KSRTC Website - Need to redefine its Existance?

This may be slighlty off topic, but relevant.

Google public transit is really conveneint for understanding bus routes for foriegners/outsiders and will really give a boost to public transit use. It takes the ignorance out of the equation.

Mr Syed has pointed to the VTA website. VTA serves 'Silicon Valley", and as a user of this service, I know that it is a small, hard to use means of transport. Buses are infrequent, have long wait times, and not much service to many locations. I have frequently spent 3 hours on a 1 way jouney has takes 30 mins by car.

However, it is very easy to find the most optimal bus route simply because they share routing information with Google. BMTC sharing such information will greatly increase the richer sections (car users) travelling by public transport. I hope the same can be done for KSRTC as well.

Please do not get cynical  and say BMTC/KSRTC cannot do anything like this.Having been dependent on public transport in both nations, I feel that if one knows one's way around BMTC/KSRTC are far superior to anything in USA. The buses are far more frequent, cleaner(at least Volvos) and do not waste the travellers' time. so implementing Google maps is not impossible.

This is a link to the journey planner for buses /trains /metro in Copenhagen. Though this web page is city travel related, it may be suitable for KSRTC since the web page demonstrates the ease with which journies can be planned & includes links to relevant maps & other related travel information.

You start by entering details such as from, to, date, time, etc. & obtain various options. The results can be downloaded to a PC & printed in pdf format or it can even be downlaoded on to a mobile phone while on the move.

A sample print-out (in pdf format) that I had actually used can be accessed by clicking here.

I created a test account and went through the booking workflow. Screenshots are available at http://picasaweb.google.c....

Following improvements could be made.

1. First page for booking asks just "first few alphabets" of origin and destination. This page/step can be removed completely and be replaced with a page that collects all travel related information in one form.
2. Second step/page asks for the more information than it should. The journey time input should be made optional.
3. Step 2 also offers less options than it should on the origin and destination selection. This arbitrary filter on the origin and destination in step 2 will go away if step 1 is removed.
4. Origin and destination inputs should have auto-complete feature.
5. It should be clearly stated how many days in advance can you book near the date inputs. Functionality on date validation also seems to be buggy. It took me a number of tries to arrive at the conclusion that this period is 15 days possibly due to buggy code in date comparison.
6. Moving to the date input should open the calendar input widget automatically. Currently calendar widget opens in a new window which should be done away with.
7. Seat availability information should be surfaced in step 3 clearly. Currently it is hidden behind a "Details" line.
8. In step 4 the requirement of id card information should be done away with. This is more of a process change though than just a UI change. IRCTC used to have this requirement earlier and now has done away with it.
9. Pickup and drop off points can have links to maps showing the points and transit information.
10. Payment options are limited to credit card through ICICI and online bank transfer through SBI. This could be increased by tying up with payment gateways that offer larger options or by expanding on options provided by ICICI or SBI gateways whichever is possible.

 @syed, the website should also allow for dissemination of information. Wont make money only as an objective start getting other things thrown out of the website?   

 Essentially captures good standards. Will be good if there are more inputs from other praja on what they would like to see. 

Guys

I am posting a concept here for KSRTC website to set stage to work with them in finetuning their requirements and propose a new user interface with great features. Please feel free to post your feedback

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/eJ_ORRyMMaMeUoQLlj5Rsg?feat=directlink

Thanks in advance! 

Its great to get feedback to do a card sorting exercise to group different links. The design out here is only a concept and is not anywhere close to the final product. 

Yes we will have to keep in mind a whole lot of things including the bandwidth issue when it comes to users who have low speed connections. I posted this only to get a shift in thinking - towards a more usable website thats robust with right features, branding, user friendly, disabled friendly and bottom line will help position KSRTC in a win win position.

I agree with you as far as loading is concerned I think we can convert most of the page renderings into CSS files and images are only minimal like the logo etc. It should work. I am more concerned about loading AJAX features. May be we can have a non JavaScript version that can handle that. but I presume we are talking implementation before we have our requirements nailed down :) but its exciting to talk about these things - keep it coming hope to talk to you guys soon