Published in Tele.Net.In An online portal, TicketGoose.com was established in August 2007 with the aim of providing commuters the facility to book bus tickets online. The portal, promoted by Efficsys InfoTech India Private Limited, offers users information on ticket prices and availability as well as booking facilities for buses plying on routes connecting 3,000 destinations across south India. The company has tie-ups with about 250 bus travel partners for offering ticketing services. Being an online portal, TicketGoose. com recognises the importance of telecom in effective service delivery to clients. Accordingly, the company has been using telecom as a strategic tool for handling large volumes of data as well as streamlining operations. tele.net takes a look at the company’s telecom initiatives… Legacy system TicketGoose.com began operations by installing two dedicated servers for production and a legacy Java technology framework for application development. The company used this set-up for about five years. Over a period of time, it increased the number of servers from two to seven in order to cater to the increasing information load for effectively running its applications and data base stations. The shift To meet the requirements of a growing business and heavy data traffic, the company has been adopting new technologies. It has now started shifting its existing telecommunications set-up to cloud infrastructure. “The company’s current set-up of dedicated servers was proving to be inadequate in handling the sudden rise in traffic on the website. To address this issue, new servers were required, which was a time-consuming exercise. Sizing the servers based on the current traffic flow was also a challenge,” says Karthi Easwaramoorthy, co-founder and president, TicketGoose.com. “In order to handle the growth in traffic on the website and reduce operational costs, the company is in the process of moving its existing telecom set-up to the cloud. Full migration will be completed by August 2013,” says Easwaramoorthy. TicketGoose.com has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for availing of cloud technologies such as AWS EC2, S3, and relational database service (RDS), R53. The organisation’s various teams responsible for production, deployment, monitoring and support have been provided access to the new cloud-based infrastructure. In the second phase of migration, the company will integrate other AWS services like autoscaling, simple queue service, simple notification service, Elasticache and Multi Az that will help the organisation streamline its existing processes. For example, autoscaling services will enable the company to handle irregular traffic spikes during the holiday season. The company operates two call centres in Chennai and Bengaluru. It has deployed an internet-based leased line network, along with primary rate interface lines with IP-PBX cards, besides using five leased lines provided by Bharti Airtel. It has also deployed a fibre backbone network with a connectivity speed of 8 Mbps. Challenges and benefits According to Easwaramoorthy, the biggest challenge faced by the company while upgrading its telecom infrastructure was managing integrated applications. Moreover, all applications had to be rearchitected to avail of the benefits provided by cloud computing and scaling technologies. “The company is moving towards service-oriented architecture for our applications and will use RESTful architecture. This will make the applications easily scalable and support heterogeneous mediums like web, mobile and application programming interface partners. Another challenge is transferring existing data from the company’s database to the cloud RDS.” Challenges notwithstanding, the new infrastructure set-up will ensure that the company’s website is up and running at all times, thereby delivering quality service to customers. It will also enable TicketGoose.com to scale up operations and cater to its growing business needs. The AWS infrastructure will monitor the system, and notify and address system failures. In addition, autoscaling will help lower operating costs. “The pay-as-you-use model will significantly help us reduce costs. Cloud technology will help us assess exact resource utilisation, which, in turn, would enable us to size our servers and minimise server costs,” says Easwaramoorthy. The road ahead Going forward, TicketGoose.com plans to upgrade its technology stack and will migrate to 100 per cent service-oriented architecture. The company plans to upgrade its customer support software and integrate it with applications that identify the booking history of customers, etc. It is also looking to adopt DevOps tools, application monitoring and automated alerting systems to ensure smooth functioning of the company’s website along with other processes.  

Published in prnewswire BANGALORE, India, October 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — TicketGoose.com, a leading online bus ticketing portal, has raised second round funding of $3 million from \”Indventure LLC\”, a Chicago based investor firm. Logo (PRNewsFoto/TicketGoose)      (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131030/648980 ) TicketGoose, the fastest growing online bus ticketing portal in India, is currently partnered with over 700 bus operators and 6,000 agents to cover 3,000 destinations, through 10,000 routes and 20,000 buses. TicketGoose has130 employees at its offices in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Commenting on the development, Karthi Easwaramoorthy, Co-founder and CEO, TicketGoose, said, \”The year 2013 has seen tremendous growth in the industry and has been an important year for TicketGoose. The progress of the industry is an opportunity for us to invest further in improving our customer experience and build competencies that will address all customer pain points of the large bus travelling community in the country. With further growth expected in the Industry, we hope to close the year with a turnover of Rs. 100 crore.\” Earlier in 2012 TicketGoose raised $1million in its first round of funding from US-based angel investors. The company has been closely working with experts to boost the online bus ticketing system in India and has invested in building a robust graphic-based website that allows users ease of navigation, comparative bus options and to also locate the boarding points with the help of an integrated Google map. As a step towards improving passenger experience TicketGoose has also launched a 24*7 customer support service. Through this service passengers can call to find out the exact pick-up point for buses. Passengers can also get information on the approximate time of arrival, bus delays, etc. this facility also aims at providing safety to the female passengers where any issues can be escalated to the support team and necessary action will be taken by the concerned authorities. About TicketGoose TicketGoose.com is an online bus ticketing portal launched with an objective of providing flexibility, comfort and convenience to passengers travelling by bus. Headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the website offers bus travelers a variety of options of buses with information like price, availability and booking facility for more than 3,000 destinations across India. Currently, TicketGoose.com associates with close to 1,000 bus operators and agents in India.

