The ease of booking a bus ticket from anywhere and anytime has been pivotal in improving public transport usage. In the US, the bus is a major mode of transportation, making ticket booking app development investment-worthy. With bus routes spanning different US states, the scope of operation and customer base are massive.
Many startups and businesses are looking to capitalize on the bus ticket booking app market boom, and improving ROI needs some considerations. For example, you must factor in the cost of advanced features, map routes, and design a user-friendly UI.
This guide will help you understand the bus ticket booking platform, its market status, must-have features, how to create one, and its cost.
What is a Bus Ticket Booking App? – A Brief
In simple terms, a bus ticket booking app is a mobile application that allows users to book bus tickets in advance. But because of the technological boom, several other features have also been merged into these apps. For example,
All these things from the convenience of their smartphones. These apps streamline the bus travel booking process by eliminating the need to visit bus terminals or booking agents. And this is where revenue happens. But for it to happen well, the ticket booking app development must be flawless.
A Must-Look Market Growth & Stats in the Bus Booking Industry
The bus ticketing industry is experiencing a significant upswing. The reason? Sheer technological boom. This presents a golden opportunity for investors to capitalize on the growing demand for convenient and user-friendly travel solutions.
Here are a few stats that vouch for this:
This growth is driven by the
The Bus Tickets market is projected to leap the $21.4 billion mark in 2024
Market stats do offer significant insight into the bus ticket booking business. But before you decide to enter this market, make sure your development strategy is in place. Without strategic planning, you will end up spending more on developing the platform, which will not pay off in the end.
This is where partnering with a reputable bus ticket booking mobile app Development Company makes sense. It can help you translate this market potential into a successful and profitable app through a strategic development plan, advanced features, and enhanced user experience.
Now that you know the potential of the bus ticketing market, let’s discuss must-have features for your project.
5 Must-Have Features to Build a Bus Ticket Booking App
The user experience of a bus ticket booking app depends on how easily a passenger can book tickets; that is where advanced features come into play. Developing the best bus booking app requires an analysis of the problem at hand and defining the features that will solve it.
From advanced search to secure payments to real-time bus tracking, your ticket booking app development plan needs to integrate many such features.
1. Advanced Search Option
Modern customers look for multiple choices for their bus ticket bookings. So, you need to create an advanced search feature that provides filter-based options. For example, you can add search options with filters like seat classes, price range, amenities, departure and arrival time. This will help passengers book tickets of their preference easily through an advanced search of buses.
2. Secure Payment Gateways
Integrating secure payment gateways in your bus ticket software improves user trust and helps you comply with data security guidelines like PCI DSS. As your business scales, your ticket booking system will experience millions of transactions, and to ensure security, you will need a reliable infrastructure.
You need a ticket booking app development company to offer robust infrastructure and secure systems.
3. Real-Time Bus Tracking
Estimated time-of-arrival(ETA) is one of the most significant data that passengers seek to plan their pickup or booking a cab to their destination. With the integration of real-time bus tracking, your users will have important data on where the bus is and its ETA and make their travel plans accordingly. This means your passengers will have a holistic travel experience with your bus ticketing app.
4. Multiple Payment Options
Adding multiple payment options to your bus ticketing system improves the ticketing experience. Your customers can book tickets with the payment option they are comfortable offering more freedom. You can integrate payment modes into your bus booking app, such as,
Another significant step you can take is to add an automated payment retry system and recovery system. It ensures that your booking app has a failsafe in case of failed payments.
5. Ticket Management
A well-developed bus ticket booking app allows your users to easily access and manage all their booked tickets within the app. Users can easily access itineraries, download tickets for offline access, and even share travel details.
Apart from these must-have features, here are other key features to add when you build an online bus booking app.
Once you have defined the features, it’s time to build a bus booking app. A streamlined development approach is needed for developing an online booking app. A bus ticket booking app development company helps you streamline the app development process from inception, design, development, and deployment.
For a bus booking app to work well, it must go through a smooth and seamless development process. If you are looking to build an online bus booking app, this step-by-step guide will help you.
How to Build a Bus Ticket Booking App? – Step-by-Step
Developing a successful bus ticket booking app involves a well-defined process. This very process differs much in each different bus booking app development company. However, typically, this process gets broken down into several key stages that act as guideposts along the way.
