How would you improve AbhiBus for women travelling alone on overnight buses?

Introduction

AbhiBus, acquired by ixigo in 2021, is one of India's major bus ticketing platforms. Buses have become one of ixigo's fastest-growing verticals, and AbhiBus inventory also powers bus booking inside the ixigo app. Overnight intercity buses (Bengaluru to Hyderabad, Pune to Goa, Delhi to Manali) are a common way to travel for students and young professionals.

For women travelling alone, an overnight bus raises specific concerns: who is sitting next to them, whether the bus will stop at safe places, what happens if they're dropped at a dark highway point at 4 am, and whether anyone knows where they are. The prompt asks how to improve AbhiBus for this group. I'll clarify, segment, map the journey and pain points, then propose and prioritise solutions with metrics.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (5 mins)

• What is the business goal: more bookings from women, higher repeat rate, or fewer safety incidents?

• Why it matters: These lead to different priorities.
• Hypothetical answer: Increase repeat bookings by women solo travellers, through a safer and more comfortable experience.
• Impact on approach: Trust and repeat use matter more than one-time conversion.

• What do we control: only the app, or also operator standards?

• Why it matters: AbhiBus is a marketplace; private operators run the buses.
• Hypothetical answer: The app plus operator ratings and partner programmes, but not direct operations.
• Impact on approach: Solutions combine app features with operator incentives.

• Do we have data on women's booking behaviour?

• Why it matters: It shows where women drop off or don't return.
• Hypothetical answer: Women solo travellers have higher search-to-booking drop-off on overnight routes and lower repeat rates than men.
• Impact on approach: Focus on the decision stage and the journey itself.

• Any regulatory or privacy constraints?

• Why it matters: Sharing gender or location data has privacy implications under India's data protection law.
• Hypothetical answer: All sharing must be opt-in.
• Impact on approach: Every safety feature must be consent-based.