Where to Buy Bus Tickets Online: A Guide for the Travel Rush

(SPOT.ph) As we near the holiday rush, we know many of you plan to visit relatives in the province or travel to some far-off destination with your loved ones.

But if there's one thing we hate about commuting during this peak season, it's the unbearably uncomfortable state of most bus terminals. Think, long winding lines, standing around for hours in humid waiting areas, and the uncertainty of catching a ride—every commuter's nightmare. 

Instead of lining up and waiting at the bus stations, consider booking online. Unbeknownst to many,  there are a lot of online booking platforms that can help start your trip on the right foot. Here are some online ticketing platforms where you can book tickets without going to the terminals. 

Also read: The SPOT.ph Guide to Bus Rides You Can Take From PITX

Check out these online ticketing platforms for your bus ticket needs:

Bus liners

Some bus liners have booking platforms on their respective websites, where passengers can book seats for their upcoming trips directly and pay via bank transfers, e-wallets, and credit cards. 

Victory Liner

Passengers may book tickets at victoryliner.com. However, only a limited number of trips are available for booking online. Heads up, senior citizen and PWD discounts cannot be applied to tickets booked online. Tickets at discounted rates must be bought onsite at  Victory Liner terminals. Bookings made online will have a minimal reservation fee of P50. 

Accepted payment channels: Maya, Gcash, Shopee Pay, QR Ph-accredited banks, Visa, Mastercard and JCB credit cards. 

DLTB Bus Co

You can book tickets for trips aboard DLTB Co buses on their website. Simply enter the date of your trip and choose your desired destination from the DLTB locations drop-down list. A list of available bus trip schedules will then appear for you to choose from. 

Accepted payment channels: Maya, Gcash, Visa, and Mastercard credit cards. 

Bicol Isarog

Trips to Bicol, including those aboard the buses with Lazy Boy-like recliners, can be booked on the Bicol Isarog website. Trips aboard Bicol Isarog include free baggage of up to 20 kilograms per ticket (excluding infant tickets). Bicol Isarog buses can also accommodate small pets, but they must be in a cage, free from foul odor, and have an updated anti-rabies vaccination and travel permit from their veterinarians. Pet owners must pay a corresponding fare for their pets—the same amount as a paying passenger. 

Bookings made online will incur a convenience fee starting at P60. 

Accepted payment channels: Debit card payments through Dragonpay and credit card payments through Paynamics.

Cagsawa Bus Liner

Another long-distance bus operator with online booking platforms is Cagsawa Bus Liner. Through its website, you can book tickets departing from PITX or Alabang and bound for different towns in Albay, Bicol, and vice-versa. 

Check to see if trips for your travel date are already available for booking. During peak travel season, some routes are restricted to walk-in passengers only. 

An additional service fee starting at  P98 will be charged when you make your booking. 

Accepted payment channels: Gcash, Gcredit, Maya, Visa, and Mastercard debit/credit cards. 

C. Bragais Liner

Booking trips to Bicol aboard C. Bragais buses from Manila, Pasay, PITX, and even Batangas is now available online. You can choose from one-way or round-trip journeys to destinations like Naga, Bacacay, and Legazpi. 

Check if trips for your travel date are already available for booking. To manage the booking stream, you can only book trips as early as one month before. 

An additional service fee starting at P92 will be charged when you make your booking.

Accepted payment channels: Gcash, Gcredit, Maya, Visa, and Mastercard debit/credit cards.

Raymond Bus

If you're headed to other parts of Bicol aside from Albay, like Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, and Masbate, then Raymond Bus line is the one to look for. This liner has terminals in Alabang, PITX, Cubao, and Sampaloc, Manila, but lucky for you, there's no need to visit these terminals unless you're already boarding to your next destination. Book online through their website for all their bus types and routes. 

An additional service fee, depending on your destination, will be charged when you make your booking.

Accepted payment channels: Gcash, Gcredit, Maya, Visa, and Mastercard debit/credit cards.

Third-party ticketing websites

Aside from booking directly with a specific bus liner, you can also use third-party booking systems. The benefit of using sites like the ones below is that they aggregate the available schedules from different bus lines—and sometimes even for other modes of transport—and show it to prospective travelers in one interface. This way, you can easily compare fares, schedules, and available seats all in one space. 

EasyBus PH

Many of the direct booking sites above are partnered with Easy Bus. If you're not necessarily particular about which bus liner you will ride with, you can simply go to EasyBus PH, check out all the available bus schedules for different bus lines, and choose the one that best fits your destination and schedule. 

You don't need to print tickets booked from EasyBus. Simply present the ticket from your phone before boarding. 

Here are the EasyBus-affiliated bus liners: 

• DLTB Bus Co.
• Bicol Isarog
• Cagsawa Bus Liner
• JAM liner
• Raymond Transportation
• Pintados
• Penafrancia
• C. Bragais Liner

Accepted payment channels: Maya, Gcash, Visa, and Mastercard debit/credit cards

12go

Like EasyBus, several bus companies can be booked through 12go, including bus liners from other countries like Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, etc. This makes it a convenient option for planning a cross-country road trip in Southeast Asia and even Europe. 

