Amazon is building out its travel business in India. After
launching flight ticketing in May, the e-commerce giant has now added bus
ticketing through a partnership with MakeMyTrip brand RedBus, the country’s
largest bus ticketing platform that works with operators covering more than
50,000 routes.
In addition to one-click payment through their Amazon
account, users get access to RedBus’ ratings and live tracking systems and can
see the bus number and contact information prior to departure.
“Over the course of [the] time Amazon app
has become one-stop destination for shopping and payment needs of our
customers. They love the convenience we offer of shopping and paying ‐ all in
one single app,” says Vikas Bansal, director of Amazon
Pay.
“Today, we are pleased to announce
the booking of bus tickets on Amazon. We are excited to partner with RedBus and
move another step forward in making life easy for our customers.”
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Media outlets in India are
reporting Amazon is also in talks with Booking.com to offer hotel reservations
and with IRCTC, the government-owned railway reservation system, to offer train tickets,
but neither Amazon nor Booking.com would confirm this.
The “Bus Tickets” link is available
in Amazon Pay, next to “Flights,” and takes users to a search page powered by
RedBus. Searches can be filtered by time of day, by bus type (such as with air-conditioning) and by onboard amenities such as charging stations, Wi-Fi and
blankets.
"We are excited to partner
with Amazon to bring bus ticketing to its large customer base to further widen
and deepen the penetration of online bus ticketing in our country,” says Manoj
Agarwala, senior vice president of RedBus.
“With this partnership, we are offering
yet another avenue to our bus operator partners to distribute their inventory
and help grow their sales and occupancy.”
In addition to India, RedBus operates
in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Peru and Colombia, but Amazon did not
comment when asked if it may add ticketing in those countries as well.