One of the country’s leading bus service provider Axa Bus Service plans to bring on the market latest buses that are expected to be operating within the country’s commercial and capital cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, respectively.
Confirming the development in an exclusive interview with Best of Malawi on Monday, the company’s marketing manager Godfrey Katsanga said the fleet of buses, which are yet to be named, will be on the market within the next four months.
“We have buses which are being made specially for this purpose and we expect to launch them by July,” said Katsanga.
Speaking with Best of Malawi, Katsanga said they still have not decided on the pricing of their new services and that they are looking at a bigger picture since this is a long term plan.
According to Katsanga, the commuters will be operating on the same routes as minibuses. However, this raises eyebrows bearing in mind that these are buses are big in size; one wonders how they will be operating from the same terminals as minibuses.
“We are still discussing with the city assemblies if we will be operating from the same terminals as minibuses, but that shouldn’t be a concern,” pointed out Katsanga.
With the coming in of the Axa buses on the market, competition is expected to rise among public ‘township’ transport industry, which is already flooded with minibuses and obviously this is a great threat to minibus operators.
But Katsanga indicated: “We are not a major competitor, and we are not looking at competition here. We will be there to coexist with the others [minibus operators].”
Meanwhile, the new Axa town buses, which are expected to be more than 60, will cover almost all the townships in the two cities and the public should look ahead to glamour and comfort in short distances such as the Blantyre-Limbe route.
Said Katsanga: “These are exclusive comfortable buses for commuters within the cities.” He added, “Before long after the launch in Blantyre and Lilongwe, we shall also introduce the service in Mzuzu and other districts.”
Axa Bus Service currently offers city to city bus services from Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu, apart from other districts in the southern, central, northern and eastern regions of Malawi.
