Uber is entering intercity bus ticketing in India by integrating ixigo-owned AbhiBus into its app, marking a shift from its usual model of offering transport services where it has greater control over supply, such as cars and other on-demand ride formats.
By taking the partnership route, Uber quickly gains pan-India route coverage while staying asset-light, avoiding the heavy lift of building supply, pricing systems, and bus operator relationships from scratch.
The move also underscores how difficult it remains to crack India’s online bus-ticketing market. The segment is still dominated by MakeMyTrip-owned redBus, which industry estimates peg at about 70% market share, even as rivals such as AbhiBus, IntrCity SmartBus, Zingbus and FlixBus try to chip away at its lead.
“We are starting with a presence across the entire network, pan-India (around 3,000 city-to-city routes), which AbhiBus is already live with,” Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and South Asia, said in a roundtable press conference on Friday. “We are tapping into their network, which they have built over a period of time, which covers the majority of the routes.”
Singh said India’s broader intercity travel market, covering both buses and cabs, is a $13 billion opportunity, according to Uber’s estimate, and remains largely unorganised. “This is a $13 billion (about ₹1.19 trillion) market, which is still less than 5% organised,” he said.
He also added that Uber’s existing intercity cabs business is growing about 50% year-on-year and operating across around 3,000 routes.
Intercity travel
Only 19% of India’s intercity bus market was booked online in fiscal 2023, underscoring how under-penetrated the category still is despite the scale of demand, according to a 2023 study by travel advisory firm VIDEC Consultants.
The same report estimated the overall intercity bus market at ₹539 billion ($6.7 billion) in fiscal 2023 and projected it to grow to ₹688 billion ($8.6 billion) by fiscal 2026.
- Uber enters India’s intercity bus market by integrating ixigo-owned AbhiBus platform services.
- The asset-light strategy avoids heavy infrastructure costs by leveraging existing partner networks.
- MakeMyTrip-owned redBus continues to dominate, holding roughly 70% of the ticketing market.
- Uber targets India’s $13 billion intercity travel opportunity, which remains largely unorganized today.
- This expansion follows a recent capital infusion of ₹3,000 crore into Uber’s Indian unit.
Within the online segment, the report said MakeMyTrip Group-owned redBus controlled about 75% of the OTA intercity bus market in fiscal 2023, with ixigo-owned AbhiBus trailing behind.
When asked why Uber was not using its own capital to build a standalone bus-ticketing business, Singh said the category was still under-penetrated enough for multiple models to coexist.
“The best part of the fact that, as you laid out, it’s still under-penetrated means there is such a long journey, and we believe different business models will coexist,” he added.
Uber wants to retain and acquire users who prefer buses as an affordable intercity option to Uber's premium cab option. This partnered launch is more to retain those users.
The online intercity bus market in India is split between aggregators such as redBus, AbhiBus and ixigo, which list inventory from third-party bus operators, and newer full-stack or asset-led players such as IntrCity SmartBus, FreshBus and FlixBus, which have sought greater control over service quality through franchise arrangements, contracted fleets or their own on-ground operations.
Against that backdrop, Singh said the market was unlikely to settle around a single format. “There will be full-stack players. There will be players who will just distribute tickets. There will be players who will distribute tickets and then come and maybe participate full-stack themselves,” he said.
He suggested Uber was still figuring out where it wanted to sit in that mix over time. “Uber of 2015 is very different from Uber of 2026,” Singh said, indicating the company is more open to flexible structures and partnerships than it was in its earlier expansion years.
Bulking up Uber
The bus-ticketing launch comes days after Uber infused nearly ₹3,000 crore into its India unit, underscoring the company’s intent to step up investments amid intensifying competition in mobility. The funding included ₹2,721 crore in January from Uber BV, the Dutch arm of Uber, after an earlier ₹200-crore infusion in November, according to regulatory filings reviewed by Mint.
The fresh capital also comes as Uber faces rising pressure in its core ride-hailing business from Rapido, while Ola Cabs continues to lose ground.