Railway survey finds reasons why people still go to counters to book tickets despite having smartphones

CHENNAI: Every time S Kumar, 27, an employee at a cloth store in T Nagar, plans his bi-monthly trip to his hometown Tirunelveli, his boss knows. Kumar asks for a 20 minute break around 9:30am, during which he walks to the reservation counter at the Mambalam railway station and returns by 10:15am. His boss often wonders why Kumar doesn’t use the cyber café across the road or his new smartphone to book an e-ticket.
A survey by Southern Railway at reservation counters in Tamil Nadu and Kerala shows that Kumar is not an exception.Railway officials wanted to understand why 35% of railway tickets were still being bought at reservation counters, despite proliferation of internet, smartphones and low-cost fast internet. In the March survey around 5,000 people were asked questions about their booking pattern across counters in Chennai Central, Egmore, Mambalam, Madurai, Coimbatore and Salem.

The survey results showed that almost two-thirds of those booking counter tickets were in the 21 to 45 age group, as opposed to the perception that a majority of them would be senior citizens. Curiously, 61% had a smartphone with internet connection. It has been 16 months since demonetisation; however some 90% said they liked to pay the ticket fare by cash.
The survey also offers reasons for the results which are contrary to perception. More than a third said they come to counters out of habit. The results also show that when trains are full, people prefer buying a wait-listed paper tickets, using which one can at least board the train. In comparison, a wait-listed e-ticket is automatically cancelled if not confirmed. The passenger would have to run around at the last minute to buy an ‘open’ unreserved ticket to later haggle with the travelling ticket examiner (TTE). A recommendation to permit travel on wait-listed e-tickets with certain precautions has been given to the Railway Board. "The TTE will not demand an ID card while checking the paper ticket. There is no need to pay the bank service charges. Also there are many who don’t know how to do online booking or don’t have an IRCTC login," said K Baskar, a Tiruvallur resident.
The survey has also indicated there will be a section of people who will always prefer counters irrespective of the internet penetration. "Many passengers find it comfortable to interact with a human (counter clerk) than a computer. They can easily request for a particular berth or change in the train to the clerk, rather than going back to the home page of the IRCTC website," said a senior SR official. This is also because for a majority, the process of travelling to the counter and booking a ticket takes less than 30 minutes.
The survey results have been sent to the railway board with suggestions on how to bring more people into the e-ticket fold. "Firstly, the railway-wallet needs to be popularised among the smartphone users. R-wallet has zero service charge. Unlike card and net payment gateways, the time taken while buying the ticket and refund is faster," the official said. Other suggestions include opening self-help kiosks at counters and cashless counters at some stations, in line with the Digital India initiative, the official said.