E-Ticket

E-tickets have become a common tool that is used by passengers to verify their bus online ticket booking either at a terminal or with a bus operator. The sight of frustrated travelers digging through their bags for their tickets has become a rare sight in today’s world. An electronic ticket or e-ticket is a digital representation of the paper version of a ticket. The same applies to a bus ticket. Bus operators and aggregators have begun to do their part in helping the environment by reducing the amount of paper that’s used to print bus tickets. A survey has determined that after introducing the e-ticketing procedure in India alone, the bus industry has saved over 3 billion dollars.

E-ticket provides security and makes life easy for both travelers and bus operators. Utilizing a bus e-ticketing facility provides flexibility, security, convenience, and reduces the money spent on printing a physical ticket. redBus has been the driving force behind taking the paperless route by introducing the “M-Ticket” system in India and this model has been implemented in other countries as well.

Previously, operators used to levy a fee on passengers who have lost their bus tickets. But, with the e-ticket facility, it is nearly impossible to lose a bus ticket. The online bus ticket for a seat is stored in a database that can be accessed by either the passenger or the operator. It can be stored or downloaded onto a customer’s handheld or computer device and can be produced or shown to the concerned authorities whenever asked to do so.

Advantages of E-ticketing

The bus online ticket booking process has many advantages compared to the conventional system of printing and showing your tickets to board a bus. Some of these are listed below:

• Never Misplaced: It can be a difficult task for either a customer or operator to lose an e-ticket as details pertaining to the bus journey or any information about the customer is stored on a secure database. Passengers can even download and have their e-ticket printed when required.
• Easy to Access: Customers can easily download the e-ticket that has been sent to their email or they can view booking details on the redBus app or website.
• Reduces Costs: The process that goes into printing a bus ticket can be quite expensive online bus tickets eliminate the need to spend anything on this process. Agencies or operators do not need to invest in ticket printers and inventory control.
• Helps the Environment: Apart from eliminating the need to cut down acres of trees to make the paper required to print a ticket, e-tickets also ensures that there is no trash left behind. There are times when a bus ticket is not disposed of properly and becomes trash.

Another important point that should be noted is that bus operators or aggregators can easily communicate or track down passengers with e-tickets. Any information regarding changes in the bus schedule or itinerary can be easily passed on to every passenger here.

The bus eticketing process is quite different when it comes to terminals. For instance, if you search for “TBS e-ticketing,” you might not find much on the right procedure to follow. redBus does their best to ensure that people have a hassle-free and pleasant journey when traveling on a bus. This also includes ensuring that passengers reach their boarding point easily. Follow the steps below to board a bus at a terminal:

• When a person receives an e-ticket on their registered email ID, the customer will have to take a printout of the email and head to the terminal that they have selected as their boarding point. The email that’s sent to the customer is in a PDF format.
• The customer will then have to go to the counter of the bus operator that they have selected at the time of booking a bus ticket on the redBus website or app.
• The printout is then used to generate the boarding pass that would be required to board their bus.
• The boarding pass that the customer has now obtained would contain the QR code which should be scanned at the turnstile located at the entrance of the boarding area.

The staff of the bus might ask a passenger to produce the boarding pass before entering the bus. Therefore, it is advisable that a passenger retains the boarding pass until the journey is completed.

Another scenario that a lot of people face is when the boarding point is located at a bus stop and not at a terminal:

• The passenger will receive an M-ticket that they will have to produce at the time of boarding a bus
• After producing the M-ticket when requested, the passenger will be handed a slip by the staff
• This slip acts as a boarding pass that’s required to board a bus.

If the operator does not provide an M-Ticket, the passenger will have to take a printout of the ticket (PDF) that has been sent to the registered email ID that you have used to book your online bus ticket on the redBus website. Some operators might levy a charge if these conditions are not followed.

Disclaimer: Please check the redBus app or website or contact your bus operator for any last-minute changes or updates regarding the e-ticketing procedure at a terminal.