[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by binaiks

I've seen one member (I guess it was you) who went about ranting about paying Rs. 25 extra as superfast surcharge for a train (claiming that Superfast trains "run" only at 55kmph) - and termed that "cheating".

So- what did I do ??? - stopped using Indian railways since then and pay 3- 5 times more for the buses - penny pincher amn't I.


Market driven pricing is here to stay and all I can say is you will not have the luxury of too many "boycotts" as the trend catches on fast in the long distance bus travel scene in India. Enjoy your boycotts while it lasts!!!

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Market driven pricing is here to stay and all I can say is you will not have the luxury of too many "boycotts" as the trend catches on fast in the long distance bus travel scene in India. Enjoy your boycotts while it lasts!!!

Nobody is objecting to Market driven pricing - but the "drive" should have transparency and should be fair. And, not just me, but a lot of people enjoy boycotting. The average joe in India is now far more educated, and I am sure the operators do not have the luxury of looting the passengers for long.

A causal glance at the weekday occupancy of so called "economically well managed" operators will reveal their reputation in the market. The operators who stick to consistent pricing are having far better loads on weekdays that those who charge a bomb on weekends and provide namesake discounts on weekdays.

I rest my case.

[coolclouds]

DGCA monitors air fares and control them to some extent when they charge exorbitant rates. But in case of private operators, there is no such agency and they are charging as much as they can! The max discount some operators offer during weekdays is 10-15% while weekends they charge 200% or more.

During Onam, some never heard operators were charging Rs. 1999-2499 for Bangalore-Ernakulam service where Bangalore-Coimbatore rate was still at Rs. 550-800. I hope, in some cases, this money goes to agents, not to operators. Isn't it called looting/robbery though there were takers for these services.

I have some friends who are never bothered about fares when the tickets are reimbursed by company. But they prefer economical travel when they have to pay from own pocket.

I personally feel that there should be some controlling agency to monitor the fares as the industry is fast growing with the introduction of advanced buses and good highways.

It can not be left like travel if you have money.

[TKMCE]

In the end like Airlines, Bus Operators have every right to charge what the market can bear. If they get away with it, full credit to them. If they dont get away with it, they are the loosers. In the end, it comes down to plain economics, ESTIMATING THE DEMAND CORRECTLY. The worst nightmare of a revenue manager is to have the departure in question go half empty

This year Onam was interesting. A lot of bus operators were caught out by Indian Railways announcing special trains very late which resulted in a lot of surplus capacity at the last minute. Even on 03rd September (the Monday after Onam), Non AC on Kochi Bangalore at last minute was being sold at 650 (SPS) and Volvo as low as 950 (KPN).

So there it is- Indian Bus Travel market is fast maturing!!!!

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

...Bus Operators have every right to charge what the market can bear. If they get away with it, full credit to them. If they dont get away with it, they are the loosers....

You said it! "what market can bear"

Some weekend fares are like a autowala asking Rs. 250 for a 3.5km trip when we get down at Silkboard at 4am with family. Can we give them full credit though we took it as we don't want to be stranded. Ain't we call it looting?

IMO, 10% discount on weekdays and max 30% hike on weekends may be accepted.

[cnaganathan]

Did the BNG-CHN 1705 Bliss (KaSRTC) again thiis Friday as usual on Seat #4. Here is a summary:

1. Bus left 10 mins late and took 2 hrs to cross Hosur (crossed at 19.15)
2. Many passengers complained of problems with their headphones.
3. Some TV screens had problems
4. Pantry ran out of stock by 8.30 PM itself except for Chips and sodas. Anyways these days I pack sandwiches for dinner - economically and gastronomically friendly too compared with the onboard options.
5. Stopped at Deepam Motel Near Vellore for Dinner for 15 mins!!
6. Toilet ran out of tissue midway and no replenishment was made.
7. The drop down monitors of the first row seem to be impacted by the vibrations - they rattle more now.
8. There was an audible metallich thump from the front left suspension whenever the tarmac was not smooth enough.
9. No Wi-Fi still!!!
10 Reached CHN-Koyambedu at 00:05

On this trip we had a drunken moron who had a loud complaint about everything - headphones not working, TV not working due to poor weather, Limited choice of food, unscheduled dinner stop and what not. He kept shouting at the poor pantry attendant during the unscheduled dinner stop but did not dare to question the driver.

IMO, KSRTC should restore the earlier Airavat on this service with the scheduled dinner stop at McD/Krishna Bhavan at Shoolagiri.

[ike]

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

Did the BNG-CHN 1705 Bliss (KaSRTC) again thiis Friday as usual on Seat #4. Here is a summary:
5. Stopped at Deepam Motel Near Vellore for Dinner for 15 mins!!

IMO, KSRTC should restore the earlier Airavat on this service with the scheduled dinner stop at McD/Krishna Bhavan at Shoolagiri.

One of the highlights of the service was the pantry and no dinner stops. The other promised goodies were not up to the mark from the very beginning. A lot of regulars will be hoping for the restoration of earlier service.

[TKMCE]

IMO, 10% discount on weekdays and max 30% hike on weekends may be accepted

*****

How about 25% discount on weeekdays and 50% raise on weekends. Let us not go back to the old "price fixed" regime.

Believe me , you always have the option of not opting to travel if the price is high. And the operator will look like a fool if on a peak date he sends the bus half empty thanks to his pricing.

