Uzbek Agency for Automobile and River Transport held a press conference on the performance of the sector in the first half of 2012. Sh. Shovahobov, deputy director of the agency, said the network of passenger transport routes in the country was growing rapidly in recent years. In January-June 2012, instead of the 83 projected routes, national passenger carriers opened 118 passenger routes serviced by 84 buses, 228 minibuses and 764 Damas minivans. Thus, the population, living even in remote settlements of the republic, is able to use the services of passenger transport.

For the development of competitive environment in the road transport market and creation of equal conditions for all carriers, the passenger routes are put up for public bidding contests. This allowed for a short time to not only increase the number of companies engaged in transportation, but also to improve the quality of their services. If in 2000 there were about two thousand passenger routes, now their number has almost doubled. These are 991 urban, 2,386 suburban, and 614 intercity routes.

Currently, 98.1% of the total routes are sold through tender bids. In particular, in 2012 there were 82 open tenders held in Uzbekistan, which have sold 776 routes. All regions have drawn up the schedules for the open tenders for passenger routes to be held in the second half of 2012.

In addition, the vehicle fleets of road carriers keep constantly updated with modern cars. For six months in 2012, all regions of the republic have leased Isuzu 133 bused produced by Samarqand Automobile Plant. (Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper)