Syed Shemul Parvez :
Bus fares are being counted more, but more than half of the passengers are taking on the buses in the capital violating the government directions.
But, many passengers faced embarrassment due to insufficient transports, as all the buses are taking half of the passengers.
The government’s directive to take half of the passengers in public transports was supposed to be effective from Wednesday morning.
But it was seen that more than half of the passengers are being picked up by public transports in few areas like old Dhaka, Mirpur, Uttara, Savar, Gazipur of the capital.
Passengers are sitting side by side in many buses. Even many buses are taking an extra six to seven passengers again after taking half of the passengers disobeying the guidelines.
Meanwhile, an extra 60 percent of the fare is being taken according to the government direction.
Many buses also are charging double fare instead of fixed 60 percent.
Hajrat Ali, a private employee, got into a bus on the Mirpur route from the Judge Court bus stand in Old Dhaka at around 9 am. He was going to work at Karwanbazar.
Hazrat Ali said that at the very beginning, the bus helper requested for one passenger in each of the two seats. After taking half of the passengers, six to seven more passengers were taken in the bus again.
And they were told to go standing.
However, observing the situation many of the standing senior and female passengers were allowed to sit in double seats.
But thing is that the driver’s assistant collected extra fare from all the passengers.
Other times the rent was 10 to 15 Tk, today (Wednesday) it was 30 Tk.
Many passengers on some of these buses protested the irregularities. At last some bus helpers were forced to close the bus doors after taking half of the passengers due to the protest.
On the other hand, many passengers were also a bit embarrassed due to taking half of the passengers. As a result, passengers have to wait a long time to get into the bus.
Many people also went by rickshaws without getting a bus on time.
But they had also to pay double fare.
Rubel Hossain was coming to Farmgate from Shyamoli Shishumela. He said that he had to come by a rickshaw with an extra fare of Tk 30 as he could not get a bus.
In view of these complaints of the passengers, the bus supervisors of different routes in the capital city said that the bus owners ensured masks for the all driver-assistants and also hand sanitizers for the passengers.
There are instructions to take half of the passengers and the scheduled fare.
