Rush Hour: Bus travel in fast lane with high festive bookings; Diwali demand doubles

Buses see surge in festive travel demand

Buses are packed to capacity this festive season.  With bookings accelerating in the run-up to Diwali, passenger numbers have doubled, putting bus travel in the fast lane as highways turn into festive corridors.

Top bus aggregators like redBus and IntrCity SmartBus are seeing double-digit growth in bookings versus last year during the festive period starting from Dussehra on October 2, followed by Diwali on October 20.

Prakash Sangam, CEO of redBus, expects a 40 percent increase, on an average, across India but said that some regions indicate a much higher growth.

IntrCity SmartBus has recorded a 35 percent growth in festive season bookings, compared to the same period last year, said the company's Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Manish Rathi. "With Diwali still a week away, this number is expected to rise further as last-minute travellers start booking their tickets."

He added that Diwali continues to be the biggest travel period for them as they are seeing higher advance bookings, compared to last year. "The demand curve has also extended due to the back-to-back long weekends around Dussehra and Diwali, leading to sustained high occupancy," Rathi said.

On redBus, passenger count is double during Diwali versus the  same period in the previous year. "The Diwali period sees the highest number of passengers travelling on a single day. We have seen this over the years. However, we do see travel spikes around other festive seasons and holidays as well. For instance, this year, more than half a million people travelled on our platform during the August 15 long weekend," Sangam noted.

Which are the busy bus routes currently?

Bus bookings  to key metro and regional hubs for last-mile connectivity are surging, Rohit Sharma, COO, AbhiBus, said.

"Our busiest routes this festive season include Delhi–Lucknow, Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Nagpur, Chennai–Madurai, Bengaluru–Hyderabad, and Mumbai–Indore," Rathi noted.

Other top destinations include Kanpur, Trichy and Amritsar. "Travellers continue to prefer popular corridors connecting metros to key Tier-2 cities, as well as traditional hometown and leisure routes that have seen steady demand year after year," he added.

YoloBus' CEO Manoj Soni pointed out that Bengaluru - Chennai is one of the highest-demand south corridor routes.

He said that there is a strong inter-state flow in the Telugu market during the festive period, with Hyderabad -Bengaluru / Vijayawada emerging as busy routes. "During festivals, many people travel between Chennai and Coimbatore / Madurai. There is high frequency intra-state corridor and family travel between Mumbai and Pune. Then, there is high travel demand for Mumbai-Kolhapur route as people go to their hometown. Also, longer inter-state demand spikes around festivals make g Mumbai- Hyderabad / Ahmedabad routes busier."

Based on the current bookings on redBus, Sangam expects Pune-Nagpur, Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi - Gorakhpur and Pune-Indore to see some of the highest passenger traffic.

More wheels are in motion, with bus aggregators increasing their inventory this year.

To meet the Diwali rush, IntrCity SmartBus has added 70 percent more seats across its network this festive season.

Sangam noted that they have been digitising inventory, especially in smaller towns. "As a result, the inventory on the platform is about 20 percent higher this year. If we include the recently on-boarded RTCs (Road Transport Corporations) such as Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) and Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC), the overall inventory on redBus is nearly 50 percent more than last year."

On fast track

IntrCity's Rathi pointed out that with 30 percent higher bookings, compared to 2024, he expects this period to deliver a stronger revenue boost than last year.

"The third quarter, with festivals like Dussehra and Diwali, which culminates with Christmas and the New Year vacations, results in upweighted travel across the country and contributes about 27 percent of full year revenue. The growth in the bus industry has accelerated this year and we expect the same trend to continue during the upcoming festive season as well," Sangam said.

Why are buses seeing a booking boom?

According to Rathi, with limited train availability and rising airfares, more Indians are choosing premium bus options for their festive journeys with bookings nearly double, compared to regular non-festive weeks.

There are also newer facilities in buses that is driving demand. From onboard washrooms and trained captains to club miles loyalty rewards and flexibility features offered by platforms like IntrCity, companies are building strong traveller confidence.

Soni added that the bus booking and operations ecosystem has matured. "Online platforms allow early booking, seat selection, live tracking, dynamic pricing, and better operator integration make bus travel more trustworthy and convenient, encouraging adoption."

In addition, bus aggregators, payment platforms, and travel apps are pushing festival-specific discounts, early bird offers, and cashback that are stimulating advance bookings, he said.