{"id":2237,"date":"2013-10-07T10:36:19","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T02:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=2237"},"modified":"2013-10-07T10:44:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-07T02:44:25","slug":"app-allows-bus-reservations-online-via-smartphones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2013\/10\/07\/app-allows-bus-reservations-online-via-smartphones\/","title":{"rendered":"App allows bus reservations online, via smartphones"},"content":{"rendered":"

PinoyTravel<\/a>, an online provincial bus booking service in the Philippines, was launched recently to give Filipinos and tourists the convenience of checking bus schedules and booking their provincial bus tickets online.<\/p>\n

The service eliminates the hassle of queuing at bus stations for tickets in order to travel to the wonderful destinations in the Philippines. Commuters would only need to visit www.pinoytravel.com.ph or download the free Android app from the Google Play Store to browse for and book their tickets.<\/p>\n

\"PinoyTravel\"<\/a>
\nIn the provincial bus industry today, consumers are often inconvenienced by the fact that they cannot book their tickets online, whereas it is already the common practice in the airline industry.\u00a0 Additionally, checking bus schedules requires the passenger to either call or go to the bus station to verify the trip schedules.\u00a0 With this game-changing service, Pinoys now have a handy companion whenever they plan on leaving the metro by bus.<\/p>\n

\u201cPinoyTravel sets to revolutionize the provincial bus booking system in the country.\u00a0 It is a first-of-its-kind service in the Philippines that will help provide convenience and alleviate the difficulties of provincial bus commuters,\u201d said Au Soriano, President and Co-Founder of PinoyTravel.<\/p>\n

Put together by Soriano and co-founder Maui Millan, PinoyTravel was recognized as part of the initial\u00a0 batch of incubatees of IdeaSpace Foundation, Inc., the technology startup incubation hub founded by the PLDT Group of Companies, during the IdeaSpace National Competition in March.<\/p>\n

The non-profit foundation is supported by members of the PLDT Group, including First Pacific, First Pacific Leadership Academy, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), MPIC hospital group, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Meralco, Smart Communications, Inc (Smart), Digitel, Sun Cellular, SPI Global, ePLDT, Indofood, Philex Mining, Maynilad, MediaQuest, and TV5.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis solution aims to address the lack of an end-to-end public transportation solution that will help boost tourist visits to the country\u2019s various destinations, given the recent tourism boom. While airlines fly visitors to some of the country\u2019s best tourist destinations, this bus booking service will provide access to the last mile so travelers can reach more of the undiscovered wonders in the country,\u201d said Earl Martin Valencia, President at IdeaSpace.<\/p>\n

PinoyTravel has also partnered with Hot Air Balloon Digital Group, one of the country\u2019s top digital agencies, to pioneer efforts in the local digital arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cPinoyTravel will make bus travelling easier by providing updated schedules that will take commuters to different provincial destinations provided by our bus line partners and soon, a platform that will enable them to book their tickets using only their smartphones,\u201d said Resty Magno, President and Founder of Hot Air Balloon. \u201cPinoyTravel will save users the time and effort of queueing in crowded bus stations, and will also help them save money so that travelling will become effortless and enjoyable, the way it\u2019s supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phase one of the service, which is now available to the public, will feature trip schedules of major bus companies plying the different provincial routes in the country.\u00a0 Phase two of PinoyTravel, which will soon roll out, will then allow the commuting public to book, reserve and pay for their bus tickets online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PinoyTravel, an online provincial bus booking service in the Philippines, was launched recently to give Filipinos and visiting tourists the convenience of checking bus schedules and booking their provincial bus tickets online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9,19],"tags":[3361,759,758,757,760],"class_list":["post-2237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","category-apps","category-headlines","tag-android","tag-online-reservations","tag-online-service","tag-pinoytravel","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}