Argentina's economy is going down the drain atm. Labor cost is a big factor in transportation so keeping two drivers might be making the things too expensive. Independent of this, buses are safer than cars, so safety wise the argument could be made if it gets people out of the car it's worth it. I don't think I've ever had two drivers for long distance buses in Europe. I don't think we're very unsafe.
The thing about the tacho is true. On my trip from NL to Austria all of us had to get out so the driver could take rest at some point. This particular regulation doesn't force bus companies to just double the labor cost, though.
Problem is not just one trip, and you're right, economy is going down the drain here.
Problem is that those drivers take as much work as they can because they can't make ends meet after they collect wages. So they put extra hours to get more money. Remove a second driver, and you have a sleep deprived driver taking double or triple shifts just to collect an extra coin.
I don't doubt it. Hopefully the damage will be limited. Maybe better wages are possible when things get better. Not many people can sleep on a bus though. having two sleep deprived drivers might not be that much better than one.
Yeah, I bet you think that the economy problem in Argentina will get better cutting costs. The real problem, however, is the job culture here, if not the overall culture.
Saying it's due to culture it's like saying no one is to blame and there's no way to change this in the short term.
No, it's not culture. The problem is the finantial and economical decisions taken by the government in the past 4 years. Hopefully these will be reverted by the next administration.