Journalism of Courage
The SMS ticket booking service started by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has received a poor response,with only 760 booking made across the country since it was launched on June 28. The number is negligible compared to the 40 lakh booking that are made through counter sales or online everyday.
IRCTC officials said the service is environment-friendly,convenient and simple. The main objective of the SMS service is to reach out to people who do not have access to internet,they added.
The service,which is available to all mobile subscribers,charges Rs 3 for each SMS and Rs 5 for payment gateway for ticket amounting to Rs 5,000 and Rs 10 for over Rs 5,000. Airtel subscribers can also make the ticket payment using Airtel Money through the USSD service. SMS services are being offered by Bharat BPO,Frequency Weekly and Pyro Group.
A senior IRCTC official said the service did not meet the expectations.
On June 28,when the service was launched,only 136 tickets were booked. In the first seven days,as many as 760 tickets were booked with an average of 76 tickets a day. Of the 760 tickets,670 were booked using the USSD service provided by Airtel Money, said the official.
Officials cited lack of awareness among citizen for the poor response . With increasing awareness,we hope that the number of booking using the service will go up, added the official.
According to passengers, the service is not as simple as it was made out to be.
The service was meant to be useful for people who do not have access to internet. However,the system is complex as one has to get the internet banking account and MMID service activated, said Harsha Shah,president,Railway Pravasi Group.
