Trailblazer

On the bus to success

Akash Seth Raj Travels

Identifying a business idea that has been floating in the market is one thing. Imbibing it in a whirlwind venture and making it tick is quite another. Akash Seth, Raj Travels, has done just that with the Raj National Express. Bhisham Mansukhani takes a ride to find out more

To understand the proportion of the techtonic shift that this heir apparent of one of India's biggest outbound tour operator companies has initiated on the ground, quite literally, one needs to call for a ride on his nearest competitor's bus.

You arrive at a chaotic defacto bus terminal that also happens to be a public crossroad, swarming with pesky touts, keen to bus you anywhere for a cut. You approach the `stall' and one of his staff still in his night suit, on his way to his weekly shower, escorts you a considerable distance away to a bus wrapped in green, soap commercial vinyl. You try to nap but the worn out suspension doesn't let you and an hour later, you check for open country outside the window only to find yourself still stuck in mid-city traffic, making several unscheduled stops to scramble stray passengers. Jostling through a cramped corridor, you approach the driver, who probably skipped his weekly shower, for a confrontation but you can barely hear him above the jarring noise of a hackneyed DVD print. The next few hours find you harrowed by the noise and arbitrary, protracted halts and eventually infuriated by a delay.

This was the standard experience of new age ‘so and so Volvo’ transport until, invariably someone cited the opportunity of change. In September last, it cost a cousin of Seth's, eight hours to get from Pune to Mumbai. On the face of it, this relatively innocuous incident inspired the idea that Seth had been contemplating only vaguely until then. The benchmark for organised road transport had yet not been laid, let alone been raised. However, the potential of the opportunity and its scale continues to gather as the government's several national highway projects nears completion. That, placed in context of the existing rampant mediocrity of private luxury buses, bemused Seth and galvanised his faculties towards launching Raj National Express.

The Express way

So how does one go about launching a luxury bus service from ground up, with no parallels to emulate and uncertain profit margins, menaced further by massive initial capital expenditure and the vagaries of operating in an unorganised sector?

"Belief in the expectation of comfort and reliability by passengers is the basic standard to begin with. All these buses going around may look impressive and also run quite well. But that's thanks to Volvo, which only builds buses not run them. So, the point is, besides a good bus, what else are existing operators doing," quips Seth.

Professionalism and accountability, he feels, was the key and he saw all of that in the airline template. "Airlines have a way of servicing passengers that is organised and reassuring," Seth observes. So he implemented the hitherto incomprehensible online coach reservations, seat maps, e-tickets, check-in lounges, punctual departures and arrivals. Paying heed to the often grossly overlooked aspects of safety, he has installed seat belts and fire retardant curtains and will also run safety briefings on screen much like it is done on aircraft. Further, Raj National Express coaches seat only 41 while the competition packs in 52. Already, online bookings account for 55 per cent of all ticket sales, which Seth believes, denotes a strong business traveller bias. He is now busy launching a direct bus service from Nariman Point to Pune.

Another significant in the list of USPs that Raj National Express enjoys is in the onboard technology of personal entertainment - particularly notable since it doesn't compel passengers to put up with the blaring sound if they choose not to. What makes this venture all the more astounding is that Seth has bundled this luxurious and reliable product at a ticket price that is less than what some of the existing, sub-standard operators demand. Booking a Mumbai-Pune one-way ticket starts at Rs 99 while the competition charges upward of Rs 130.

Asked if he would hike fares at some point, Seth says, "Let's put things in perspective. The venture is only four months old. Moreover, I want passengers to appreciate the vast difference between my product vis-à-vis the competition. Yes, the ticket prices are lower than they should be but a hike is some way off. On the other hand, several daily departures afford me the economy of scale to keep prices lower. Unlike my competition, profit is not my immediate objective."

Next on his agenda for Raj National Express is more buses - 1,000 in five years (from 43 currently) across India, 120 up from 22 destinations and 300 up from 96 departures by 2007-end. Seth is also looking at increasing frequencies up north, particularly in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh and multiple services between all southern metros and tapping the lucrative airport crew market. He also wants to expand services that his buses offer - airing television serials on ultra long journeys, facility to pre-book meals at restaurants on halt schedule, etc. He has even managed to convince several of the state tourism departments to allow him to use their facilities for departures.

So who would've thought that having his cousin endure the existing vagaries of coach travel would set Seth off on a pursuit of quality surface transport that, from all accounts, is far from done.