Is Internet Booking in India good? Written on February 24, 2009, by Subin Varghese.
Today I booked my train tickets through the Internet.
Date of departure: 24th May 2009 (during summer vacations)
Booking started on: 23rd February 2009, 8:00pm (3 months earlier)
Train: Kerala Express
Class: AC 3 tier (3A)
Number of tickets: 4
Time it took for booking these: 10 minutes (for preparing) + 5 minutes (while booking)
Time it took to book all the tickets in this class: 6 minutes!!!
You may be thinking: “Ya, what’’s so the fuzz about?”Last year, my father ”tried to” book tickets to visit me with the family… by personally going to the railway station. I was not there and at that time, I didn”t had internet connection available with which I could book the tickets.
Date of departure: around the same time.
Booking started: on the day when he went to get the tickets.
Train: Kerala Express
Class: AC 3 tier (3A)
Number of tickets: 3
What happened: My parents reached the nearest railway station at around 4 o”clock for booking which starts at 8 o”clock. They stood outside the reservation counter’’s doors for long hours with nothing to do but wait.
Just before 8 o”clock, the doors opened and all the people who were waiting outside rushed inside to stand first in the line. My father also rushed inside along with them. In this run, he had a fall. He still ran and got around 7th or 8th position in the queue.
Those who had internet at home and knew how to book train tickets from internet booked the tickets. By the time my father got to book the tickets, all tickets got booked and he got tickets in waiting list. He took a leave from the office to book the tickets.
I went straight to the office after this as this took me just a few minutes. My parents must have woke at 3 o”clock to get ready and reach at the railway station at 4. I could wake up at 7:30 am and still book the tickets. My parents stood there for about 4 hours + half an hour more to stand in the queue to book the tickets. I just spend around 15 minutes.
Today my father could go to his office and mother was doing her chores at home as I booked the tickets. This all happened because of internet and e-ticket. But even today, many would have waited outside the reservation counters and would have got tickets in waiting list. Many such people would be cursing me and other ”e-bookers”.
Isn”t this a sort of discrimination?
I was able to book tickets from internet because:
- I have computer and internet connection at my home.
- I know how to use computer and internet.
- I know how to book tickets online.
But there will many like my father who don”t know about these things and are suffering. In America, and other such developed countries, this may not be the problem because:
- Most of them are computer-literate.
- Most have internet connection at home and know to use it.
- Those countries have high train seats-population ratio (or whatever you call that) so that there is not such high demand.
Ya, this advancement – ebooking – is good but this will be good in India only when all the people who book tickets are computer literate enough to compete with each other without any discrimination.
“In our case, internet booking helped us but there are many who are still suffering. When will they be rescued.”
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There are some points I want to make
The cause of this feeling of “unfairness” is actually the lack of sufficient public transport, including trains. There are not enough trains, especially so in South India. If there were enough trains, then internet booking would just be a convenience, and there wouldn”t be a feeling of injustice.
The other thing is Tatkal tickets. Earlier, agents would do buy some tickets in bulk, and sell it (only) a week before the scheduled departure, for a higher price. This was bad, (and I think illegal too) as it took the tickets that people who planned their travels well in advance could not get tickets, as they were blocked by the agents. Now, exactly the same thing is being done, but by the railways themselves. And now, suddenly, it is alright. This is again a result of not having adequate public transport facilities. The people who tried to book the tickets 3 months in advance (and are probably ready to pay more too) are made fools of, and people who try booking early 5 days before departure on 8:00AM will get tickets! And these normally include all the wait-listed ticket holders and people who didn”t get tickets 120days ago, along with people who just decided to go 6 days before the scheduled departure.