Travelstart Launches Online Bus Booking Platform in South Africa. Could Nigeria be Next?

Online Travel Booking platform, Travelstart has launched its online bus booking platform in South Africa to complement its existing suite of services. Based in Sweden, Travelstart operates in three African countries which are Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.

The bus booking platform has been designed to collate and compare prices of existing bus platforms over certain distances. With the comparison data, Travelstart’s new platform will give the user the cheapest fare for his or her chosen destination.

While Travelstart has announced its own travel buses, it seeks to be the point of call for travellers who want to go anywhere by any of the existing bus platforms like Greyhound, Intercape and Citilinear.

According to the company, this will help people save time and money that would have been used manually checking out individual bus platforms and comparing prices.

Customers can search for buses after entering their point of departure and their destination and get the cheapest price.

In its expansion across Africa, Travelstart has acquired 2 organizations for its operations. On June 10, 2019, Travelstart acquired Club Travel Group as part of its franchise. In 2017, the travel services company acquired Safari Now on December 6.

Founded by Stephan Ekbergh in 1999, Travelstart has since raised two rounds of funding of which the latest funding was raised on May 28, 2019. Altogether, the company has raised $40 million for its operations from its three major investors: MTN, Amadeus Capital Partners and Harbour Vest partners.

With its new online bus booking platform, Travelstart could make a significant entry into the Nigerian road transport sector where online booking option has a relatively low adoption rate. New players like Obus and Plenty Waka are yet to make any significant impact owing to geographical restrictions.

GIG logistics has taken the frontline seat in the game (especially in the interstate travels game) and has done well too, in the interim. Another possible good hand will not be a bad idea.