Aside from booking bus tickets, you can also book airplane and ferry tickets, as well as land transfers via private or shared van. Just make sure to check the transport type you are booking before paying.

Tickets booked through 12go come with an allocation of one medium-sized luggage per passenger. 

Remember to bring a printout of your 12go voucher. Boarding without this is not allowed. You may also be asked to present a valid ID to receive the actual ticket at the terminal ticket booth before boarding. 

Here are some 12go-affiliated bus liners:

• Pangasinan Solid North Transit
• Victory Liner
• Coda Lines
• Ohayami Trans
• Pintados
• Ceres Transport
• ALPS The Bus
• RRCG Transport
• Alabang Transit

Accepted payment channels: Maya, Gcash, Visa, and Mastercard debit/credit cards

Biyaheroes

Biyaheroes was founded to make travel around the different spots in the country hassle-free. While it's not a perfect system, it does help make trip planning easier. 

Book online at the Biyaheroes website by choosing your travel date and destination. Specify your choice of seats and proceed to payment. On your travel date, have a printed copy of your voucher and a valid ID. Exchange your travel voucher with the actual ticket at the Biyaheroes lane in your specified terminal. If your pick up point does not have a ticketing or information booth, you can show your conductor the voucher and inform him of your booking.

Most bus routes on Biyaheroes are not point-to-point, meaning the bus you're on may be bound, say, for example, to Bangued, Abra, but you can still specify a roadside drop-off point along the route. This can come in handy, especially if you are visiting or leaving a town where there isn't a standard bus terminal. In this case, you can specify a roadside pick-up or drop-off. 

Note that a 10% service charge will be added to your total bill. 

Here are some Biyaheroes-affiliated bus liners:

• Partas
• Jac Liner
• Lucena Lines
• Solid North
• Dagupan Bus
• Coda Lines
• Isarog Line
• RSL Bus
• Pintados
• Penafrancia tours
• Cherry Bus
• HM Transport
• RORO Bus
• Amihan Transport
• Jam Liner

Accepted payment channels: Credit/debit cards through Paypal, Gcash, and online banking for BPI and BDO. 

PH Bus

PH Bus is an online booking platform for all things Philippine travel. Here you can reserve accommodations, activities, transportation tickets (bus and ferry), and many more. They are affiliated with travel-adjacent companies like Agoda, Booking.com, and Klook. 

PH Bus is affiliated with a number of bus liners with destinations in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Here's a map showing the different destinations and bus lines you can book on PH Bus. 

Here are some PH bus-affiliated bus liners:

• DLTB
• GV Florida
• Partas
• Philtranco
• Isarog
• Superlines
• Penafrancia
• Solid North Transport
• JAM Bus Liner
• RORO Bus

Accepted payment channels: Gcash, credit/debit cards, Paypal, online bank deposits via Dragonpay, Coins.ph, GrabPay, and cash payments via 7-Eleven.

iWantSeats

Book your tickets to some of the Philippines' most popular bus destinations, such as Baguio, Baler, Laoag, Cagayan, and more, through iWantSeats, with get near real-time seat availability. 

Aside from bus bookings, iWantSeats also hosts IslandHopper Ferry booking on their site. IslandHopper is a partner of Montenegro Shipping Lines and can bring you to island destinations like Marinduque.

An additional service fee from P30 to P50 will be charged when you book via iWantSeats.

Here are some iWantSeats-affiliated bus liners:

• Joy Bus
• Genesis

Fun fact: iWantSeats is the official booking partner of Genesis and Joy Bus. Booking through the official Joy Bus and Genesis websites will route you to iWantSeats. 

• Florida
• Yellow Bus Line (YBL Bus)
• Davao Metro
• Farinas Trans
• Roro Bus

Accepted payment channels: Gcash and bank deposit

Pinoy Travel

Like other third-party sites, you can use Pinoy Travel to book your bus trips all over the Philippines. Trips can only be booked at least three days from your visit to their site, so if you're feeling spontaneous and want to travel on the same day, this may not be the best site to book from. 

Despite this limitation, Pinoy Travel is a crowd-favorite site for booking land trips because of its sheer number of bus partners.

To book a trip through Pinoy Travel, simply search your desired destination and travel date and select from their list of available bus partner trips. Once you've selected your desired trip, input the number of passengers and their details. Here's where it gets a bit tricky. Pinoy Travel will still need to confirm seat availability for your chosen schedule and this may take at least 48 hours. You aren't required to pay for your tickets until they have been confirmed by Pinoy Travel. 

Here are some Pinoy Travel-affiliated bus liners:

• Amihan Buslines
• Bataan Transit Co. Inc
• Bicol Isarog
• Cherry
• Cisco
• Coda
• DLTB Co
• Farinas Trans
• First North Luzon Transit
• Five Star
• Joy Bus
• Genesis
• JAM
• Ohayami Trans
• Philtranco
• Penafrancia
• RSL
• C. Bragais Liner

Accepted payment methods: credit and debit card payment through PayPal, online banking, over-the-counter, and bank deposits through DragonPay. 

Also read: The SPOT.ph Guide to Navigating PITX

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