Public transportation, particularly intercity and intracity bus travel, remains the backbone of mobility across developing and developed nations alike. Yet, despite the rapid digitization of consumer services, a significant proportion of bus ticketing continues to rely on manual counters, paper-based reservations, and fragmented mobile experiences that fail to leverage modern computing paradigms. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current state of online bus reservation systems and proposes the design framework of an AI-Powered Bus Booking Application that unifies cloud computing, secure payment gateways, GPS-based live tracking, and intelligent recommendation services into a single, scalable platform. The review synthesizes literature published between 2021 and 2026 across the domains of e-ticketing, cloud-native application design, mobile human-computer interaction, digital payments, and transportation informatics. Established platforms such as RedBus, AbhiBus, and MakeMyTrip are analyzed in depth to identify feature saturation as well as recurring gaps in personalization, real-time visibility, analytics, and post-booking support. A structured comparative analysis, supported by feature tables and research-gap tables, demonstrates that although existing systems have matured in booking mechanics, they largely underutilize artificial intelligence for route optimization, demand prediction, and traveler assistance. The proposed framework addresses these deficiencies through a modular architecture comprising a responsive frontend, a RESTbased backend, a cloud-hosted relational database, an authentication and security layer, and AI-driven modules for smart search, dynamic fare prediction, and conversational support. The paper details the workflow from user registration through ticket generation and cancellation, describes the administrative subsystem for buses, routes, and passengers, and outlines twelve concrete advantages for both travelers and operators. Finally, the paper discusses the future scope including voicebased booking, facial recognition authentication, and predictive analytics, and concludes that an AI-augmented, cloud-native design constitutes a natural evolution of contemporary bus reservation platforms.

Dr.A.Somasundaram, Jagajit S, "AI-Powered Bus Booking Application: A Comprehensive Review of Design, Technology, and Future Directions" International Journal of Computer Science and Engineering Development, V1(3): Page(22-28) July-August 2026. ISSN: 3139-0862. www.ijcsed.com. Published by Scientific and Academic Research Publishing.