Train/Bus Seat Booking Simulator (CLI) — Java

A command-line Java application that simulates a real-world transport seat booking system. Supports both trains and buses, with a visual seat map (Window / Middle / Aisle), booking, cancellation, route search, and full CSV-based persistence across sessions.

---

Problem Statement

Booking seats in real transport systems involves complex logic — tracking seat availability, assigning seat types, managing cancellations, and maintaining booking records. This project simulates that system end-to-end in a pure Java CLI application, demonstrating how object-oriented design handles a multi-entity real-world problem.

---

Features

Feature	Description
Search by Route	Find trains/buses between two cities with availability
Book a Seat	Choose a specific seat or auto-assign by preferred type (Window/Middle/Aisle)
Cancel Booking	Cancel any active booking by ID with seat freed automatically
Seat Map	Visual ASCII seat map showing available and booked seats
All Vehicles	View all trains and buses with occupancy stats
My Bookings	Find all bookings by passenger name or phone
View Ticket	Print a full ticket by Booking ID
Statistics	Total bookings, cancellations, revenue, and occupancy per vehicle
Persistence	All bookings and seat states saved to CSV files

---

Project Structure

SeatBookingSimulator/ 
├── src/ 
│   └── booking/ 
│       ├── Main.java - Command Line Interface (CLI) menu that will be the overarching orchestrator for all the features of the simulator
│       ├── BookingManager.java - The core logic that governs requests pertaining to searching, booking, cancelling and statistics
│       ├── Vehicle.java - Represents either train or bus with seat layout creation for each type
│       ├── Seat.java - Represents one seat within a vehicle and provides details regarding the type of seat and whether its already been booked or not
│       ├── Booking.java - Represents the details related to a booking so display ticket information
│       ├── FileManager.java - Handles persistent storage of booking information in csv delimited format and aggregate booking state of seats in a csv delimited format
│       ├── InputHelper.java - Validates the user inputs from the console prior to submitting as a request
│       ├── SeatType.java - Enum for defining seat types of WINDOW, MIDDLE, or AISLE
│       └── TransportType.java - Enum for defining transportation methods of TRAIN or BUS
├── data/
│   ├── bookings.csv - Auto-generated at time of first booking 
│   └── seat_state.csv - Auto-generated at time of first booking
└── README.md

---

Pre-loaded Routes

Trains

| ID | Name | Route | Fare | | TR01 | Rajdhani Express | Delhi → Mumbai | Rs.1500 | | TR02 | Shatabdi Express | Delhi → Jaipur | Rs.800 | | TR03 | Duronto Express | Mumbai → Pune | Rs.450 | | TR04 | Garib Rath | Kolkata → Delhi | Rs.700 | | TR05 | Vande Bharat | Chennai → Bengaluru | Rs.1200 |

Buses

| ID | Name | Route | Fare | | BS01 | KSRTC Airavat Volvo | Bengaluru → Mysuru | Rs.350 | | BS02 | MSRTC Shivneri | Mumbai → Pune | Rs.300 | | BS03 | APSRTC Garuda | Hyderabad → Vijayawada | Rs.550 | | BS04 | RSRTC Volvo | Jaipur → Delhi | Rs.650 | | BS05 | HRTC Volvo | Delhi → Shimla | Rs.750 |

---

Seat Layout

Train (6 seats per row): W M A | A M W

Bus (4 seats per row): W A | A W

On the seat map: [W] = Booked Window, W = Available Window

---

Java Concepts Used

| Concept | Where Applied | | OOP & Encapsulation | All 7 model/logic classes | | Enums with methods | SeatType.label(), TransportType.toString() | | Collections (ArrayList) | Vehicles, seats, bookings | | Optional<T> | getVehicle(), getSeat(), getBookingById() | | Streams & Lambdas | Search, filter, sort, aggregate across all lists | | File I/O (BufferedReader/Writer) | CSV persistence in FileManager | | Exception Handling | Input validation, file errors | | Switch Expressions | Transport type and seat type selection | | String Formatting | Seat maps, ticket display, tables | | java.time API | Booking timestamps |

---

Prerequisites

• Java JDK 17 or above
• Any terminal / command prompt

---

How to Run

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/SeatBookingSimulator.git
cd SeatBookingSimulator
mkdir out
javac -d out src/booking/*.java
java -cp out booking.Main

A data/ folder is auto-created. All bookings persist across sessions.

---

Sample Seat Map (Train)

  Seat Map — Rajdhani Express (Train)
  Legend: [X]=Booked  W=Window  M=Middle  A=Aisle
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Row   W   M   A  |  A   M   W
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
    1   W   M  [A] |  A   M   W
    2   W   M   A  | [A]  M   W
    3  [W]  M   A  |  A   M  [W]
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Available: 54  |  Booked: 6  |  Total: 60

---

Future Improvements

• Date-based booking (different schedules per day)
• Fare classes (Sleeper, 3AC, 2AC)
• Waitlist management
• JavaFX GUI for visual seat selection
• PDF ticket generation

---

Author

Tuba Gulfen Qureshi B.Tech CSE (AI ML), VIT Bhopal University Course: Programming in Java