An MSRTC online booking outage disrupted travel for thousands of passengers returning to Pune after the Diwali holiday on Saturday, 14 November, as the state transport undertaking’s website and official mobile application became inaccessible or generated errors during the peak booking period.
Passengers trying to reserve seats reported multiple problems, including error messages during booking, payment failures in which money was deducted without a ticket being issued, and the website failing to open. With many people scheduled to return to work, business and educational institutions from Monday, the disruption created uncertainty during one of the busiest periods of the holiday travel cycle.
The return journey began across Maharashtra on Saturday, with large numbers of passengers travelling towards Pune and other major cities. The MSRTC had planned additional buses for the post-Diwali rush, but passengers who attempted to use the official digital booking channels were forced to wait, retry transactions or travel to bus stations for current, or direct, ticket bookings.
The disruption was reported at a time when passenger volumes were high at Swargate, Wakdewadi and Vallabhnagar bus stations in Pune. The largest inflow was reported from Marathwada, Vidarbha and western Maharashtra, adding pressure to the transport network as passengers attempted to reach the city before the working week began.
The MSRTC’s information technology department took up the problem after the online reservation system went down. According to Arun Siya, divisional controller of the MSRTC Pune division, the servers were affected for a period because of increased pressure on the online ticketing system. The system was restored after repair measures were carried out, and bookings resumed after the disruption was resolved in the evening.
The outage also pushed some passengers towards private travel operators. The report said private bus operators raised fares to between two and three times the usual level, taking advantage of the limited alternatives available to passengers who needed to reach Pune before Monday. The additional cost particularly affected travellers who could not secure MSRTC reservations or did not want to risk further failed online transactions.
The MSRTC had deployed additional buses for the return journey, which provided some relief at a time of heavy demand. However, the day-long failure of the digital booking channels meant that passengers had to depend on crowded bus stations, direct ticket counters and private services while the online system remained unavailable. The transport undertaking’s online booking system was restored by Saturday evening, according to the Pune division administration.
