World Tourism Day: Why people like road travel?

Based on interaction with a sample size of 500 customers, the survey sheds light on a number of consumer propensities with respect to journeying by bus.

The respondents belonged to a diverse demographic and hailed from cities as different as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

The survey revealed that if the duration of a journey is between five to 12 hours, 76 percent of travellers in India choose bus transport. Essentially, for shorter trips, road remains the preferred option across the country. 

Of the customers surveyed, almost 60 percent were a part of a family with one child and 40 percent had two children.

Transport choices also seem to be dictated by the availability of additional incentives. Apart from regular discounts, online bus booking is highly influenced by ease-of-use and loyalty points offered with 57 percent respondents marking ‘Offers and ease of use’ as their primary incentive.

It has been observed from the findings that the respondents from different segments prefer to travel by bus when it is an overnight journey to visit their native place and tend to prefer bus travel because of the comfort and ease of booking.

The questionnaire also included inquiries about the participant’s personal details, such as age, gender and profession. 55 percent of the participants of the survey were private sector employees and software engineers who used bus for both short weekend travel to visit family and business travel displaying the high demand for comfortable and swift travel especially for short distance.

Further, the survey included questions regarding the preferred leisure activity of respondents, which revealed that 52 percent customers chose to watch TV and movies to relax and unwind during their road journeys. LCD/LED screens on seat backs, as is the case in many airlines and Wi-Fi-routers would, thus, be good additions to the value offered by the service to travellers.

Commenting on the insights provided by the survey Travelyaari Spokesperson said, “Travelyaari has always been committed to increasing the affinity of the Indian consumer towards road travel, by creating a system that can offer tickets at extremely cost-effective prices as compared to other modes of transport and making sure that all aspects of the journey are enjoyable for the traveller. With the survey published on World Tourism Day, we have expanded on our already-extensive research about customer requirements and preferences. Amongst other results, we have been pleased to find that respondents from across different segments prefer to book their bus tickets through Travelyaari citing ‘ease’ and ‘attractive offers’ as the reasons for their preference.”

The verdict seems to be that the Indian customer does indeed prefer travelling by bus, due to the flexibility offered in terms of tickets being available very close to date of the journey, and the range of options available to suit different requirements and budgets.