Engida Travel Unveils Superapp for Bus Ticketing and Trip Management in Ethiopia

Engida Travel, a seven-year-old Ethiopian company, unveiled a new mobile platform it says could modernize how passengers book and operators manage intercity bus travel.

The platform, dubbed Liyu Bus, combines e-ticketing, trip management, and payment services into what the company describes as a “superapp” for travelers and operators. It aims to remove the need for physical bank visits, paper tickets, and in-person booking agents, longstanding features of Ethiopia’s bus industry.

“No more bank branch visits,” said Banteab Abiy, founder of Engida Travel, at the launch event. He said Liyu Bus was developed after years of observing frustrations with existing digital systems. The company has facilitated intercity bus travel services for over 1.5 million users via its trio (agent, passenger and contact) of platforms in the last four years. 

Built on the Addispay payment gateway, the new integrated app allows users to book tickets, pay in-app, cancel or reschedule trips, and receive instant refunds. It also offers loyalty rewards for frequent passengers. So far, about seven major bus operators have joined the platform, with more expected to follow.

Banteab said Engida’s goal was to create an integrated system for both travelers and transport companies. Bus operators using the platform can access a dashboard that provides real-time data on earnings, routes, and schedules. Fleet management and AI-assisted route assignments, which use distance tracking to balance driver workloads, are also built in.

The company has also designed the app to include Ethiopia’s informal ticketing agents. Anyone who books trips through Liyu Bus can register as an agent and earn commissions ranging from 50 to 250 birr per ticket. 

“We wanted to include the intermediaries rather than displace them,” Banteab told Shega.

Digitizing Ethiopia’s intercity bus system has proven difficult. The sector, which has operated much the same way for nearly eight decades, has been slow to adopt digital tools. Banteab said finding a payment facilitator that met regulatory and operational requirements was the biggest challenge in the four years Engida has offered e-ticketing services.

Industry observers say the market has contracted sharply in recent years. Nebil Imam, general manager of IBMG Business Group, which operates Hello Bus, noted that the number of e-ticketing services in Ethiopia has dropped from around 27 to fewer than five since 2020.

Nebil said that limited system integration and manual processes have continued to frustrate passengers who struggle to find tickets or adjust their travel plans. “We hope this new platform will ease many of these difficulties,” he said.

Hello Bus, which has worked with Engida for the past four years, provides passenger transport to departure sites, a service often needed for late-night departures, and compensates customers for delays.

Engida Travel hopes the Liyu Bus app will eventually attract all major bus operators in Ethiopia, positioning it as a central hub for long-distance ground travel.