THE government on Thursday hiked bus fares by 10 paisa per kilometre in Dhaka and Chittagong which will be effective from October 1. Commuters of CNG-run auto-rickshaw will have to pay more also from November 1. The fare hike comes out a week after the government raised gas price making a case for gas run vehicles to claim higher fare in city routes. As it appears the move has already raised protest from all quarters because they see there was no need to raise the gas price as the government is earning enough profit now.
The move was unjustified and that led to another unjustified step to raise transport fares to add to the people’s cost of living. Many believe that since the government does not believe in democracy and is not bothered about public anger or their inconveniences from price hike of essentials and transport fares, the authorities are taking such decision unilaterally without consultations with stakeholders. Powerful and wealthy people are owners of transport vehicles or such other business and the government policy now appears to be primarily directed to serve their interest. The hike in fare is essentially for CNG-run vehicles but petrol-run vehicles will take advantage of it and that may also lead the government to hike the price of petroleum products soon. This is how the market chain works.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader announced the revised fare at the Ministry’s conference room. yesterday fixing the new rate at Tk 1.70 per kilometer instead of Tk 1.60 now. The minimum fare is Tk 7 for any small distance. For minibuses, the new rate is Tk 1.60 instead of the previous Tk 1.50 per kilometre. For CNG-run auto-rickshaws, commuters will have to pay Tk 40 for the first two kilometers and Tk 12 for each next kilometre. Previously, the rate was Tk 25 for the first two kilometers and Tk 7.64 for the next kilometer each. The drivers will have to pay Tk 900 on daily basis to CNG autorickshaw owners as deposit up from Tk 600 now.
Some bus operators were already charging additional fare due to gas price hike, although the new fare has been set from October. Passengers are forced to pay additional charges from Tk 5 to Tk 8 on different routes that led bus staff and passengers to lock in quarrels. Many wonder when the price of fuel has phenomenally declined in international market why this rise of transport fares? This is a big question but since the government seems to be not accountable to the people as they are to big businesses, people have been forced to pay the higher fares. They have nothing to do but to pay,
The fare hike is seemed to be negligible but the commuters have to pay much more in absence of strong monitoring by the government on fares collected by bus owners.
