M M Jasim :
Chaos in city bus services is yet to go, as almost all the buses charge passengers extra fare, which often led to quarrel among conductors and passengers.
Bus owners are always indifferent to improving the facilities, such as installing adequate number of fans and removing old and torn seats, many commuters allege.
In the latest incident, the passengers vandalised a Shikhor Paribahan bus for taking extra fare at Farmgate area on Monday.
Arifur Rahman, a businessman, told The New Nation that he was returning home from his work at a Gulshan office by Alif Paribahan. The conductor demanded Tk 10 for the trip to Mohakhali from Gulshan-1. He protested but the conductor stayed rigid. At one stage, both attempted to assault each other.
“It’s less than two kilometres. How can they demand Tk 10?,” said an aggrieved Arif.
Najiur Rahman, a private service holder, said he used to get on a bus to go to Mohakhali from Bijoy Sarani for Tk 5 as fare. But bus conductors often ask for Tk 10.
“We are helpless. The bus conductors charge fare at their free will. It is very disgusting to lock in quarrel with conductors. And even they hurl abusive words at the passengers,” Rahman said.
According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the fare for bus and minibus is Tk 1.7 and Tk 1.6 per kilometre. The minimum fare was fixed at Tk 7 and Tk 5 respectively.
Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, Secretary General of Bangladesh Passengers’ Welfare Association, said most buses do not follow the BRTA rules because the bus owners are ruling party men.
“Political will is needed to protect the passengers,” he said.
Meanwhile, some buses plying the roads continue to cheat with the passengers branding them “sitting-service”, “gate-lock”, “non-stop”, “time-controlled”, “speedy service” and “counter service”. Operators charge high fare even though those buses stop almost anywhere.
“When there are vacant seats, they (bus drivers) stop wherever they want, be it the middle of the road or at lesser known stops (not designated bus stop),” said Kamal Hossain, a salesman of a shop at Aziz Super Co-operative Market in the city’s Shahbagh area.
Passengers of buses plying Agargaon, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar and Shahbagh alleged that though the buses carried passengers beyond their sitting capacities, they charged the same fares they used to take in the name of special services.
Some of them, however, said they felt discomfort due to standing passengers in buses.
Another passenger at Shahbagh crossing said he came from Mirpur-1 by a bus of ‘Dishari Paribahan’ which charged him Tk 25 in the name of special service instead of BRTA-fixed Tk 16.
The BRTA has made it mandatory for the bus operators to hang and preserve the fare chart in their respective vehicles.
Travelling in buses on different city routes, this correspondent did not find any fare chart.
Whenever a passenger questions such excess fare, bus staff show their own made-up fare chart.
