Bus route competition

The recent announcement that NZ Bus and Naked Bus have been taken over by Ritchies (effective August 1) poses the question of the loss of competition on long distance routes.

Ritchies is part of Intercity (together with Tranzit and others) and while Ritchies may operate Naked bus services as a stand-alone business, it doesn’t prevent it from increasing fares to the Intercity prices.

Apart from Dalroy’s New Plymouth-Auckland route, there doesn’t seem to be any other than very minor long-distance operators. It’s surprising the Commerce Commission hasn’t intervened (or maybe that hasn’t been reported).

AR Baker, Morrinsville