Protecting commuters from irrational bus fare collectors

Bus owners and operators in Dhaka city have been charging the passengers fares at their will for a long time. They do not hesitate to ignore the government-set fares and charge more from the passengers. It seems there are no rules regarding fares. When you get on a bus, in most cases, transport workers will remind you that this bus belongs to the sitting service category and you will have to pay for a long distance. Even if you get down from the bus much earlier than the destination is reached, you will still have to pay the full fare. There are some buses which have set the minimum fare of Tk 20, no matter how long you will travel.

During rush hours, these so-called sitting service buses turn into regular buses with people standing. Branding their service as sitting-service, gate-lock, non-stop, direct or counter service, most bus operators charge high fare even though those buses stop almost anywhere and take passengers. But when they sense that the passengers are in trouble and there is a shortage of transport, they not only charge more but also do not want to pick up passengers.

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has made it mandatory for the bus operators to hang a fare chart in their vehicles. However, no such thing can ever be seen on any bus on the city-routes. One of the facilities our students are supposed to enjoy is paying half fare. However, problems arise when students try to pay fares using 'half fair pass'. Bus operators, in most cases, charge full fare from the students by making several lame excuses. We urge the authorities concerned to look into these issues and do the needful. We have to travel on buses every day. And we no longer want to face such harassments during travels.

Rasmohan Halder,

Uttar Badda, Dhaka,

rasmohon2017@gmail.com