Published in IndiaInfoLine January 29, 2014 14:53 IST | India Infoline News Service Ticketgoose.com, a leading online bus ticketing portal, announced the launch of its Ticketgoose.com app. Now, inter-state bus travellers with the Ticketgoose.com app on their mobile phones can enjoy bus ticket booking related services on the go. The app’s handy “Bus Tracking” option using GPS allows the customers to track their bus with frequent updates on the bus location and shortest path between the customer location and the boarding point plotted on the map. The app also provides rudimentary features like specific filter option to sort the tickets (based on bus type, fare, time, seat availability and ratings) in order to provide customers the best preferred busses, a slew of payment options, ticket cancellation, maintain own trip list, Booking history, call operator facility and access to the Ticketgoose.com 24/7 customer support. The App designed specifically to create best customer experience is compatible with all Android and iOS devices and free to download on the iTunes store and Google Play store. Or visit: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hm.ticketgoosefrom Android devices and  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ticketgoose/id779485988?mt=8from iPhones Commenting on the launch, Karthi Easwaramoorthy, President & co-founder, TicketGoose.com said, “We are excited to launch the Ticketgoose.com app, another value added service in line with our vision of enhancing the bus travel experience of our customers. With this app customers can now leave the stress behind and save time while booking bus tickets, locating boarding points, tracking busses, etc”. As a step towards improving passenger experience TicketGoose.com has dedicated 24X7 customer support service (088-8080 8080). Through this service passengers can call to get information on pickup points, approximate time of arrival, bus delays etc. this facility also aims at providing safety to the female passengers where any issues can be escalated to the support team Ticketgoose.com has also tied up with United India Insurance to offer its customers the benefit of a travel insurance policy while travelling by bus. An optional value added service priced at Rs.20 extra per passenger, the policy will provide a Personal Accident cover for Rs. 2 lakhs per passenger, Damage or loss of Baggage  upto a maximum of Rs.15000, Emergency medical expenses upto a maximum of Rs.10000 and Consequential Loss due disruption of travel upto a maximum of Rs.5000.    

Published in GadgetsNow MANGALORE: Ticketgoose.com, a leading online bus ticketing po .. Read more at: https://www.gadgetsnow.com/articleshow/30801054.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst  

Published in Hindu The bus ticketing portal, plans to raise Rs. 75 crore to Rs. 100 crore by June this year. TicketGoose.com, a bus ticketing portal, plans to raise Rs. 75 crore to Rs. 100 crore by June this year. Company President and Co-founder Karthi Easwaramoorthy told The Hinduhere on Wednesday that the company was talking to investors. “The funds will come through venture capitalists mainly,” he said. It raised Rs. 25 crore from Indventure LLC in 2013-2014. TicketGoose.com has invested Rs. 40 crore so far, with 40 per cent of the money being used for information technology (IT) infrastructure. The company had so far focused on the product and technology, and it will now build its brand. The funds to be raised would be used mainly for brand-building. The company is looking at Rs. 120 crore turnover in 2013-2014 and nearly 20 lakh tickets booked through its portal. Last year, the company’s turnover was Rs. 47 crore and 7.83 lakh tickets were booked through its portal. It launched mobile applications for Android and iOS a month ago. The mobile applicationoffers GPS and bus tracking services . The company would continue to focus on bus ticketing as the potential was huge, he said. It had tied up with 700 plus operators and plans to double it to 1500 by the end of next year, he added.

