Hyderabad, Mar 25 (TNT): AbhiBus on Wednesday said the bus travel segment is expected to witness strong growth during the summer season, driven by rising airfares, railway congestion and resilient demand.
The company is offering discounts of up to 25 per cent to attract passengers as travel demand picks up, according to Rohit Sharma, COO, AbhiBus.
He said higher crude oil prices make air travel costlier, indirectly benefiting bus operators, who typically do not pass on fuel cost increases to customers.
“Bus travel competes with air, rail and personal vehicles. When airfares rise or railway waiting lists increase, buses see a direct uptick in demand,” he said.
Highlighting demand drivers, Sharma said the summer season, weddings, festivals and elections in states such as Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are expected to boost travel volumes.
He said the segment remains resilient even during economic slowdowns, with consistent demand across seasons.
AbhiBus aggregates services from over 6,200 operators across more than 6.5 lakh routes and holds around 20 per cent market share, with strong traction in South India.
Recent data showed strong growth on key routes such as Hyderabad–Vijayawada, while bookings by solo women travellers rose 47 per cent year-on-year, aided by safety features such as the ‘Pink Seat’ option.
Women travellers overall are emerging as a key segment, accounting for about 40 per cent of total bookings, with nearly 80 per cent year-on-year growth.
The company has partnered with Uber to enable intercity bus ticket bookings within its app.
Sharma said the ‘Assured’ programme is a key differentiator, offering 100 per cent refunds for delays beyond two hours, 150 per cent compensation for cancellations and full refunds for customer-initiated cancellations. Around 360 operators are currently onboarded under the programme.
He added that AbhiBus is expanding partnerships with state transport corporations and currently works with 17 SRTCs, including OSRTC, TSRTC and KSRTC.
The platform’s gross transaction value (GTV) has crossed ₹2,400 crore in the last 12 months and is growing at 40–50 per cent year-on-year.
In Q3 FY26, AbhiBus reported a GTV of ₹670.9 crore, up 36 per cent year-on-year, while revenue rose 47 per cent to ₹75.5 crore. Passenger volumes increased 33 per cent to 6.73 million during the quarter.
TNT TS
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