CCO, VECV: Intercity Travel Has Picked Up Like Never Before

SS Gill of VECV on why India's bus market is crossing 100,000 units — and where it goes from here.

By Kiran Murali & Shahkar Abidi & Mukul Yudhveer Singh

14 Jun 2026

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CCO, VECV: Intercity Travel Has Picked Up Like Never Before

India's bus industry has crossed the 100,000-unit mark for the second time, and SS Gill, chief commercial officer at Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, has a front-row seat to what's driving it. “Intercity travel has picked up like never before," Gill said. "And that continues to grow, which is extremely good for India."

In a wide-ranging conversation, Gill walked through the forces reshaping India's bus market — better highways, rising passenger expectations, tighter safety norms and the slow but steady arrival of alternative fuels — and explained why he believes the market could eventually double from where it stands today.

For years, the sector had remained largely flat, overshadowed by airlines, railways and the rapid growth of passenger vehicles. But that has started changing in recent years as better highways, rising intercity travel and improving bus quality reshape demand.

According to Gill, the industry’s earlier peak before the pandemic was around 70,000-75,000 buses in 2019. After slowing during COVID-19, demand recovered strongly, rising to around 87,000 units, then 98,000 units, and now crossing 100,000 units again.

The recovery is not being driven by one single factor. School bus services are expanding beyond large cities into semi-urban regions. Office staff transportation has returned as companies call employees back to workplaces. Tourism and private travel have also picked up.

But the biggest change, Gill said, has been the rise of long-distance bus travel. “People are looking forward to options of safer, comfortable, long-distance travel by buses,” he said. That shift is visible across India’s expressways and national highways. Routes that once involved traffic bottlenecks, railway crossings and endless stoppages are now becoming smoother and faster.

Gill says that the real improvement is not higher top speeds, but better average speeds. “Faster does not mean peak speed being more,” he said. “Faster means the average speed is higher. Consistent speed.”

The expansion of larger highways is quietly changing the economics of road travel. Overnight buses between cities that once took 14-15 exhausting hours are becoming more predictable and comfortable. Sleeper coaches, air suspension systems, onboard entertainment and app-based bookings are helping buses compete with trains and, in some cases, even budget airlines.

The rise of travel aggregators is playing a big role. Much like ride-hailing apps transformed urban taxi travel, online platforms are making intercity bus journeys easier to discover, book and track. “The same way taxis have been uberised…there are a lot of aggregators which are making it very convenient to make this travel,” Gill said.

The shift is not just about convenience. It is also about scale.For a country with crowded cities and rising congestion, buses remain one of the efficient ways to move large numbers of people.

Gill pointed out that a single bus can potentially replace more than 20 cars on the road. “It is actually good for sustainable mobility in the true sense,” he said.

Indian cities are struggling with traffic congestion, parking shortages and rising pollution levels. While electric cars attract most of the public attention around clean mobility, commercial vehicle companies say mass transport solutions have a bigger impact on reducing fuel consumption and road congestion.

The changing nature of buses also reflects evolving consumer expectations. Operators are increasingly shifting towards larger, premium coaches. Gill said heavy-duty buses now account for around 26% of the total bus market, reflecting the rise of long-distance and intercity travel.

But with higher speeds and larger fleets comes a more serious challenge: safety.

For years, India’s bus industry relied heavily on fragmented and often unorganised body-building operations. Chassis would be supplied by manufacturers, while independent bodybuilders assembled passenger compartments with varying standards of engineering and safety practices.

That model is now under increasing scrutiny. Gill said safety today is not only about making a stronger bus, but about ensuring the entire ecosystem, from manufacturing to driver training, follows proper standards.

“The biggest need today is to have safe and comfortable and convenient buses,” he said. According to Gill, Volvo buses had already prepared for AIS-153 safety norms years before they became mandatory in India. “AIS-153 were the norms introduced by the government of India in 2025, while Volvo buses were ready for it way back in 2019,” he said.

The company has also tightened driver training standards. Gill said Volvo buses are not handed over until drivers are certified.

Tags: Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles