Analysis.....................................................................................................................................15
A. Loyal Customers............................................................................................................................15
B. Switching Customers....................................................................................................................30
5. Quantitative Analysis ........................................................................................................................37
A.Loyal Customers ............................................................................................................................37
B.Switching Customers .....................................................................................................................38
6.Complaints by the customers ............................................................................................................39
7. Findings of the study.........................................................................................................................39
8. Limitations of the study ....................................................................................................................41
9. Recommendations.........................................................................................................................41
10. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................44
11. Annexure.........................................................................................................................................45
KPN Travels .......................................................................................................................................45
About redBus.in ..............................................................................................................................47
Annexure-ii .......................................................................................................................................52
Questionnaire for Switching Customers...........................................................................................52
Questionnaire for loyal customers ...................................................................................................57
12. References ......................................................................................................................................61

List Of Tables
Figure 1-India's spending on E-Commerce sites.....................................................................................6
Figure 2-Online travel segments.............................................................................................................7
Figure 3-Process of booking ticket online...............................................................................................9
Figure 4-Break up of the online travel spending ..................................................................................12
Figure 5-Percentage of operators ( Zone Wise)....................................................................................14
Figure 6-Ways of booking bus tickets...................................................................................................16
Figure 7-Ways through which loyal customers came to know about different operators...................17
Figure 8-Recommendations to friends and family ...............................................................................17
Figure 9-of pre-purchase service attributes by loyal customers ..........................................................18
Figure 10-Level of Satisfaction-Fares....................................................................................................21
Figure 11-Level of Satisfaction-Amenities ............................................................................................22
Figure 12-Level of Satisfaction-Boarding and dropping point..............................................................22
Figure 13-Level of Satisfaction-Cancellation Policy ..............................................................................23
Figure 14-Level of Satisfaction-Punctuality ..........................................................................................24
Figure 15-Level of satisfaction-Staff Behaviour....................................................................................24
Figure 16-Level of satisfaction-Handling of complaints........................................................................25
Figure 17-Level of satisfaction-Cleanliness in the bus..........................................................................26
Figure 18-Will they will shift to other operator if they got better discounts .......................................27
Figure 19-What if preferred operator's tickets were not available on redbus.in.................................28
Figure 20-Most searched word-redBus/ KPN/ Sangita.........................................................................29
Figure 21-Ways of booking tickets by switching customers.................................................................30
Figure 22-Ways through which switching customers know different operators .................................31
Figure 23-Measuring brand recall value ...............................................................................................32
Figure 24-Most searched word-KPN/SRS/Seabird/SRM.......................................................................33
Figure 25-Ranking of pre-purchase service attributes by switching customers...................................34
Figure 26-Listing of post purchase service attributes by switching customers....................................35
Figure 27-Reasons for switching...........................................................................................................36
Figure 28-Timeline of redBus.in............................................................................................................48
Figure 29-Multi Layer System ...............................................................................................................51

1. Executive Summary
With the growing internet penetration, India has seen a staggering boom in the e-commerce
industry. . It had displayed a stagerring growth of 88% from the last year despite the
economic slowdown. The size of India's e-commerce market in 2013 was around $13 billion,
according to a joint report of KPMG and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
The online travel segment contributed over 70 percent of the total consumer e-commerce
transactions in 2013
In the online travel industry, online bus booking is only 10% even though it is one of the most
preferred means of transport.
redBus.in is the market leader with over 16% of the market share.
This study tries to examine the service attibutes provided by the bus operators that influence
the customers„ purchase decision and its satisfaction.
Objectives
1. To study if there is any difference in the preferences of customers who prefer travelling
with a particular operator always and customers who travel with different operators
2. To identify the important attributes that contribute to the customer‟s purchase decision
3. To identify the important attributes which contribute to making the customers journey
satisfactory
4. To measure the level of satisfaction of the customers‟ with the services being provided by
the operators so that operators can work on them. This will result in more satisfied
customers, which will in turn increase the sales for the bus operators and as an resultant
effect the sales of redBus.in
5. To find out the various ways through which customer satisfaction can be increased
6. To find out the reasons why some customers are switching
7. To find out about the different customer complaints

Findings
The main findings of the study were as follows:
1. There is little difference between the preferences and choices of loyal customers and
those of switching customer
2. In case attibutes that contribute to the purchase decision of customers fares play the
most important role
3. In case of attibutes that customers say re most important to make a journey
satisfactory, punctuality is the most important to the customers.
4. More than 1/3 of the customers are mostly neutral, ie neither satisfied nor dissatisfied,
with respect to the different service attributes. Care needs to be taken that these can be
turned to satisfied customers rather than dissatisfied customers.
5. The reason for loyalty of the customers who prefer travelling with a particular bus
opertor on most occasions is because they are satisfied with the different service
attibutes provided by the opertors such as fares, amenities, punctuality, amenities etc.
Conclusion
This research is an attempt to identify the service attributes being provided by the bus
operators that contribute to customer satisfaction. The point of using the questionnaire
technique was to ensure that the analysis is bias free and accurate.
After the analysis it can be concluded that all customers place importance more or less to the
same attributes while making their purchase decision. The customers who are satisfied with
the essential service attributes such as fares, amenities, punctuality they tend to travel with
that operator during most of the times they travel while the customers who are not satisfied
tend to keep changing the operator.
Thus if the operators concentrate on improving the service attributes that are highly
prioritized by a majority of the customers it will lead to a more and more customers being
loyal to them and their sales increasing.

2. Methodology
The research employs mostly primary data. The main core of information was obtained by
sending out e-mail questionnaires to the relevant customers of redBus.in. Later data analysis
was done using this primary data.
Reason for choosing questionnaire
Considering the purpose of the study, questionnaire suited the purpose best. The main reason
for choosing a questionnaire was to keep the study free from bias. The researcher‟s own
opinion will not influence the respondents to answer questions in a certain manner because
the questionnaire is characterized by uniform question presentation and no middle-man bias.
It was impossible to achieve the goal of no-bias by some other research ways, like focus
group discussion and interview, because the verbal or visual clues expressed by the
researcher.
Sampling Plan
Sampling Frame
For the requirements of the study, two sets of customers were taken:
Customers who have travelled more than twice in the Bangalore- Chennai or Chennai-
Bangalore routes in the last 1 year and mostly opted to travel by KPN Travels. These
customers have been categorised as Loyal Customer.
Customers who have travelled more than twice in the Bangalore-Chennai or Chennai-
Bangalore route in the last 1 year but by different operators most of times. These customers
have been categorised as switching customers.
Sample Size
In case of loyal customers, 56 respondents replied to the questionnaire that was sent to them.
In case of switching customers, 86 respondents replied to the questionnaire that was sent to
them.
Sampling duration
The full scale survey was conducted from 27th
June, 2014 to 4th
July, 2014.

3. Introduction
Overview of the online travel industry in India
“India is expected to be the fastest growing online travel
market in the Asia-Pacific region”
-Dan Lynn, CEO Expedia AirAsia
India's e-commerce market grew at a staggering 88 per cent in 2013 to $ 16 billion, riding on
booming online retail trends and defying slower economic growth and spiralling inflation,
according to a survey by industry body Assocham.
According to the survey, India's e-commerce market, which stood at $2.5 billion in 2009,
reached $8.5 billion in 2012 and rose 88 per cent to touch $16 billion in 2013. The survey
estimates the country's e-commerce market to reach $56 billion by 2023
Figure 1-India's spending on E-Commerce sites

A major contributor to this growth is the online travel industry. The online travel segment,
which consists of booking rail, air, bus tickets, tour packages and hotel accomodations
contributed over 71 percent of the total consumer e-commerce transactions.
Figure 2-Online travel segments
.
Travel ticketing is the largest segment of internet commerce in India both by volume and
value. The segment currently represents nearly 90% of the overall online travel market in
India (by value of transactions) according to a report by KPMG. Apart from the convenience
offered by online purchasing, the limited need to touch and feel the product enabled the
online travel ticketing segment to grow faster than others in the industry. Price, schedule and
choice are the only parameters to be considered while buying a ticket online.
Online travel has also been driven by diverse online players ranging from the IRCTC (the
online ticketing arm of the Indian Railways) to indigenous travel aggregator sites such as
Makemytrip, Cleartrip, Yatra, redBus.in, Abhibus etc. More recently, international travel
aggregators such as Expedia and Kayak, as well as review sites such as Tripadvisor have
begun to make a strong push into India. Consumer traction has been driven by ease,
convenience, lower prices, and better customer offerings.
Online Travel
Ticketing
Air
Non-Air
(Train,Bus etc)
Hotel
Reservation
Tour Packages

Reasons for growth of the online travel industry
 Internet Penetration:
India‟s base of about 120 million Internet users is currently the third-largest in the world.
Though India‟s users spend less time online per capita than users in developed consumers
who use online media for search, awareness, and research to purchase products is already
high across multiple categories: in apparel (26 percent), travel (51 percent), books
(36 percent), and financial services (30 percent), the proportions are comparable with those
in Germany, Japan and the United States.
 Growing awareness of people
The main reason for the growth of the online travel industry is because of the convenience it
offers. Whether its car rentals, Flight tickets or bus booking one can compare the prices, get
information about the choices they have and book from the comfort of their home. Since
more and more people are travelling because of their business or work related issues they
need to book last minute. Online booking gives the wide range of choices from which they
can choose from according to their needs and budget.
 Rising disposable income:
With double income families becoming the norm, the surplus and disposable income of the
families is on a rise. Thus more and more families can afford to go on a holiday more
frequently.
 Growth of customer base to Tier II and Tier III cities:
Today the people who travel to different places does not necessarily mean that they only
come from Tier-I cities- the tier-II and tier-III cities are slowly catching up with the income
of people slowly rising.

Overview of the online bus ticketing industry of India
The Indian bus transport industry has been highly fragmented and unorganised sector. Some
2000 bus operators run about 20000 buses on long distance point to point routes.
While a very few contract carriage operators have large fleets of 100 buses each, most of the
small players had 5-10 buses. Most of the operator‟s lack a country wide presence.
Given the scale of their operations most of them do not offer computerized ticketing or
operations. Instead the companies mostly rely on network of travel agents to book their
tickets.
But most of the agents do not have information about the bookings of the other agents
resulting in a losing proposition for the bus operators, the agents and the customers who are
ultimately rendered ticketless.
This problem was finally solved with the emergence of the online travel aggregators who
have the entire inventory on their website leading to far better co ordination among all the
participants and resulting in more sales for the operators.
Figure 3-Process of booking ticket online
Customer
Travel
Agents
Booking
Counters
OTA
Bus TravelBus
Operators

Reasons for Growth of the online bus booking industry
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has collated a number of statistics for
its report. It puts forth an interesting outlook about way people have begun to have about
booking tickets and planning for traveling without leaving their workstations. Most
prominent travel options seem to be the relatively low cost mode; Bus Transport. According
to the report by IAMAI , Bus Ticket Booking managed to clock an impressive growth last
year. Over the first seven months of last calendar year, online bus bookings have almost
tripled in the country. In January 2013, the number of online bus bookings stood at 0.25
million, while in July the number is 0.72 million bookings, registering a growth of 185 per
cent.
Reasons for Growth
 Internet Penetration:
India is likely to have the second-largest user base in the world, and the largest in terms of
incremental growth, with 330 million to 370 million Internet users in 2015. Given current
downward trends in the costs of Internet access and mobile devices, India is on the verge of
an Internet boom. In an evolution pattern unique to India, users who access the Internet only
through a mobile or tablet device will constitute around 75 percent of new users and
55 percent of the aggregate user base in 2015, leading to increasing demand for content that
is optimized for a small screen.
 Real time inventory
Real time inventory being made available from thousands of supplies (ie the customers are
spoilt for choice regarding the bus they can avail of according to their convinience)
 Price and Price comparisson
Booking online gives the opportunity to the customer to get what he wants but in his
own budget. With so many ticket booking websites around the consumer can compare which
OTA is giving him the best deal.

 Convinience of booking anytime, anywhere
With bus tickets being available online and most of the online travel aggregators providing
customers with the facility to booking via thier mobile app, customers now have the luxury to
book from anywhere and anytime.
 Introduction of luxury buses
With luxury bus manufacturer such as Volvo, Olivia entering the bus manufacturer market-
travelling in buses for long journies is no longer a nightmare but a much preferred option. It
is evident from the way the bullish bevaviour seen in the supply side too. Volvo has sold a
total of 5,000 coaches in India from its inception 10 years ago. But they are ramping up
manufacturing capacity to produce 5,000 coaches every year from 2015 anticipating a robust
growth in the bus travel industry.
 Huge array of options and choices
Today bus operators are going out of their way to make thier customers happy and their
journey hassle free.
 More and more amenities are being provided during the journey to make the journey
onboard better.
 More and more boarding and dropping points and different timmings are being
introduced to suit the customers schdule.
 To serve the female customer segment , separate female seats are being offered
keeping in mind their safety and their comfort during the journey.
 Different types are buses are available(Volvo A/C Multi-Axle Semisleeper, Non A/C
Seater & SemiSleeper, Volvo A/C Multi-Axle, Volvo A/C Multi-Axle Sleeper, Non A/C Hi-
Tech) to suit customers' varying needs and budgets.
 Customers even have the option of choosing the seat they want.
 Cancellation policy has been made as much simplified and hassle free as possible.
 Reliable Payment gateways are being used so that transactions are secure so that
customers do not have any trouble because of transacting online.

 No planning required
With the avation industry ticket prices getting expensive over the years and travelling by train
requiring planning 60 days prior and more demand than supply in case of tatakal tickets,
travelling by buses seems to be the most logical option who need to travel last minute but do
not want to pay for an airline tickets.
Obstacles to growth
Despite such an impressive growth and Internet, broadband, smart phones, tabs, credit cards
and Internet banking spread like wildfire, only less than 10% of bus booking happens
online. . The current market size of online bus ticketing is over Rs. 500-600 crore which is
just 3-4% of the Rs. 15000 crore market.
...
Figure 4-Break up of the online travel spending

The obstacles to growth are as follows:
1.Internet Penetration
The impact of the Internet in India is constrained by current gaps and obstacles in the
Internet ecosystem. While India scores well on the availability of human and financial capital,
it rates poorly on Internet infrastructure, Internet engagement, the e‑ commerce platform, the
ease of Internet entrepreneurship, and the impact of e‑ governance. On most indicators of the
strength of the Internet ecosystem, India ranks in the bottom quartile of our comparison set of
57 countries.
2. Cash on delivery is the preferred payment mode.
Low credit card access and low trust in online transactions has led to cash on delivery
being the preferred payment choice in India. Unlike electronic payments, manual cash
collection is painstaking, risky, and expensive.
3. Payment gateways have a high failure rate.
Indian payment gateways have an unusually high failure rate by global standards. E-business
companies using Indian payment gateways are losing out on business, as several
customers do not attempt making payment again after a transaction fails. The banks taking at
least 5-7 working days to refund the money are an added woe to the consumers.
4. Infrastructure:
Even though various projects are being undertaken by the government as well as by the
public-private partnership, the state of roads in major parts of India continues to be poor.
Many of the bus operators do not want to start service in parts where infrastructure is bad
even though demand exists like that in eastern India and north-east India.
5. Comfort:
Women and elderly people still prefer trains to buses because of the discomfort associated
with bus journeys. The lack of good sanitation facilities enroute is a major reason why
women avoid travelling by buses.

The pioneer and the market leader in the online bus booking industry in India is redBus.in. It
has over 15000 operators all around India with the major concentration being in South India.
Figure 5-Percentage of operators (Zone Wise)
In the Bagalore-Chennai route solely it has more than 75 operators with average of 1500 seats
sold per day and more than 5 lackh seats sold in a year.
Redbus is like an intermidiary between the end customers and the bus operators who own the
bus. redBus provides the convinience of booking sitting at your home or any corner of the
world but its the bus operator that who provides the ultimate service at the end of the day.
Thus its the service attributes provided by the different opertors that differentiates them. If the
right service attributes are offered to the customers it will lead the customers to come back
again and again but if the operator is not able to satisfy the needs of the customer in this
regard then it will lead to customers who will not travel again with that particular opertor .
In this context, Service attributes can be defined as those attibutes or factors that customers
use to determine which competitor should they buy their tickets from or which service they
expect the bus operator to provide so that his jouney is satisfory.
Thus with the data analysis that follows attemot has been made to identify and measure those
attributes.
47%
37%
8%
8%
South West East North

4. Data Analysis
A. Loyal Customers
Loyal customers have been defined as the customers who have travelled by KPN travels or
Sangita Travels at least 2 times in last 1 year in the Bangalore-Chennai or Chennai-Bangalore
Route.
Number of respondents: 56
Means of booking tickets
Of the 56 people who responded, 52 people(i.e. 92.9% ) replied that they book through
redBus.in which was followed by 10 respondents( i.e. 17.9%) saying that they book through
the operator‟s website. 7 people(i.e. 12.5%) of the people said that they booked through other
ticket booking websites. 3 people (i.e. 5.4% )said that they book through agents. 2 people
(3.6% )of the people said that book last minute at the bus itself. 2 people(3.6% )of the people
had replied others. Both of them had said through goibibo.com. 1 person said he books
directly through the operator.
Thus it is evident from the responses that most of the customers prefer booking through
redBus.in rather than opt for other means of booking.
However the main reason of this is because the sample mainly consists of people who book
online through redBus.in and does not take into consideration the people who book through
other online travel aggregators or book offline.

Figure 6-Ways of booking bus tickets
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
Through
agents
Directly
calling up
a bus
operator
Through
redBus.in
Through
other
ticket
booking
websites
Through
bus
operator's
own
website
Last
minute
booking at
the bus
itself
Other

Ways through which customers come to know about different operators
A majority of the respondent‟s i.e. 41 out of 56 respondents (73.2%) said that they learned
about the different operators from redBus.in. It was followed by 21 respondents (37.5%)
stating that they learnt about the different operators from „Recommendations from friends
and family „ . 4 respondents said that they learnt through Goole ads, 3 said from newspapers
and magazines, 2 said from billboards and 1 person said from he learnt because his agent
suggested it.
Figure 7-Ways through which loyal customers came to know about different operators
When asked the question if they usually refer their preferred bus operator to their relatives and
friends, 89.3% had replied in affirmative
Figure 8-Recommendations to friends and family
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
GoogleAds
YellowPages
redBus.in
Otherticketbooking
websites
Billboards
Newspapers/Magazine
s
Agent'ssuggestion
Recommendations
fromfriendsandfamily
Other
Yes
89%
No
11%

Things that loyal customers take into consideration before booking bus
tickets
According to the order of importance that the different service attributes hold to customers, as
it has been reflected by the respondents‟ answers, has been listed as below:
1. Fares
2. Boarding and dropping points
3. Timings
4. Amenities
5. Offers and discounts
6. Reviews and ratings
7. Cancellation Policy
It is thus evident that fares are the most important thing to customers.
Figure 9-of pre-purchase service attributes by loyal customers
25 customers out of the 56 had ranked fares as 1st
in their priority list, 16 people had ranked
amenities as to be next in their priority list. 19 respondents had ranked Timing as 3rd
in the
ranking. 17 people ranked Offers and discounts as the 4th
rank. 21 people ranked Reviews &

Ratings as No 5th
in their priority list. Last to figure in the list was Cancellation Policy for
majority of the respondents.
Other factors which influence loyal customer’s purchase decision, has been
listed below:
1. Bus operators
2. Good offers
3. No fluctuation in fare
4. Type of bus
5. Safety
6. User Friendly website and Mobile app
7. Prompt response while calling the call centre
8. Recommendations from friends and family
9. Duration of the travel
Things that contribute to making a journey satisfactory for loyal customers
According to their order of importance, as it has been captured in the survey, the different
service attributes have been listed as follows:
1. Punctuality
2. Cleanliness of the bus
3. Staff behaviour
4. Prompt handling of complaints
5. Providing of amenities as promised

32 customers out of the 56 had ranked punctuality as most important. Cleanliness was
ranked 2nd
by 16 respondents while for 22 people „Behaviour of the staff‟ it ranked 3rd
in their list. Least important was providing of amenities promised.
Other factors that are essential for a satisfactory journey
1. Customer Care support
2. Clean Toilet Facilities
3. Stoppage at standard restaurants
4. No rash driving

Measuring level of satisfaction of customers on various things associated
with their preferred operator
1. Fare
Figure 10-Level of Satisfaction-Fares
When asked what is the most important factor that influences their purchase decision,
majority of the respondents had said was fares.3 customers had said that they are highly
satisfied in case of the fares being offered by their preferred operator while 25 people i.e.
45 % said that they were satisfied. 19 respondents (34%) said that they were neutral, i.e.
neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. 8 people said that they were dissatisfied while 1said that
he/she was highly dissatisfied.
Highly Satisfied
5%
Satisfied
45%Neutral
34%
Dissatisfied
14%
Highly
Dissatisfied
2%

2. Amenities
Figure 11-Level of Satisfaction-Amenities
2 respondents (4%) said that they were highly satisfied with the amenities being offered by
the operator while 26(46%) said that they were satisfied. 21 respondents (37%) however said
neutral. 6 people (11%) were not happy with the amenities being offered and replied as
dissatisfied. 1 customer (2%) was highly dissatisfied.
3. Boarding and Dropping Point
Figure 12-Level of Satisfaction-Boarding and dropping point
Highly Satisfied
4%
Satisfied
46%Neutral
37%
Dissatisfied
11%
Highly
Dissatisfied
2%
Highly
Satisfied
11%
Satisfied
61%
Neutral
19%
Dissatisfied
9% Highly
Dissatisfied
0%

6 customers had said that they are highly satisfied in case of the option of boarding points
being offered while 34 people said that they were satisfied. 11 respondents (34%) said that
they were neutral, i.e. neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. 5 people said that they were
dissatisfied .However none of the respondents replied as being highly dissatisfied.
4. Cancellation Policy
Figure 13-Level of Satisfaction-Cancellation Policy
In case of Cancellation Policy, 2 of the respondents (3%) said that they are highly satisfied
while 25 of the total respondents (45%) said that were satisfied. 18 of the respondents (32%)
replied as neutral while 10 (i.e. 18%)said they were dissatisfied with the policy while 1 said
highly dissatisfied.
Highly Satisfied
3%
Satisfied
45%
Neutral
32%
Dissatisfied
18%
Highly
Dissatisfied
2%

5. Punctuality
Figure 14-Level of Satisfaction-Punctuality
Punctuality has been the most important factor for most of the passengers when asked what
makes their journey satisfactory. 4 respondents (7%) said that they were highly satisfied with
the punctuality while 25 respondents (45%) said that they were satisfied. 15 respondents
(27%) however said neutral. 7 people (12%) were not happy with the punctuality not
maintained and replied as dissatisfied. 5 customers (9%) were highly dissatisfied.
6. Staff Behaviour
Figure 15-Level of satisfaction-Staff Behaviour
Highly
Satisfied
7%
Satisfied
45%Neutral
27%
Dissatisfied
12%
Highly
Dissatisfied
9%
Highly
Satisfied
5%
Satisfied
29%
Neutral
53%
Dissatisfied
11%
Highly
Dissatisfied
2%
Staff Behaviour

Looking at the above pie chart, it is clear that large chunks of the people are not satisfied with
the staff behaviour onboard. 3 respondents (5%) that they were highly satisfied. only 16
people (29%) said that they were satisfied. An alarming 30 respondents (53%) replied Neutral
while 6 respondents (11%) and 1 respondents (2%) said they were dissatisfied and highly
dissatisfied respectively.
7. Handling of Complaints
Figure 16-Level of satisfaction-Handling of complaints
In case of the manner in which complaints are being handled, only 1 person has said that
he/she is highly satisfied 18 people have said that they are satisfied. A majority of the people
(24) have replied as neutral. 8 people have said that they are dissatisfied while 5 people have
reported to be highly dissatisfied.
Highly Satisfied
2%
Satisfied
32%
Neutral
43%
Dissatisfied
14%
Highly
Dissatisfied
9%

8. Cleanliness in the Bus
Figure 17-Level of satisfaction-Cleanliness in the bus
In case cleanliness that is maintained in the bus, 4 of the respondents (7%) said that they are
highly satisfied while 25 of the total respondents (45%) said that were satisfied. 18 of the
respondents (32%) replied as neutral while 7 (i.e. 12%)said they were dissatisfied with the
policy while2 (4%) said highly dissatisfied.
Reasons for loyalty
It is seen that in case of pre-purchase, the most important factors are fares, boarding and
dropping point, timing and amenities. When asked to respondents about their satisfaction
levels in on these factors, less than 20% have said in all the 3 cases that they are either are
dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied. (Refer to table no
Even if we take the factors that makes the journey satisfactory, i.e. post-purchase behaviour
we can see that in case of the most important factors, i.e. punctuality, cleanliness of the bus,
staff behaviour most of the customers have either replied to be highly satisfied or satisfied or
neutral. A small percentage has said that they were not satisfied.
Since KPN has been able to satisfy the customers in these basic factors which matter to the
customers hence the respondents have multiple journeys with the operator.
Highly Satisfied
7%
Satisfied
45%Neutral
32%
Dissatisfied
12%
Highly
Dissatisfied
4%

Customer loyalty has been tried to be captured with the following question too:
“If another operator was giving you more discounts and offers, would you shift to it instead of your
preferred operator?”
68% of the respondents i.e. 38 out of 56 respondents said that they will shift, which was what was
expected. The remaining 18 customers however replied negative. Monetary incentive is not enough to
make them desert the operator‟s they trust to travel with.
Figure 18-Will they will shift to other operator if they got better discounts
Of the people who said no, the main reasons for them not shifting are as follows:
 Bus quality more important
 Punctuality more important
 Long association with the bus operator
 Overall goodwill of the bus operator is more important than saving some money
Yes
68%
No
32%

Behaviour of customers to unavailability of tickets of their preferred operator
at redBus.in
57% of the respondents said that they prefer buying tickets of whichever operator‟s tickets is
available on redBus.in. 25% of the respondents said that they search for tickets of the
preferred operator on other ticket booking websites.
Figure 19-What if preferred operator's tickets were not available on redBus.in
Even though customers are loyal to the operator‟s the brand of redBus.in is stronger than that
of the operator‟s since most the customers said that they will buy whichever operator‟s ticket
is available on redBus.in if tickets of his/her preferred operator was not available at
redBus.in.
57%
25%
2%
9%
7%
0%
Buy whichever operator's tickets
are available on redBus.in
Search for preffered operator's
tickets on other ticket booking
websites
Buy it from an agent
Booking by calling up the
operator directly
Travel by train, car or other
means
Postponed the trip till tickets are
available
Others

Figure 20-Most searched word-redBus/ KPN/ Sangita
If we use Google Trends to find out the most searched keywords in India among redBus.in,
KPN travels And Sangita travels in the last 12 months we will see that redBus is far more
searched than KPN travels or Sangita. Thus it is evident that brand value of Sangita or KPN
is less than that of redBus.in.
Ways in which customers want their preferred bus operator to improve
Of the reasons people gave, the following are the major things that customers want the
operators to improve:
1. Amenities
2. Cleanliness
3. Dropping and boarding point
4. Fare
5. Punctuality
6. Staff behaviour
7. More option of Timings
8. Others
 Comfortable seats
 Leg space
 Overall experience
 Customer Care
 Playing movies to be stopped after a certain time in the night

B. Switching Customers
For the purpose of this study, switching customers have been defined as the customers who
have travelled more than 2 times in last 1 year in the Bangalore-Chennai or Chennai-
Bangalore Route but with different operators most of the time.
Number of respondents: 86.
Means of booking tickets
Out of the of the people said that they usually book through redBus.in which was closely
followed by people who said that they booked either through other ticket booking websites
(10.5%) or through bus operators own website. (11.6%) Only 1 person out of the 86 has
mentioned “others” and in it has answered as Abhibus.com.
Figure 21-Ways of booking tickets by switching customers
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
Through
agents
Directly
calling up a
bus
operator
Through
redBus.in
Through
other ticket
booking
websites
Through
bus
operator's
own
website
Last minute
booking at
the bus
itself
Other
(please
specify)

Ways through which customers come to know about different operators
81.4% of the customers said through redBus.in. It was followed by 30.2% of the customers
saying that they came to know because of recommendations of friends and family. 2.33% has
replied as “Others” in which they have stated TV ads and Google search as the ways through
which they got to know.
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
GoogleAds
YellowPages
redBus.in
Otherticketbooking
websites
Billboards
Newspapers/Magazines
Agent'ssuggestion
Recommendationsfrom
friendsandfamily
Other(pleasespecify)
Figure 22-Ways through which switching customers know different operators

Measuring the Brand Recall of various operators
Figure 23-Measuring brand recall value
SRS travels and KPN travels seem to have the highest brand recall value.
The top 5 operators as captured in the survey are as follows:
1. KPN Travels
2. SRS Travels
3. Seabird Tourist
4. SRM Transports
5. Shama Sardar Travels
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
ABTXTravels
Hebron…
NationalTravels
SRSTravels
SeabirdTourist
MuskaanTours…
SangitaTravels
KGNTravels
GeepeeTravels
Shri…
BhavaniTravels
KPNTravels
RoadlinkIndia…
JahanTravels
SanaTravels
SangitaBharthi…
JabbarTravels

Figure 24-Most searched word-KPN/SRS/Seabird/SRM
Google trends also give the same result as the survey. KPN is the most searched followed by
SRS travels, Sea bird tourist, SRM Transport and Shama Sardar Travels in India in the last 1
year.
Things that customers take into consideration before booking bus tickets
1. Fares
2. Boarding and dropping points
3. Timings
4. Amenities
5. Offers
6. Reviews
7. Cancellation policy

Figure 25-Ranking of pre-purchase service attributes by switching customers
For the second set of customers also, fares are the most important followed by convenient
Boarding and dropping points and timings. Cancellation policy is the least important among
the options listed.
Other factors which influence customer’s purchase decision, has been listed
below:
1. Safety
2. Duration of the travel
3. Mticket
Things that contribute to making a journey satisfactory for customers
1. Punctuality
2. Cleanliness
3. Staff
4. Complaints
5. Providing of amenities as promised
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Fares
Amenities
Offers and Discounts
Convinient boarding and dropping
points
Convinient Timmings
Review and ratings
Cancellation Policy

Figure 26-Listing of post purchase service attributes by switching customers
Like the first set of customers, for the switching customers too punctuality is the most
important followed by cleanliness of the bus. Among the attributes listed, providing of
amenities as promised is the least important.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Punctuality
Promt handling of complaints
Behavior of staff
Cleanliness of the bus
Providing of amenities promised

Reasons for not travelling with a particular operator always
Figure 27-Reasons for switching
79% of the customers said that they do not always travel with a particular operator because of
the bad experience they had on the last travel. 44.2% of the customers said that they shifted
because of they got cheap and better alternatives. Non availability of the bus operators was
the reason for 30% of the customers while not getting preferred tickets was the reason for
32% of the customers. Offers and discounts by other operators and ticket booking websites
was the reason for 11% of the customers.
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
Non-availabilityof
preferredoperator's
tickets
Non-availabilityof
preferredseats
Badexperienceonthe
lasttravel
Cheaperandbetter
alternativesavailable
Offersanddiscountsby
otheroperators/ticket
bookingwebsites
Others

5. Quantitative Analysis
Loyal Customers
Step 1: Hypothesis
H0: μ1 =μ2 =μ3 =μ4 =μ5 =μ6 =μ7
Ha : Not all of the means are equal.
Step 2 : Significance Level
α = 0.01
Step 3 : Critical Value and Rejection Region
Reject the null hypothesis p-value ≤ 0.01.
Step 4 : Test Statistic
Ranks
Mean Rank
Fares 5.57
Amenities 4.05
Offers & Disc 3.77
Convenient Boarding
and Drop off points 4.66
Convenient Timings 4.46
Review & ratings 3.55
Cancellation Policy 1.94
Test Statistics(a)
N 86
Chi-Square 140.321
df 6
Asymp. Sig. .000
a Friedman Test
Step 5 : Decision
Since p-value = 0.000 ≤ 0.01 = α, we reject the null hypothesis.
Step 6 : Conclusion in words
At the α = 0.01 level of significance, there exists enough evidence to conclude that there is a
difference in the true mean for factors a Loyal Customer considers while booking a bus ticket online.

Switching Customers
Step 1 : Hypothesis
H0 : μ1 =μ2 =μ3 =μ4 =μ5 =μ6 =μ7
Ha : Not all of the means are equal.
Step 2 : Significance Level
α = 0.01
Step 3 : Critical Value and Rejection Region
Reject the null hypothesis p-value ≤ 0.01.
Step 4 : Test Statistic
Ranks
Mean Rank
Fares 5.42
Amenities 4.36
Offers & Disc 5.09
Convenient Boarding
and Drop off points 4.82
Convenient Timings 3.13
Review & ratings 2.90
Cancellation Policy 2.28
Test Statistics(a)
N 56
Chi-Square 107.227
df 6
Asymp. Sig. .000
a Friedman Test
Step 5 : Decision
Since p-value = 0.000 ≤ 0.01 = α, we reject the null hypothesis.
Step 6 : Conclusion in words
At the α = 0.01 level of significance, there exists enough evidence to conclude that there is a
difference in the true mean for factors a Switching Customer considers while booking a bus ticket
online.

6.Complaints by the customers
Following are the complaints and suggestions as listed by both the set of customers
Complaints
 Not getting the seat that they had booked online but being allotted some other seat by
the operator.
 Not going to the dropping points mentioned online but dropping customers midway.
 redBus app not working properly on iPhone 4s safari browser.
 Amount of cancelled ticket not getting refunded
 Technical glitches in the website leading to inconvenience in booking
 More discounts being given by other websites.
 Customer care unresponsive after a certain point in the night
Improvements customers want
 Actual photographs of the buses that customers going to travel in, to be displayed on
the website
 Avoid delay in departure
 Customer care to be more responsive
 Prompt message in case a bus is cancelled
 Videos not to be played after certain time in the night
 Stoppage at places with better sanitation facilities and better food.
 Boarding and dropping points to be announced in the bus so that customers to not
miss their destination points.
7. Findings of the study
1. There is no major difference between the preferences and choices of the customers
who are loyal to a particular operator and customers who keep switching customers.
Thus it is evident that the wants and needs of customers are more or less the same.
Common steps like better amenities being provided, being more punctual, handling
complaints more seriously and promptly will satisfy both sets of customers.

2. For both the set of customers the most important factor influencing a purchase
decision is Fares followed by Boarding and Dropping Points, Timings, Amenities,
Offers & Discounts, Reviews and Ratings in the exact same order.
3. To make the journey satisfactory, the important factor was punctuality for all the
respondents followed by Cleanliness of the bus, Prompt handling of complaints,
Behaviour of staff onboard and providing of amenities promised.
4. With regards to most of the factors that influence customers‟ purchase decision and
making the journey satisfactory, such as
Fare
Amenities
Cancellation policy
Staff behaviour
Handling of complaints
The customers when asked how satisfied they are with it, more than 1/3 in all the
cases have replied „Neutral‟ signifying that they are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
and that measures should be taken to improve it.
5. Most of the customers are ready to recommend their preferred bus operator to their
friends and relatives which can be utilised to generate word of mouth publicity.
6. The brand of redBus.in is stronger than that of the operators‟ since 57% of the
respondents stated that if they did not get tickets of their preferred operators they
would buy whichever operator‟s tickets was available online.

8. Limitations of the study
Although this research was carefully prepared, I am still aware of its limitations and
shortcomings.
 The survey was conducted from27th
June, 2014 to 4th
July,2014. The results for this
study are valid for this particular period and predictions may not be reliable beyond a
certain time period.
 This study is based on 142 respondents which may not represent the population.
 There may be errors due to biasness of respondents.
 The sampling technique used is convenience sampling which has its own limitations.
 The study was conducted only for the customers who travel in the Chennai-Bangalore
Route and hence it might not represent the preference and choices of the customers all
around India.
 Since the survey has been conducted online it might not reflect the preferences and
choices of the customers who book offline.
9. Recommendations
1. Utilizing word of mouth publicity
If we look at figure 6, we will notice that a large number of the customers said that they got to
know about different operators because their friends and family recommended the name to them.
This influencing power can be utilised to increase more awareness about different operators and
ultimately it will help sales of redBus.in to increase. A system of reward points or any offers and
discounts can be given to customers because of whose recommendation another successful
transaction has occurred. In fact when asked the question if they usually refer their preferred bus

operator to their relatives and friends, 89.3% had replied in affirmative .(Refer Figure 7) Thus is
evident that this can be utilised to leverage the sales.
2. Improving the service
It is seen from the survey that in important service attributes such as fares, amenities more than
1/3 of the customers have replied “Neutral” when asked how satisfied they are with it. Care needs
to be taken that these customers do not turn to dissatisfied customers but in turn can be satisfied
enough to remain loyal customers.
Amenities mainly consist of charging points, providing of drinking water bottles, blankets , movies,
live bus tracking and charging points.
Operators should see to it that what is being promised by them to the customers is delivered by
them.
Many a times customers search buses solely on the basis of amenities. So if an operator promises
drinking water it should be provided otherwise the customer will might feel cheated.
It s also evident from the responses that to customers, punctuality is most important.(Figure 9 and
Figure 24) Thus if operators could see to it that the buses leave on time and reach on time, it will
lead to more satisfied customers and ultimately loyal customers. The most common complaint of
customers is the delay in journey sometimes making customers late in their various commitments.
If this complaint can be minimised to the minimum, it will lead to a lot of happy and loyal
customers.
Cleanliness of the bus is the second most important factor that contributes to making a journey
satisfactory according to the respondents. Bus operators should make sure that the bus is kept
clean. Seats and blankets should be kept be clean so that customers have a comfortable journey.
A majority of the complaints of the customers revolves around the rude behaviour of staff on board
and their indifference to customer problems. If the behaviour of the staff is improved and they can
be more responsive to the customers’ problems, it will surely lead to more loyal customers,

3. Increasing customer responsiveness:
In case of handling of complaints also. a large percentage of the customers have replied neutral.
Handling of complaints like refunds related issues, bus cancellation and other such complaints
needs to be redressed more efficiently so that the customers feel that someone is listening to them
and with just with the purchase of the ticket the relationship has not ended.
This will surely lead to customers coming back again and again.
Prompt message should also be sent in case a bus is cancelled so that customers are not harassed
trying to arrange for an alternative mode of transport at the last moment.
4. Loyalty program
A loyalty program can be introduced since a lot of their customers primarily consist of students or
working professionals who travel back home on the weekend or travel because of office or business
work. To encourage them to book every time with redBus.in reward points can be awarded every
time they travel so that it can be redeemed after a certain time resulting in cash saving for the
customer.
Actual photographs of the buses that customers going to travel in should be displayed on the
website because often pictures displayed on the website are of brand new buses whereas the
actual condition of the bus is far from it. This leads to shattering of the customers’ expectation.
5. Making the journey comfortable
To make the journey more comfortable, the operator should tie up and stop at restaurants where
the food is good as well as good sanitation facilities can be provided for the customers. A major
reason for customers being hesitant to travel in bus is because of the lack of proper stoppages with
good sanitation facilities.

10. Conclusion
This research is an attempt to identify the service attributes being provided by the bus
operators that contribute to customer satisfaction. The point of using the questionnaire
technique was to ensure that the analysis is bias free and accurate.
After the analysis it can be concluded that all customers place importance more or less to the
same attributes while making their purchase decision. The customers who are satisfied with
the essential service attributes such as fares, amenities, punctuality they tend to travel with
that operator during most of the times they travel while the customers who are not satisfied
tend to keep changing the operator.
Thus if the operators concentrate on improving the service attributes that are highly
prioritized by a majority of the customers it will lead to a more and more customers being
loyal to them and their sales increasing.

11. Annexure
KPN Travels
Founded By: Dr. Kuppanna Goundar Ponmala i
Goundar Natarajan
Year:1972
Tagline: Knowing people‟s needs
Headquaters: Salem, Tamil Nadu
Routes: Tamil Nadu, Kerala,Karnataka,Telangana, Andra Pradesh, Puducherry
Fleet: 200+ (including 35 Volvo B7R high-end luxury coaches)
Types of Buses: Volvo A/C Multi-Axle Semi sleeper
A/C Sleeper
Volvo Non A/C Multi-Axle Semi Sleeper
Volvo A/C Semi sleeper
Fare Range: Rs.250-1770
Ticket sales through redBus.in in the last one year: 6 lakh

About
Established in the year 1972, with a single bus plying between Thirunelveli and Bangalore,
the KPN travels have come a long way. Dr K P Natarajan had started KPN travels after a
short stint at being a tour operator. His experience as a tour operator gave him the realization
that more bus services are required between the towns. It led to the establishment of KPN
Travels. Now KPN travels have a fleet of more than 200 buses plying along various routes
spread over various states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and the Union Territory of
Pondicherry. It has grown into a dependable bus operator that transports lakhs of travellers to
their chosen destination on a daily basis.
The KPN Travels network is wide and ever growing. It operates buses along 597 routes at
present. The most popular routes along which the travels operates include the Chennai to
Madurai, Chennai to Coimbatore, Coimbatore to Chennai, Madurai to Chennai and Chennai
to Trichy routes. There are 13, 12, 12, 11 and 11 KPN buses running respectively along these
routes on most of the days. Apart from these routes the travels operate along various other
routes like Chennai to Bangalore, Hyderabad to Coimbatore, Bangalore to Madurai, Chennai
to Salem, Bangalore to Trichy, Bangalore to Kochi and Bangalore to Thiruvanthapuram
among others. More and more routes are being added to this list. They have a large fleet
consisting of various types of buses like Volvo A/C Multi Axle Semi Sleeper (2+2), A/C
Sleeper (2+1), Non A/C Seater (2+2), Non A/C Semi Sleeper (2+2) and Non A/C Sleeper
(2+1) among others.
Sangita Travels
Operating in the South region of India, SRS Travels is renowned for its punctual services. Tamil
Nadu,
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry are among the top major states served by
SRS Travels. Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore are few of the major cities where SRS Travels runs a
total of 18546 buses. The major routes it covers are Coimbatore to Bangalore, Hyderabad to
Bangalore, Chennai to Bangalore and operates buses every day. 2+1, Sleeper, Non-AC, Non-Video,
2+2, Multi Axle Volvo Semi Sleeper, AC, Video, 2+2, Seater, AC, Video bus types operated by this
travel operator.

About redBus.in

Figure 28-Timeline of redBus.in

The Story
Like all innovations, redBus too has a very interesting story.
It started one diwali when one of the founders, Phanindra Sama could not get bus tickets to
go back home since all tickets were apparently sold out.
So he kept on thinking if at least one seat in a bus went without being booked though there
was huge demand for it, because it was a highly unorganised sector.
That's when he thought of the possibility of providing consumers the convenience of booking
a bus ticket over the internet. The objective was two-fold - to ensure that they don't have to
leave the confines of their comfort to book a ticket, and to help them get a ticket when they
need it the most.
The idea was compelling. And why not? The internet was being voted as a medium people
couldn't do without. PC and net penetration was increasing not only in urban areas, but also
in rural India with innovative concepts like Shakti and e-Choupal. Also, people were getting
used to booking tickets for travel using IRCTC and private airline websites. So, why not
buses?
But none had ventured in this area. Reasons? There were hundreds of bus operators who were
not exactly literate (forget computers). More than a dozen operators in each state. More than
a dozen languages. The passengers are middle class families who would think twice before
spending online in a private agency that books tickets for private operators. Concept of
punctuality didn't exist. Who is going to vouch for that? These are just the main factors.
There can be a dozen other problems like : different facilities like seats, via-routes, food, lack
of alternatives etc..
Many dissuaded them by saying it was not possible and why they wanted to get into such an
area, why would people book bus ticket on the Internet.
But still the founders decided to go ahead. They started writing the code for the software that
would be required to run the operations. Once this was ready, they put together a business

