The demand-supply mismatch on long distance trains has been a well-known assumption for long, which means that there more people wanting to travel in a particular train than the available seats. But the scale of this mismatch has never been quantified. Since January 2016, RailYatri.in has been comprehensively tracking train ticket booking patterns across the country to analyze this mismatch. A recent study by RailYatri.in reveals that over 10 Lakh people fail to travel daily due to unavailability of train tickets.
Based on the crowd-sourced data, the study revealed that there are over 10 lakh potential travelers who are not being able to travel due to non-confirmed waitlisted tickets on a daily basis. The percentage count of this list of train travelers is nearly 13% in long distance train, while in peak travel season, this number increases to about 19%.
Data experts at RailYatri.in analyzed the travel plans for over 30 lakh passengers. These passengers were looking for seats in 2800 trains across 3100 railway stations. This scale of surplus demand is an eye-opener. The ability to travel in an unconstrained manner is an essential spoke in the wheel of any nation’s economy. Despite an increase in several transportation options, trains continue to be the most preferred mode of long-distance traveling. It is tempting to think that adding more trains would be the ideal solution. However, considering the already overloaded network, chances of substantial increase in a number of trains in the near future is difficult.
As part of this study, RailYatri.in has come up with a list of major stations and the percentage of travelers who booked a ticket and yet could not travel.
Train travelers now need to consider a multi-modal travel approach as and where feasible. Thus, one of our endeavors at RailYatri is to enable travelers to adopt the same by connecting them to long distance buses and taxis, which could offer a flexible way of commuting at their disposal.
