HYDERABAD: Bus and train travelers are optimistic of travel in the next three months as opposed to domestic air travelers, according to IntrCityRailYatri, an inter-city mobility network’s report. Titled ‘Decoding inter-city traveler sentiments post Covid, the report says that a large number of travellers currently stuck in the ‘wrong’ cities, impacted by timing of sudden lock-down. With over 31 percent expressed that getting home was their priority.
A surprisingly large (38 percent) travellers displayed a high level of optimism regarding the return to normalcy. Around 35% were unsure. 25% of the participants believe that it will be a while before life goes back to the way it was. Professional or work-related travel takes top priority followed by social travel as opposed to planned holidays. A whopping 71 percent participants indicated a drop in their planned holidays this year.
Manish Rathi, CEO & Co-founder, said, “The survey gauges the impact of the lockdown on the intercity mobility space and current customer sentiments around travel.Going forward there will be no single path to reinvention however, businesses will be able to succeed by prioritising three key levers of change: Hygiene and sanitisation, social distancing and leveraging technology. As inter-city mobility leaders, we are observing and recommending the steps to be taken to ensure safe travel and allow a wave of innovation in the industry to pace the return to normalcy.” In a pre-Covid market, one of the primary concerns of the travelers was ‘On-time’ journey, however after the global pandemic, the concern has shifted towards safety and hygiene.
Over 70% of the respondents in the survey picked either ‘Hygiene and Sanitation’ or ‘Social Distancing’ as their top criteria. Kapil Raizada, Co-founder felt it was imperative to understand the needs of the customers, “The survey has brought forward some very interesting insights in the decision- making pattern of customers in a post COVID market. Our intention behind this activity was to gain deeper insights into the evolving mindset of inter-city traveler. Taking these insights into account, IntrCity RailYatri will be introducing a number of innovations to address the needs of our travelers.” The survey is a compilation of responses of users across metros including Hyderabad besides tier-1, and tier-2 cities of India. Conducted between April 15 and May 7.
Leisure trips not people’s first choice anymore for domestic travel
Travelers who intend to have a relaxing tour are 25.3%; More than 33.41% said festivals and social occasions as the only reason for future travel
Travelers prefer online methods of ticket booking than offline. 59.3% said ‘Yes’ to the online mode of booking
Hygienic waiting & boarding conditions top concern for bus and train travel.
Top considerations - hygiene, sanitisation and social distancing. ‘On-time’ has dropped from #1 to #4 In response to the survey, over 42.48% of travelers opted for hygiene and sanitisation as one of the parameters.
Key findings in the survey
41.24% claim they want stringent prevention and control measures at the boarding point
34.4% opted for social distancing in waiting areas hoping for a protected, and safe environment