Modern cab service from Pahela Baishakh

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Anisul Islam Noor :
The Dhaka city residents will get the service of modern cabs on call from the first day of the Bengali New Year.
The cab drivers will go to all places as per passengers’ desire. If any driver refuses, the cab will be locked automatically from the control rooms on receipt of complaint from passengers.
The Army Welfare Trust and Toma Groups will operate 250 Air-Conditioned (AC) cabs, each having 1500 CC to 3000 CC capacities at the initial stage. They invested about Tk 70 crore for import of Japani brand Toyota cabs.
The cabs will have automatic video and audio recorder. If any passenger leaves document(s) or goods in the cab, it will be possible for him to get back those from the control room, said Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan Manik, Managing Director of Toma Group.
All the drivers need to be graduates and their technical certificates will be issued by the BMTAF and the Trust Technical Training Institute. They will draw salary between Tk 20, 000 and Tk 25,000, he said.
On April 14 (1st Baishakh) about 19 cabs will hit the streets in the capital and the rest 481 to be commissioned by May, Ataur Rahman said.
The cabs will be less than three-year-old reconditioned vehicles, the BRTA Director said. They will have a minimum engine capacity of 1500,cc.
The yellow coloured cabs will have air-
conditioning facilities and the blue coloured cabs will be of non-air conditioned facilities. “These cabs will run as per passengers’ direction. The violators will be penalized, their driving licenses will be seized, BRTA Director Engineer Saiful Haque said.
The cabs will be kept ready for service near the different residential city hotels, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Farm Gate, Motijheel, Sadarghat, Gabtoli and other important points. A workshop has been built at Matuail, Dhaka.
The rate of fare will be as under:
Tk 100 for first two kilometers, afterward Tk 34 for each km. Tk 4.25 has been fixed as waiting charge per minute and additional Tk 20 to be paid if the cab driver lifts the passenger from his residence on phone call. However, the fare can be reduced considering passengers’ demand and other factors.
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