86% Train Tickets Booked Online Are e-Tickets
January, marked a watershed for the Indian Railways, with e-tickets accounting for 86% of the total 18.81 lakh online ticket bookings, reports the Hindu BusinessLine.
Users would recall that Indian Railways provides two online booking methods - i-tickets, introduced in 2002-03, allows the traveller to place an order for a ticket, and get a physical ticket couriered to him. e-tickets on the other hand, allow the traveller to take a ticket print-out at their own end after booking the ticket.
The share of e-tickets has been increasing steadily since the service launched with e-tickets accounting for 82 per cent share in September 2007 of total online train tickets, up from about 65 per cent (January 2007), 62 per cent (December 2006), 48 per cent (June 2006) and 14 per cent (January 2006). This has further prompted the railways to further look into the possibilities of issuing e-tickets for wait-listed passengers as well.
The inclination towards online booking of railway tickets is also risen spectacularly, with 261.54 lakh passengers booking 142.21 lakh tickets online during April 2007-January 2008 (translating into almost 50,000 tickets booked every day) , up 179 per cent from 51.04 lakh tickets booked during April 2006-January 2007.
Filed under: Business, Digital culture, India, Statistics