Published in www.nextbigwhat.com Online bus ticketing portal Ticketgoose has raised Rs 18 cr from Indventure, a US based venture capital firm, according to a report. The Chennai based company was founded in 2007 by Karthi Easwaramoorthy, Arunkumar Athippan and Vasudevan Ramasamy. It has tied up with over 700 bus operators covering 300 destinations. The company is expecting a turnover (gross) of Rs 100 cr this fiscal, the Economic Times reported. In 2012, the company had raised Rs 3 cr form US based angel investors at a valuation of $7 mn. Ticketgoose competes with redBus. Earlier this month, ticketing portal busIndia.com said it is planning to raise over Rs 200 cr from private equity funds. Reportedly, busIndia.com is bigger than redBus, which was sold to Naspers for Rs 800 cr. busIndia sells nearly 50,000 tickets daily and is clocking revenues of Rs 100 cr while parent company Radiant Info, with over 1000 employees, has a revenue of Rs 400 cr,

Published in www.phocuswire.com India-based online bus reservation service TicketGoose has raised its second round funding of $3 million from Indventure, a Chicago-based investor firm. The company says the fund will be used to improve its technology, provide more value added services, enhance its 24/7 customer support, and expand geographically through marketing and promotional activities. TicketGoose had previously raised $1million in 2012 from US-based angel investors, taking its total investment amount to $4 million. One of the key differentiators of TicketGoose is its Hipmunk-style user interface. The site is designed to appeal visually and keep the text as minimal as possible. Competitors of TicketGoose in India include redBus (sold to ibibo group), Travelyaari, and Abhibus. The company has partnered with 700+ bus operators and 6,000 agents to cover 3,000 destinations, through 10,000 routes and 20,000 buses. President and co-founder Karthi Easwaramoorthy says: “The year 2013 has seen tremendous growth in the industry and has been an important year for TicketGoose. With further growth expected in the Industry, we hope to close the year with a turnover of around Rs. 100 crore ($20 million)” Share this quote TicketGoose was founded in 2007, now it has 130 employees with offices in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Tnooz spoke to Easwaramoorthy regarding the latest funding round: Plan for the next 18 months? In the next 18 months we would be investing time, effort and resources in bringing out the best customer experience. So far, bus booking aggregators like us solved the basic pain of booking the ticket at your hand. It is just a beginning, not  an end. Earlier, customers had issues before and after booking tickets. Some of them started to live with it. In order to improve best customer experience, we introduced 24/7 customer support, travel insurance and world class user interface. None of the players have user interface like we have. In a nutshell, we would spruce up and enable technologies , acquire quality inventories and enhance customer service  to bring the best customer experience. In another 18 months, we put customers at heart and centre to deliver. Will TicketGoose venture into other hot segments like hotels, car rentals? or planning to stick to bus segment? Bus market is huge and 95% of it is still untaped. Though TicketGoose is the industry leader in  terms  of customer support and user interface, still it is in a basic stage. We would concentrate in transforming bus operators who own buses and consumers who travel to never before seen experience. So we have a lot more to do in the bus industry for now.

Published in travelbizmonitor.com TicketGoose.com, an online bus ticketing portal, has tied up with United India Insurance to offer its customers travel insurance. The policy will provide personal accident cover along with coverage for bus travel-related risks like emergency medical expenses, damages or loss of baggage, and any consequential loss due to disruption of travel. The insurance policy is particularly aimed to secure bus travellers and the insured’s family, a release stated. The personal accident cover is Rs two lakh per passenger, damage or loss of baggage is for maximum Rs 15,000, emergency medical expenses are covered up to the amount of Rs 10,000, and consequential loss due to disruption of travel is covered up to Rs 5,000. TicketGoose.com’s travel insurance policy is an optional value-added service priced at Rs 20 extra per passenger, offered in addition to the cost of each ticket booked on the portal, the release added. The policy can be availed of on the portal at the time of booking tickets. Karthi Easwaramoorthy, President and Co-founder, TicketGoose.com, said, “The launch of this product is in line with our vision of enhancing the bus travel experience for our passengers. This product is an added solution for covering bus travel related risks, along with medical and other value-added benefits that will provide security to our customers while travelling. There are several customers who are already opting for this service and we hope this will provide travel enthusiasts with a secure and trouble-free bus travel.”  

