MakeMyTrip launches SMS-based bus ticket booking service

Online travel company MakeMyTrip Thursday launched India's first SMS-based bus ticket booking service which will complement its online booking business.

"We have chosen bus booking through our SMS service first. We foresee tremendous potential in the untapped sector, as more bus operators like state transport corporations also developing back-end infrastructure to cater to online and SMS booked tickets on their buses," Manish Kalra, marketing head, MakeMyTrip, told IANS.

The company's latest offering enables entry-level mobile phone users to book bus tickets on more than 1,300 operators over 12,000 routes across India.

To avail the service, customers need to SMS details like destinations of travel, number of passengers and date of travel on a designated number. Then MakeMyTrip will respond with choices of different operators on that day and route.

Users will be required to select the operator of choice and make payments using the IMPS (immediate payment service) transaction route.

The company added that it may even launch newer services for other transportation bookings on the SMS platform, depending upon the success of the bus booking business.

"We plan to first introduce transportation booking on our new SMS platform and then other businesses. However, all these plans depends upon the response that bus booking through SMS generates," Kalra added.