As EV economics improve and smart-city infrastructure evolves, zingbus is positioned as the leading operating system for intercity mobility, enabling small and medium operators to confidently transition into EVs, and preparing our platform to integrate with the wider ecosystem of connected, sustainable, and eventually autonomous transport, says Prashant Kumar, Co-founder and CEO of Zingbus in an interview with EVolution Auto India.
Q: How would you define zingbus’s core mission, and how has it evolved since inception? Also, what sets zingbus apart from traditional bus operators?
Prashant Kumar: Our mission is to standardise and humanise intercity bus travel by becoming the leading operating system for India’s fragmented bus industry. We bring regional operators under a single tech and brand framework to deliver airline-style reliability at scale. Unlike traditional operators, we follow an asset-light but SOP-heavy model—where zingbus controls service design, pricing, and customer experience, while partners manage day to day operations. This not only ensures consistent quality but also improves operator yields by almost 30 percent with downside protection on new routes. For passengers, our innovations like zingprime, zingPass, and a tiered service offering—zingbus Maxx for a 7-star luxury experience, zingbus Plus for premium comfort, and valuebus for budget travellers with its 10x money-back guarantee—build trust and loyalty, making every journey predictable, reliable, and customer-first.
Q: Could you share some of the tech innovations driving your operations? How zingbus is revolutionizing sustainable e-mobility in India with electric buses?
Prashant Kumar: Here’s how zingbus uses technology to handle operations:
- Crew Marshal App: Every trip follows 40+ mandatory SOP tasks covering safety, onboarding, cleanliness, and communication. Crew members log these digitally, and tasks are reverse-audited with real-time customer feedback. Completion is incentive-linked, ensuring consistency and accountability.
- Digital payouts & settlements: Cashless transactions remove leakages, streamline partner payments, and enable financial inclusion for crew (access to micro-credit, insurance, and health checks).
- Demand forecasting & pricing: Data-driven demand prediction and dynamic pricing improve operator yields by almost 30 percent.
- Passenger-facing technology: Through the zingbus app, passengers enjoy real-time bus tracking, proactive notifications, surge-protected fares, first- and last-mile integrations, 24×7 WhatsApp support, zingprime loyalty benefits, seamless add-ons like carbon-neutral journeys, and enhanced female safety features—all designed to make intercity travel transparent, reliable, safe, and hassle-free.
- Operator relationship management: A partner dashboard gives operators live KPIs, transparent settlements, performance scorecards, and a fleet maintenance tracker, ensuring accountability, operational efficiency, and trust across the zingbus network.
- Sustainable e-mobility: zingbus is driving EV adoption end-to-end, supporting operators with OEM selection (JBM, NARNI), financing, charger partnerships (Jio-bp), EV playbooks, IoT-based vehicle & battery health monitoring, crew performance & operations optimization, and OEM + charger telematics integration—enabling scalable electric fleets, safer buses, and cleaner intercity travel while advancing India’s low-emission mobility goals.
Q: As an electric bus operator, what are the key challenges in organizing intercity travel across India, and how is zingbus overcoming them?
Prashant Kumar: Key challenges in Intercity EV bus operations & how zingbus is overcoming them
- Infrastructure (Charging Network & Turnaround Times)
Limited highway fast-charging networks make planning routes and minimizing downtime complex.How zingbus solves it: Partnering with Jio-bp for apt site selection and network planning, deploying state-of-the-art 360KW fast chargers across major corridors to ensure faster turnaround and dependable coverage. - Battery Life & OEM Technology (Range & Reliability)
India’s diverse terrain and climate demand continuous optimization for range and performance.How zingbus solves it: Collaborating with domestic and international OEMs and battery tech innovators to bring advanced technology and global best practices to Indian intercity travel. - Financing Barriers (High Upfront Costs for Operators)
Heavy capital costs discourage small operators from adopting EVs.How zingbus solves it: Working with banks, NBFCs, and financial institutions to design customized ownership and leasing models, making EV adoption more viable for operator partners. - Operational Challenges (New Form Factor = New Playbook)
EVs require different planning for route design, scheduling, and maintenance compared to ICE buses.How zingbus solves it: Building a technology-led operational playbook that addresses electric route design, predictive scheduling, and fleet maintenance—ensuring a seamless and reliable transition for operators.
Q: How do you maintain consistency in service quality across such a fragmented and often unorganized sector?
Prashant Kumar: zingbus maintains consistency in service quality with:
- Strong operator partnerships: Our commercial model ensures buses are new, best-in-class, and well maintained, setting a high service baseline.
- Crew training & empowerment: Continuous training, certifications, lifestyle benefits, and incentivization empower crew to deliver disciplined, passenger-first service.
- SOP-first approach: Every trip follows standardized SOPs via the Marshall app, with compliance reverse-audited through passenger feedback to ensure accountability.
- Integrated technology framework: Our ecosystem of apps—consumer, Marshall, Garage, and internal tools—works seamlessly to remove information asymmetry and provide real-time visibility to all stakeholders.
Q: Could you shed some light on the expansion plans? With the rapid evolution of EVs, autonomous transport, and smart cities, where does Zingbus fit into the future of Indian mobility?
Prashant Kumar: Our focus is on scaling zingbus into the largest shared mobility brand in India. Today we operate with over 300 buses across 200+ cities, and in the next five years we aim to grow this to nearly 3,000 buses, with over 30 percent being electric.
We are steadily expanding premium corridors through zingbus Maxx, strengthening zingbus Plus across North, South and West India, and making valuebus the go-to option for budget travellers. The launch of zingbus Plus Electric is just the beginning—we plan to operate 70 electric buses by the end of this financial year.
As EV economics improve and smart-city infrastructure evolves, zingbus is positioned as the leading operating system for intercity mobility, enabling small and medium operators to confidently transition into EVs, and preparing our platform to integrate with the wider ecosystem of connected, sustainable, and eventually autonomous transport.
Q: With India’s ambitious EV targets—such as aiming for 30 percent of private cars, 70 percent of commercial vehicles, 40 percent of buses, and 80 percent of two- and three-wheelers to be electric by 2030, what impact do you expect such government policies to have on the bus sector?
Prashant Kumar: Government targets for 2030 will act as a strong catalyst for the bus sector. Clear policy direction accelerates demand for EV adoption, gives confidence to financiers, and pushes OEMs to build high-quality, mass-market electric buses. For intercity travel, this will fast-track the shift from informal body-builders to OEM-built, safer buses, raising the overall quality baseline. At zingbus, we see this as an opportunity to scale our EV footprint—from 70 electric buses in the next year to 1000+ by 2030—while helping small and medium operators transition through our platform. As costs continue to decline and charging infrastructure expands, these policies will not only make intercity electric buses viable but also position them as the default choice for sustainable mobility in India.