Predicting ticket confirmation is their draw

For anxious passengers with waitlisted tickets, several technology companies are building models to predict the chances of their tickets getting confirmed. Most of these, such as ConfirmTkt, RailYatri and Trainman, are using predictive analysis as a pull factor for their websites or apps, while focussing on generating revenue from bus- and train-ticket bookings as well as food delivery around them.

In India, train tickets are in short supply on many routes, particularly during peak seasons, leading to many waitlisted passengers.

ConfirmTkt.com, which says it correctly predicts the likelihood of a waitlisted train ticket getting confirmed nearly 90-95 per cent of the time, plans to launch bus- and train-ticket booking soon.

“We already get a commission on each lead that gets converted to a transaction to Ola and BlaBlaCar. Soon, we will launch bus- and train-ticket bookings on our website on which we will be getting revenues,” Sripad Vaidya, co-founder and CEO, ConfirmTkt told BusinessLine .

To further increase the traffic, ConfirmTkt has launched ConfirmTkt Alternates, a free service which provides “reserved travel booking options”.

In a country where the railways is the most used travelling mode, not everyone can get confirmed tickets. ConfirmTkt says its stats show that 41 per cent of people get a waitlisted ticket, of which 16.4 per cent eventually end up stuck on that list.

Founded in 2014 by Dinesh Kumar and Sripad Vaidya, ConfirmTkt has seen over eight lakh app downloads and serves close to 50,000 daily active users. It has seen investments from Pravin Agarwala — a former vice-president and Global Head with SAP Labs India, and Venture Catalysts ($250,000).

Another such website is RailYatri.in, which is backed by investors including Nandan Nilekani, Helion Ventures, Omidyar Networks and Blume Ventures. As of date, RailYatri.in claims to have recorded accurate predictions 95 per cent of the time. This comes after long months of learning algorithm and analysing several years of data taking into account seasonal traffic and other parameters, says the website which claims to have a 23-million user base. “Not many passengers would be aware that even a 300th waitlisted ticket can get confirmed in certain trains or routes. RailYatri.in has been analysing these trends and coming up with data that help passengers make informed travel decisions,” shares Railyatri.in.

Kapil Raizada, co-Founder, RailYatri.in, says, “We are happy to see a very healthy growth in travellers’ demand and query on waitlist confirmation probability. Today’s train traveller believes in making wise choices even before buying a train ticket and the RailYatri app is helping them take the best travel decisions and also save money on the basis of data analysis. We have recorded a 30-per cent month-on-month growth in terms of waitlist confirmation probability. One out of every three travellers is using this feature and this is very encouraging.”

For revenue, RailYatri has tied up with food-outlets and bus service providers along train routes. It also plans to tie up with hotels over the next two weeks.

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