Published in DataQuest Online bus ticketing company TicketGoose.com has partnered Niki.ai, a start-up focused on Artificial Intelligence, to provide customers with a simplified and convenient bus ticket booking experience with the launch of an intuitive chatbot. This partnership is aimed at enhancing the customer experience on the mobile app. TicketGoose’s partnership with Niki will enable customers to book bus tickets online through conversing with Niki on the TicketGoose mobile app. The artificial intelligence software stack that Niki.ai provides will enhance customer experience on the mobile app by making it bus ticket booking user friendly. TicketGoose’s iOS and Android mobile app will both support the chatbot feature. Niki.ai also plans to introduce value added services such as cab and hotel bookings integrated within its chatbot for its customers. Commenting on the tie up with Niki.ai, Mr. Karthi Easwaramoorthy, President and Cofounder, TicketGoose, said, “We have been constantly pursuing interesting partnerships that will enable smart bus travel. Our partnership with Niki.ai was explored keeping this in mind. The updated version of the TicketGoose mobile app will provide customers the ease of booking tickets through a conversational manner.” Speaking on the partnership, Mr. Sachin Jaiswal, CEO, Niki.ai said “We have worked on a software development kit which is being made available to our partners to integrate on their platforms (app and web) and utilize the technology of AI developed by us. Through our SDK, in less than three hours of integration effort, our partners can replicate the entire transactional experience across services over a chat interface and add value to their consumers.” Niki.ai recently partnered with chatbot banking for HDFC Bank. Together, they have launched a chatbot called OnChat on Facebook’s Messenger platform that will allow users to recharge phones, pay utility bills, book cabs from Ola or Uber etc, through a chat.

Published in FirstFewCustomers Arun Athiappan, Co Founder and CEO of Ticketgoose, began the company along with Karthi Easwaramoorthy and Vasudevan Ramaswamy. Arun was an entrepreneur in the past from 1992 till 2000 and was an IT consultant for a few years before stating once again With his neighbor Karthi who was in the US for almost 15 years, Karthi had worked with very large companies such as Sun, Cisco, HP etc. Vasu who was an entrepreneur all through his life was Karthi’s classmate. The story began when Karthi had to spend one whole day of his 15 day vacation from the US to buy a bus ticket to meet Arun in Chennai. Frustrated, he called Arun to check if there was something like expedia in India for bus tickets. Realizing that nothing else was there, they decided to build one and that is how Ticketgoose began by Aug 2007. Ticketgoose was a two sided marketplace that aggregates tickets from the operators on one side and has customers on the other side. The usual practice was that the bus operators would share the inventory(ticket availability per route) to the agents and  the agents will inform the operators two to three hours ahead of the departure of the bus. The founding team was very excited that they were going to disrupt the entire industry with a new way to do business. They went with full enthusiasm to all the bus operators and began pushing the internet way of selling and getting access to a new generation of customers who will only use website as a way to buy tickets. They were doing this for a few months but found out that no bus operators were willing to sign up in-spite of a good value proposition that they offered. Arun, in a chance meeting with his friend was discussing this and realized that what the bus operators wanted was to sell tickets and not at all interested in a disruptive and a next generation technology or buyers. Arun and team repositioned their services and went back to the operators and spoke to them like they are another agent and asked them to give them a quota like they would give to another agent and that began working. Now the business began taking off and they began making money.Based on them selling better, the operators began giving them additional quota of tickets. Arun says that the lesson leant here was not to build a product that would disrupt the business models of the customers but to layer it in such a way that this product works along with the existing model. A product needs to have enormous clout and traction in the market to be able to disrupt models which no startup will have. Arun recollects the day when the team decided to flip back to their earlier business model and no longer wanted quota of tickets but wanted to see the real time availability of tickets on the net for their subscribers to buy online. Arun realized that to be able to access the inventory real time, the operators also needed to be on a software platform into which Ticketgoose can hook into. Less than 1% of the operators were online and even the larger ones were not willing to work on the API model. Ticktgoose began building the software platform and hosted it on the cloud and began offering free of cost software to the operators so that they can go online. The product called “Vahana” enabled the operators to manage the tickets, the backend process, phone booking, manage P&L etc. Arun was surprised that only 5 to 6 operators signed up for the entire one year inspite of them giving it free. They took another decision and began charging the operators on usage model(Per month Per bus) and suddenly they got around 40 new operators within one year. When they went in and quizzed the operators on why they did not choose the free software, they were surprised that the operators had perceived the product value to be low when it is given free and equated free to unreliable and low quality products/services. Once Ticketgoose started charging, the operators felt that Ticketgoose was serious about this business and could be relied upon to provide quality support. Arun says that the second lesson the team learnt was that free products always does not mean that the product will sell well. Often the reverse could be true and the free tag can create a perception of low value among customers. Now Ticketgoose (www.ticketgoose.com), has 80 operators on the platform and has around 4,50,000 subscribers who have used the Ticketgoose for their bus ticket booking needs. TiE has chosen Ticketgoose founders as the best upcoming entrepreneurs in the associate member category for 2013