95pc buses run by CNG

Raising fare to be illogical

Golam Mostafa Jibon: Though, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) finally permitted to raise the bus fare on the face of transport workers and owners’ pressure, raising fare of 95 percent buses in the capital will be illogical as those run by CNG, experts claimed.
According to the sources, fare of buseshas been hiked in the face of demands from transport owners in the wake of rising fuel prices. However, the fare of CNG-powered buses will not increase, said Nur Mohammad Majumder, Chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
He made the remarks at a press briefing after meeting with leaders of the Transport Owners’ Association yesterday at the BRTA office in the capital’s Banani.
According to the new decision, if the fare of CNG-powered buses is not increased, fare of about 95 percent busesplied in Dhaka city will not be increased. According to the information, out of 12,526 buses in the capital, around 11,900 buses run on liquefied natural gas. Besides, out of 16,000 long distance buses from Dhaka, 11,200 buses run on gas. The remaining 4,800 run by diesel. In other words, 70 percent of long-distance buses run on gas. Now the question is, if the fare of CNG-powered buses is not increased according to the new decision, then the fare of 95 percent and 70 percent of long-distance buses in the capital cannot be increased.
Meanwhile, according to the new integrated fare, the current long-distance bus fare has been increased from Tk 1.42 per km to Tk 1.80 per kilometer. In other words, passengers will have to pay an extra 38 paisa per kilometer. Besides, the minimum fare for big buses has been fixed at Tk 10 and for minibuses at Tk 8.
Besides, the current bus fare in the metropolitan area has been increased from Tk 1.70 per kilometer to Tk 2.15. The fare per kilometer has increased by 45 paisa. The current fare of minibus in the metropolitan area is Tk 1.60 paisa per kilometer. It has been increased to Tk 2.5. The fare has been increased by 45 paisa per kilometer. Transport owners and workers have been protesting through observing indefinite strike since 6:00am on Friday, the day after the hike in diesel and kerosene prices. This was caused great suffering to the people all over the country.
However, after the increase in the price of oil, the transport owners and those concerned demanded, if the price of diesel is not reduced, the fare will have to be adjusted in other modes of transport including public transport.