Development of a Digital Ticketing System for Luxury Bus Services Along the Enugu-Onitsha Route

The booking and ticketing process for intercity luxury bus travel in Nigeria, particularly along the high-traffic Enugu-Onitsha route, remains predominantly physical, requiring passengers to visit motor park offices in person to purchase tickets, often encountering overcrowding, double-booking disputes, and long waiting periods. This study developed a digital ticketing system designed to automate seat reservation and payment processing for luxury bus operators serving the Enugu-Onitsha route. The system was built using PHP, MySQL, and a Bootstrap-designed front-end, with Paystack integrated as the payment gateway to support card and mobile money transactions common among Nigerian travellers. Passengers could register on the platform, search available trips by date and time, select preferred seats through an interactive seat map, make payment, and receive electronic tickets via SMS and email. Bus operators accessed an administrative portal for trip scheduling, seat availability management, and passenger manifest generation ahead of departure. Functional testing confirmed accurate seat reservation locking, successful payment processing, and duplicate booking prevention across concurrent user sessions. Traveller usability trials indicated strong preference for digital booking over the conventional in-person method, with convenience and time saving cited as primary motivators. The study concluded that a digital ticketing system tailored to the Enugu-Onitsha corridor would improve the intercity travel experience, reduce booking-related disputes, and enhance revenue transparency for bus operators. Broader adoption across other Southeastern Nigerian routes is recommended.

Keywords: digital ticketing, luxury bus, Enugu-Onitsha, online booking, transport management