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The ticket to our dream
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Like all innovations, redBus too has a very
interesting story.
All the founders used to work in Bangalore at the time (sometime in 2005) - all
with top IT MNCs - IBM, Texas Instruments and Honeywell. They were friends from
BITS Pilani, one of India's finest engineering colleges.
During Diwali that year, one of them wanted to spend the festival in his home
town. Since he didn't know his schedule till the end, taking a bus was the only
choice.
He ran around town hunting for a ticket, but they were all sold out minutes
before he reached the travel agents. Bangalore traffic is notorious and can
grip you at the wrong time. That's exactly what happened that day.
That's when he thought of the possibility of providing consumers the
convenience of booking a bus ticket over the internet. The objective was
two-fold - to ensure that they don't have to leave the confines of their
comfort to book a ticket, and to help them get a ticket when they need it the
most.
The idea was compelling. And why not? The internet was being voted as a medium
people couldn't do without. PC and net penetration was increasing not only in
urban areas, but also in rural India with innovative concepts like Shakti and
e-Choupal. Also, people were getting used to booking tickets for travel using
IRCTC and private airline websites. So, why not buses?
However, the most compelling reason was that no body in India had done this!
So, with these thoughts running through his mind, he bounced initial thoughts
off his friends from college. They were excited about the concept too.
However, they didn't want to take the plunge without understanding the
feasibility of such an undertaking. They met with various people - bus
operators, consumers and venture capitalists - to gauge how well the concept
could do.
As expected, they got a favorable response. They started writing the code for
the software that would be required to run the operations. Once this was ready,
they put together a business plan and presented it to TiE, Bangalore
Chapter.
TiE - The Indus Entrepreneurs - are mentors, to say the very least. They
breathe lives and hope in to young entrepreneurs who have a working concept.
The idea didn't need much selling to TiE members either. That was the
beginning of a seemingly long journey. All the founders quit their well-paying,
secure jobs and started redBus.
Since those days there have been many ups and downs. It wasn't simple to change
the mindset of bus operators who are used to dealing with their traditional
brick-and-mortar travel agents. It wasn't easy to market the concept. It needed
time and money. It took a few months for things to fall in place.
All that was needed were a few people who used the website. Once that would
happen, the user interface was bound to generate word-of-mouth. That's exactly
what happened. Those who used it liked it, told others and the dominos started
to fall in place.
To cut a long story short, redBus has come a very long way from days of
struggle to days of growth. It has the largest number of tie-ups (and growing)
with bus operators and a large and satisfied customer base.
Being run by a team of young people, the culture is informal and everyone is
ambitious and charged to make it larger than imagined. What started as a team
of three grew into a team of 50 within 9 months.
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Where is your ticket?
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redBus has moved beyond providing value over the
internet by reaching out to customers using all media that provide them
convenience - be it the phone, home delivery, physical outlets or even SMS.
We regularly tie-up with partners that are strong in their domains and
distribute our bus tickets through them, thus providing convenience to our
customers and adding value to the business of our partners as well. We are open
to receiving proposals of partnership at  .
Today you can book a redBus ticket at over 75,000+ outlets!
redBus has the largest network of bus operators in their list (350+ and
growing) and very satisfied customers. Some of them have been generous enough
to write us testimonials and we have showcased them on our site. It is these
compliments that get the whole team working from morning to late at night.
On offer are over 4500+ (and growing) routes across the Indian map.
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Our culture - Learn, Implement, Grow - and have fun
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We regularly solicit feedback from our customers. This
helps us understand what we are doing wrong. This feedback is invaluable for
us. And we have you, our customers, to thank for taking time off to write back
to us. There are times when there are hiccups. It's a learning organization,
but we are learning the ropes like our lives depend on it.
It doesn't stop at that. We ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated.
People are encouraged to speak their minds and they don't fear sharing their
mistakes, so that everyone can benefit from the learning, no matter how small.
Every other day new partnerships are forged - all with the aim of adding more
value and convenience. We have grown organically by opening office in key
metros and inorganically through our partnerships. We encourage customers to
let us know of any routes or bus operators we don't have in our list. We go
right ahead and make sure that by the next time customer logs on, we have on
offer what was demanded.
Most importantly, it's a team that has fun at work. It's a team that is close
knit. Everyone is on a first name basis and it wouldn't be uncommon to see
people exchanging hi-fives on small achievements. Office outings are a regular
phenomenon and dancing is a must.
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Your ticket is in safe hands
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We understand your concern about the security of your
transactions over the internet. To ensure a safe transaction, redBus employs
the best-in-class security. We use Secure Socket Layers (SSL) data encryption.
This ensures that the information exchanged with us is never transmitted
unencrypted, thus protecting the information from being viewed by unauthorized
individuals. This encryption is done using 128-bit RC4 encryption. In addition
the credit card information is processed over secure gateways which are
certified by Visa.
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Who are the guides?
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redBus is being mentored by the TiE-EAP (Entrepreneurship Acceleration
Program). TiE - EAP is a program by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)
Bangalore chapter.
To become a member of TiE,
click here.
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Contact us
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The next time you're in Bangalore, please do visit us
if you pass by Domlur. We love to have customers over. Very often young IT
professionals walk-in with their requirements and we enjoy having a chat over
coffee.
If you have used our service, you can send us your feedback by
clicking here.
We take feedback very seriously and each mail is a source of learning. Feel
free to send in your comments / suggestions either by mail or call us on
numbers we have listed in the contact us section.
If you want to join us, call us and let us know how you would like to add
value. There is always place for talent and enthusiasm.
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Your stop
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It has been a pleasure conversing with you. We look
forward to many more journeys with each one of you.
Remember to take the road. India is beautiful. Experience it by road.
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