plan and presented it to Tie, Bangalore Chapter. TiE supported them and that‟s how
redBus.in started its journey.
They started out with 5 seats but slowly the number was growing. They got funding also
worth a million dollar from Seedfund.
The company now had to figure out a way to win all of India before competition set in.. It
could do an expensive slash-and-burn by running wide across India simultaneously. Or
instead do a Genghis-Khan-like “win one territory, establish your rule, the win the next”
mode. It chose the latter.
They first started out with Bangalore – Hyderabad, tied up with as many operators as it could
and then ventured out to conquer and dominate other routes. Within a few years both private
operators were queuing up to sell tickets through redBus.in. On the way they got funding
from Helion Venture Partners, Inventus Capital, Seedfund and other undisclosed investors
and have become the market leader in the online bus ticket industry with a share of 16%.
State operators like APSRTC, Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited, and Bihar State
Tourism Development Corporation are too selling their tickets through redBus.in. by 2011-
2012 the company had declared that it had turned profitable.
Recently in 2013 redBus.in was acquired by the Ibibo Group, a subsidiary of South Africa's
Naspers. China's Ten cent holds a 20% in Ibibo Group.
In June 2014, the founders Phanindra Sama and Charan Padmaraju sold their shares and
exited the company.
Ibibo group named Prakash SangamTravel ex-Bharti Airtel Ltd executive Prakash Sangam
as the new chief executive at redBus. It also named Rohan Patnaik, a former Diageo India
Pvt. Ltd executive, as the company‟s new head of supply and operations, and Anoop Menon
as head of engineering.
Today redBus has the largest network of operators(15000+), operates at over 80,0000 routes,
tickets are sold at over 30,000 outlets and it recently touched the milestone of selling 300
crore tickets .

Figure 29-Multi Layer System

Annexure-ii
Questionnaire for Switching Customers
Hi,
Can you please spare 5 minutes of your time to fill this survey so that we at redBus.in can
make your future journey with us better :)
1. How many times have you travelled in the last 1 year?
Less than 2
2-4
More than 4
2. How do you usually book your bus tickets?
Through agents
Directly calling up a bus operator
Through redBus.in
Through other ticket booking websites
Through bus operator's own website
Last minute booking at the bus itself
Other (please specify)

3. How do you come to know about different bus operators?
Google Ads
Yellow Pages
redBus.in
Other ticket booking websites
Billboards
Agent's suggestion
Recommendations from friends and family
4. What are the name of the bus operators you remember travelling with?
ABT X Travels
VRL Travels
Hebron Transports
Monica Travels(SPS)
National Travels
Meenakshi Travels
SRS Travels
Oscar Travels
Seabird Tourist

Shama Sardar Travels
Muskaan Tours & Travels
Oscar Travels
Sangeeta Travels
Jabbar Travels
KGN Travels
Sangita Travel Agency
Geepee Travels
Jahan Travels
Shri Bhagyalakshmi Travels
Sharma Transports
Bhavani Travels
Bharathi Travels
KPN Travels
Jahan Travels
Roadlink India Travels
Sea Bird Tourist
Jahan Travels
SMPK Travels
Sana Travels
Greenline Travels

Sangita Bharthi Travels
Paulo Travels
Jabbar Travels
SRM Transports
5. Please rank how important the following are, when you are booking your bus
tickets .
(1= Least Important 7= Most important)
Fares
Amenities
Offers & Discounts
Convenient boarding and dropping point
Convenient timings
Review & Ratings
Cancellation Policy
6. If there are any other factors that influence your purchase decision, please specify.
7. Please rank the following, in their order of importance, in making your journey
satisfactory.
(1= Least Important 5= Most Important)
Punctuality
Prompt handling of complaints
Behaviour of staff

Providing of the amenities promised
8. If there is any other factor that is essential to make your journey satisfactory,
please specify.
9. What are your reasons for not travelling with a specific operator?
Non-availability of tickets with that operator as per your requirements
Non-availability of preferred seats
Bad experience on the last travel
Cheaper and better alternatives available
Offers and discounts by other operators/ticket booking websites

Questionnaire for loyal customers
Hi,
Can you please spare 5 minutes of your time to fill this survey so that we at
redBus.in can make your future journey with us better :)
1. How many times have you travelled by buses in the last 1 year?
How many times have you travelled by buses in the last 1 year? Less than 2
2-4
More than 4
2. How do you usually book your bus tickets?
How do you usually book your bus tickets? Through agents
Directly calling up a bus operator
Through redBus.in
Through other ticket booking websites
Through bus operator's own website
Last minute booking at the bus itself
3. How did you come to know about your preferred bus operator?
How did you come to know about your preferred bus operator? Google Ads
Yellow Pages
redBus.in
Other ticket booking websites
Billboards
Agent's suggestion
Recommendations from friends and family

4. Please rank how important the following are when you are booking your bus
tickets.
Fares
Amenities
Convenient boarding and dropping points
Convenient timings
Offers and discounts
Review & Ratings
Cancellation policy
5. If there are any other factor that influence your purchase decision, please
specify.
6. Please rank the following, in their order of importance, in making your
journey satisfactory.
(1= Least Important 5= Most Important
Punctuality
Prompt handling of complaints
Behaviour of staff
Providing of the amenities promised
7. If there are any other factor that is essential to make your journey
satisfactory, please specify.

8.How satisfied are you with your preferred bus operator on the following
parameters?
Highly Highly
Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Dissatisfied
Fare
Amenities
Boarding
And dropping points
Cancellation Policy
Behaviour of staff
Handling of complaints
Cleanliness of bus
9. If another operator was giving you more discounts and offers, would you
shift to it instead of your preferred operator?
Yes
No
10. If no, why?
11. What do you do if you do not get tickets of your preferred operator at
redBus.in?

Buy whichever operator's tickets are available on redBus.in
Search for preferred operator's tickets on other ticket booking websites
Buy it from an agent
Booking by calling up the operator directly
Travel by train, car or other means
Postponed the travels till tickets are available
12. Do you recommend your friends and family to travel with your preferred
operator?
Yes
No
13. In what ways can your preferred bus operator improve your journey with
them.
Done

12. References:
1. E-Business: Issues & Challenges in Indian Perspective
Bhavya Malhotra-
Global Journal of Business Management and Information Technology.
ISSN 2278-3679 Volume 4, Number 1 (2014), pp. 11-16
© Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com
2.https://www.dnb.co.in/Travel_Tourism/Chapter_3_Challenges.asp
3.http://www.medianama.com/2013/06/223-redbus-naspers-ibibo-mih/
4.Re-Birth of e-commerce by EnY
5. Online and upcoming: The Internet‟s impact on India- by McKinsey & Company
6.India in 2014 Creating Value with Speed and Quality: The New Imperative
Produced by the Accenture Institute for High Performance
An annual review of key macroeconomic and sectoral trends
7.Phanindra Sama: Route-Mapping the Future With redBus: Forbes
8.The secret behind redBus' success story
-reddif.com
9.Ibibo acquires online bus ticketing service redBus-TOI
10.Online bus bookings register 185% growth since Jan '13-Business Standard
11.Advanced analytics to a major bus ticketing company in South
India – Case Study
12. www.redBus.in

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