If you are looking to build an online bus booking app, here are the steps:
1. Consultation
Think of this as the initial planning meeting. You’ll collaborate with the app development company to define the roadmap for your project. A business analyst, your dedicated guide, will work closely with you or your ticket booking app development company to understand your vision. This will help in translating your vision into concrete requirements. Here’s what the discussion will be happening around:
2. The Design Phase
Now it’s time to bring your app to life visually! The design phase focuses on creating the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) of the app. So, what exactly is it?
In your case, your bus ticketing system development team translates the agreed-upon features and functionalities into code. Your app comes to life line by line.
About external APIs – Your app won’t be running solely to push your business and revenue up. It surely will involve integrating with bus operator APIs to access real-time schedules and ticket availability. Or it may also involve integrating with payment gateways.
4. Testing – Deployment – Refinement
Testing is a crucial phase of the ticket booking app development process because it allows you to test all the features, functionality, and security aspects. A team of testers conducts automated and manual tests to ensure there are no bugs. Testing also helps you understand how the app works across different platforms, environments, and scenarios.
With each new release, QA teams conduct regression tests to make sure no new bugs are introduced with the update. After testing, the app is deployed, leveraging CI/CD pipelines to ensure streamlined deployment. The entire cycle of testing, deploying, and refining the bus ticket booking app helps achieve continuous improvement.
Now that you know the process, it’s time to understand the tech stack you will need to develop a bus ticket booking app.
Read More: How To Start A Passenger Transportation Business?
Tech Stack for Developing a Bus Ticket Booking App
| Hosting | Amazon EC2 |
| Push Notifications | Twilio, Firebase, Push.io |
| Content Delivery Network | Cloudflare, Amazon CloudFront |
| Mobile Operating Systems | iOS, Android |
| SMS, Voice, and Phone Verification | Twilio, Nexmo |
| Payments | Braintree, PayPal, Stripe, Net banking, E-wallets |
| Database | MongoDB, PostgreSQL, HBase, Cassandra |
| Cloud Environment | AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure |
| Real-time Analytics | Hadoop, Spark, Apache Flink, Cisco, IBM |
| Mapping and Navigation | Google Maps |
| Caching | Hazelcast |
| UI Development | ReactJS, Bootstrap |
| Code Repository | Git |
| Load Balancing | Nginx |
| Messaging Queues | AWS Simple Queue Service |
How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Bus Booking Mobile App?
The cost of developing a bus booking app can vary depending on several factors. Here’s a breakdown to help you have a ballpark estimate:
Here’s a general range to consider, keeping in mind these are estimates and the actual cost can vary based on your specific project:
| Basic App (Android or iOS): | $20,000 – $40,000 |
| App with Standard Features | $40,000 – $70,000 |
| Feature-rich app with Advanced Functionalities | $70,000+ |
Know that these are the costs related to app development. Apart from these, you’ll also be facing several other costs such as app store fees, server maintenance, 3rd party integration, etc.
How Excellent Webworld Helps You With Bus Ticket Booking App Development?
Building a bus ticket booking app requires expertise across various aspects of mobile app development. It is a headache for those unfamiliar with this technical terrain. To counter these complexities, Excellent Webworld being a leading transportation app development company can be your one-stop solution. It has a skilled development team to guide you through every stage of the process such as:
If you have a great idea waiting for a skilled team of developers, Excellent Webworld is just a call away. Contact now for an expert consultation.
The Bottom Line – Bus Ticket Booking App Development
The bus ticket booking industry is booming, and there’s no better time to jump on board. By creating a user-friendly app packed with valuable features, you can tap into a massive market of convenience-seeking travelers.
Remember, a successful bus ticket booking app isn’t built overnight. It requires careful planning, a focus on user experience, and a skilled development team to bring your vision to life. That’s where Excellent Webworld comes in.
Our team of experts can guide you through every step of the bus ticket booking app development process. From initial consultation to seamless deployment, we’ll help you craft an app that’s not only visually appealing but also a joy to use. Contact Excellent Webworld today.
FAQs
The cost to build a booking app can vary depending on features and complexity. Typically, it ranges from $20,000 to $70,000+.
Although there are several business models, booking apps usually make money by charging commissions on bookings, subscription fees, or in-app advertising.
Some popular bus ticket booking apps include Omio, Moovit, Uber, Checkmybus, Busbud, and RedBus.
Bus booking apps allow users to search for routes, compare prices, book tickets, and track their bus in real-time (if available).
Article By
Mayur Panchal is the CTO of Excellent Webworld. With his skills and expertise, He stays updated with industry trends and utilizes his technical expertise to address problems faced by entrepreneurs and startup owners.
