Using this to compare with the taxi industry would be
interesting.
People are willing to pay a little extra to get better taxis.
For example a newer Hyundai Sonata rather than an old Toyota Crown
that vibrates on idling and improper handling.
Drivers are willing to pay a few extra dollars per day for an
automatic-gear taxi, rather than scrimping on it and face longer
term issues many months down the road with their left hand on the
manual gearbox. (Shifting the gear for 8 hours a day is no laughing
matter)
A major factor to consider why the industry have such a diverse
fleet today, is because the industry itself have opened up and
companies are allowed to compete with each other directly.
wasn't it also because SBS started bringing in auto tx buses tat
ppl started looking into auto tx taxi 2 decade later?
But for buses, it's a common item so how I see is if e bus
is relatively cheap, low cost to maintain and remains reliable it's
better. It's like there's no pt spending more on fabric deco
interior as u need to spend more time and $$ to maintain them
before turning mouldy in e long run.
Furthermore we macham crash load our buses during peak
hrs.
