BRTC to launch first major city bus service in decade

---

A plaque of DBBL financial support was unveiled by Diabetic Association's President Prof AK Azad Khan, its vice president and veteran jurist Barrister Rafique-ul Huq and Dutch-Bangla Bank Foundation's Chairman M Shahabuddin Ahmed Tuesday.

Munima Sultana
State-run BRTC will next week launch its first major bus service in the city in a decade as part of an ambitious plan to offer cheap and eco-friendly transport to Dhaka commuters.
The Prime Minister will inaugurate the service at Tejgaon Old Airport on May 11 by rolling out 25 newly-imported CNG-fired buses in a new route between Motijheel and Abdullahpur, BRTC officials said.
The operator has imported 100 buses at a cost of Tk325 million from China to operate them in four newly-carved bus routes in the city where traffic has grown exponentially over the past decade.
The new services are part of a major plan by the state-run transport operator to ease traffic hassles for the commuters and to curb unholy monopoly of the private bus opertaors.
"We are going to launch 500 CNG-fired buses in the city in phases. The aim is to offer the cheapest fare to commuters and cut air pollution," said BRTC deputy general manager (operation) Quazi Shafique Uddin.
Shafique said the new services are the first by the state transport operator since 2001 when BRTC launched scores of Sweden-made Volvo buses in major city routes.
"This time we have imported CNG-run buses from China. They are cheap but strong. These gas-run buses will save us millions of taka and help fix cheap ticket fares," he added.
The highest fare in the Motijheel-Abdullahpur route has been fixed at Tk14, which is almost half of what the private operators charge in similar routes.
"We know our service will infuriate private operators. But we have no choice. The private operators have run a cartel in city bus services for long, fixing fares at their will," he said.
Private operators have already voiced their concern over the launching of new services by the BRTC, prompting the authorities to hold series of meetings.
"We have heard their arguments. But they should know that we are launching the buses to ensure fair competition. It is also what the government wants," BRTC director Akter Kamal.
"The private operators have converted their buses into CNG-fired ones. It saved huge fuel cost for them. Unfortunately, they never cut fares," he said.
He said BRTC would still remain a minor player in the commuter services as the private operators now own over 6,000 buses that ply in the city of 13 million people.
"We don't think there will be any conflict with the private operators," he added.
The BRTC will operate the rest 75 buses in Abdullahpur to Katchpur Bridge, Baluhat to Sayedabad, Mohammadpur to Basaboo through Sukrabad and Shahbagh and Motijheel to Khilgaon routes.