And as for the DGCA . for Bangalore Goa when on a peak date everyone sells at 15000, why is that you insist that the bus guy sells at at a 30% premium on the normal fare of 900 only?? In other words why is is that the when the air fares are hiked up 600% you are insisting that bus guys can mark up only by 30%??? And it is the same price discrimination - you pay a higher fare for the same product whether it is by Air or Bus.

For a nation and especially a state like Kerala which celebrates introduction of free market pricing in petroleum with Bandhs and Harthals, I guess it is still a long way to go before people get used to the free market pricing concept.

And thanks to this concept, atleast I can still get a seat at short notice on this Friday weekend. SRS sleeper is still available at 1200 , Bharathi Benz at 1350 and Jet Airways Saturday morning flight at 8577 between Bangalore Kochi.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

IMO, 10% discount on weekdays and max 30% hike on weekends may be accepted

Why make it fixed, let the market decide it!.
Let us assume 50% booking happens between 30-7 days before the journey, 50% of the booking in last 7 days from departure and 10% on the last day of departure. Consider a base price of 1000 for the ticket.
When booked before 30 days before departure the price will be 1000. When booking reaches 25% before 7 Days, increase the price by 10%, (else if 25% percent booking not completed by 7 days before departure decrease the price by 10%) and so on.. you got the idea. Make these dates and percentages configurable for the operator. If the operator misjudge the demand, he will suffer. Let the market decide the price. ...

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Why make it fixed, let the market decide it!.
Let us assume 50% booking happens between 30-7 days before the journey, 50% of the booking in last 7 days from departure and 10% on the last day of departure. Consider a base price of 1000 for the ticket.
When booked before 30 days before departure the price will be 1000. When booking reaches 25% before 7 Days, increase the price by 10%, (else if 25% percent booking not completed by 7 days before departure decrease the price by 10%) and so on.. you got the idea. Make these dates and percentages configurable for the operator. If the operator misjudge the demand, he will suffer. Let the market decide the price. ...

This is a good concept - this is what I had mentioned in terms of number of seats in the previous page. What happens now is that operators already take note of holidays, and tickets for those days are sold at exorbitant rates right from the date of opening of reservations. The end result is, such operators need to wait till the last day to sell their tickets, while operators with consistent pricing sell it off in moments.

[TKMCE]

Vijay Mallya at the time of take over of Air Deccan by Kingfisher replied to a question whether the take over will mean the end of low fares in India "I AM NOT HERE TO RUN A CHARITY BUT TO RUN A BUSINESS" Now irrespective of whether he was in the end succeesful or not, the statement he made at that time sums it up all - the objective of the business is to make a profit . END OF THE STORY!!!


Running out of inventory three days after it is made available for sale is nothing but extremely poor business tactics. You are making yoursef a sitting duck to your competitors who can then regulate prices at their will.


With all this "exhorbitant pricing", VRL or SRS has not gone out of business. Revenue Management is a high stakes high pressure job but if done properly makes a big difference in the end to the bottom line of the company. For every 15-20 thousand you loose per departure in mid week, you have to make it up in week end !!! Another integral part , to keep losses in check is on route where you have multiple frequencies, decide well in advance (and not at the last minute) to reduce frequencies on Tue/Wed/Thu and rotate the buses freed up for maintenance/ private charters.

I remember one of the advocates of "reasonable pricing" reporting here in these forums saying he travelled Bangalore to Hyderabad as one among 6 or 7 on board on a Saturday evening!!! And since it was a state run operator who does not have the flexibility to rase pricing on Sunday, you can see the end result........


Cheers

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

I remember one of the advocates of "reasonable pricing" reporting here in these forums saying he travelled Bangalore to Hyderabad as one among 6 or 7 on board on a Saturday evening!!! And since it was a state run operator who does not have the flexibility to rase pricing on Sunday, you can see the end result........

Oh yes.. but that was on a day when other buses also went with less than 10 passengers. It was a Saturday in the midst of holidays, that every operator were running heavy discounts to fill their seats. I doubt if the low occupancy had anything to do with their lack of flexibility - in fact, APSRTC charges higher rates compared to private operators.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

- the objective of the business is to make a profit . END OF THE STORY!!!

I am 100% with you on the objective of any business.

In 2006, I went to see off my wife at Cochin airport but finally traveled with her till Mumbai. I went to a travel guy just outside airport for a ticket to Bangalore. He arranged a Non A/c bus ticket in Sharma Travels (IIRC) along with some other guys returning from middle east at a whopping rate of Rs. 1100. We paid as none or us were frequent travelers and later I realized that even Volvo buses were charging just ~Rs. 750 (IIRC) on that route! How will we justify them?

Overall, we are talking about a transport system meant for public. The same operators go on strike when the diesel price is hiked by Rs. 2! Isn't it?

We are not expecting charity but never extort fellow passengers taking advantage of a rush!

[ranjitp1]

For the benefit of travellers here,have a sms from a site called www.ticketgoose.com offering bus tickets,looked authentic and rates seem to be competitive as well.Have no personal experience with it so cant vouch for anything.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

For the benefit of travellers here,have a sms from a site called www.ticketgoose.com offering bus tickets,looked authentic and rates seem to be competitive as well.Have no personal experience with it so cant vouch for anything.

Ticketgoose has been around for the last 3 or 4 years IIRC. Sometimes they list more options than redBus, on some routes. But they used to charge a 10% service fee on the ticket. Haven't used their services recently, so I don't know how they are right now.