This may be a decision that will benefit more people than those directly concerned. The main bus companies have all decided they will invest more in more comfortable buses. Not only will this probably help them increase their revenue but it will also please travellers who show increasing interest in travelling in air-conditioned and comfortable buses. And such an investment could in the long-term motivate car-drivers to leave their vehicles at home and take the bus - thus reducing traffic-jams throughout the country. The main bus companies have decided to invest a large chunk of their budget in new buses.

Triolet Bus Service (TBS), the first one to offer such services to its customers, is investing Rs 40 million in the purchase of 25 new standard buses and four air-conditioned ones this year. The National Transport Corporation of Transport (NTC) has been investing Rs 175 million in new buses since the beginning of the year. It has bought 15 air-conditioned buses and 80 standard ones. It is thinking of buying 15 new air-conditioned buses during the year to extend its blue-line express services.

55% of Rose-Hill Transport (RHT) will be composed of air-conditioned buses with the arrival of ten brand-new ones soon at a cost of Rs 18 million. United Bus Service (UBS) was the last one to start offering such services but it introduced two of them last year. It intends to purchase 50 new buses this year.

If individual bus companies are tempted by the new trend, the fact that they are not subsidised by the state for their diesel fuel has prevented them from making big investments so far…