Cleartrip, the leading Indian OTA, has launched a beautiful integration of Rome2rio’s multi-modal journey planner. Customised to the specific needs of the vast Indian marketplace, Cleartrip’s Waytogo product is ideally suited to an environment where air travel often takes a back seat to bus, train and low-cost taxi alternatives.
This search for Pune to Mangalore illustrates the difference clearly: a direct bus takes 13 hours and costs 600 Rupees, while at the opposite end of the scale a flight via Mumbai is priced up to 7,600 Rupees. Alternatives include taking the train to Mumbai and then flying, and taking the train all the way.
While travel in India is not necessarily more problematic than in other parts of the world, the on-the-ground complexity involved in navigating the various transport options provides rich opportunities for Cleartrip. Since launching in July 2006 the company has remained very focused on its “Make travel simple” agenda, and the Waytogo product stays true to that original goal.
Here at Rome2rio we’re delighted to see the excellent re-interpretation of the UI that Cleatrip’s design team has produced. It’s clean and easy to follow and integrates beautifully into Cleartrip’s air and rail booking facilities; bus bookings are handled by Cleartrip’s partner, Redbus. In coming months we expect to see Cleartrip roll out a mobile version of Waytogo, and look forward to seeing broad customer acceptance of this excellent new tool.
Rod Cuthbert