SETC & KSRTC ticket reservation - Unreserved Busses

Few of the earlier posts would have given you some view of the booking systems of SETC and KSRTC. I came across another system that is really very helpful - 'Token System'. The 'Token' system is a kind of reservation for the buses that arrive with vacant seats or completely un-reserved in bus-stand(Koyambedu/Shanthi-Nagar). 'Token' system is a way for getting ticket if you have not reserved any ticket at all . It is very helpful for last-minute travellers and also for guys who are lazy to reserve the ticket earlier itself :-) Another system that is similar to this is 'Conductor-system' that helps a last minute traveller to get a ticket in an unreserved bus or in a bus with vacant seats :-) . Ok, lemme share few analysis done so far.

Token system is very very popular for booking tickets between chennai to bangalore in SETC. It is also becoming famous while booking tickets from bangalore to chennai in SETC. In Chennai, SETC booking counter has a very well organized 'Q' that helps commuters to get the tokens without any mix-up. The counter seems to open around 8.30 pm and might be open till very late in the night . On few peak days, it will be open almost till it can support most of the passengers. In Bangalore, SETC booking counter does not seem to be providing you the 'Q' facility in a strict manner and leads to some kind of mixup or thrashing of one-another to get the token. Another point is that during certain times in bangalore, there is no need to get a token, people just squeeze themselves to get into the bus to get the seat as there is no 'Q'. It is a FIGS(First In, Gets Seat) concept which in turn leads to some mix-up as there is no 'Q' to get into bus :-(
So, Chennai SETC adds value to the SETC bus booking system while the bangalore SETC seems to reduce some value of SETC bus booking system.

KSRTC has a good online booking system, but KSRTC in bangalore seems to lack this mechanism of 'Token' system for booking tickets. Instead, the tickets are given by conductors standing near the respective busses. Though this conductor-system provides good oppurtunity for the person who comes in touch with the correct bus conductor with vacant tickets , it makes one person to run between different busses in the stand. It makes the person toil for a single ticket alot as he needs to check with almost every bus-conductor . There is also some mix-up while getting tickets as there is no proper 'Q'.

So, KSRTC seems to lag behind SETC in providing tickets in an organized way to last minute travellers in both Bangalore and Chennai. Though SETC token system is fine in chennai, the bangalore token system has to come up with a proper 'Q' system to provide even more comfort to night travellers.

Also check my blog on 'KSRTC vs SETC' !