Dhaka's bus network may undergo biggest overhaul

MUNIMA SULTANA | Published: July 25, 2026 23:35:11

Dhaka's bus network is likely to see biggest overhaul as the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) has shortlisted 60 routes to be brought under a single-company operating system suggesting 32 routes to operate without delay.
In a survey under the Bus Route Rationalisation (BRR) Project, the authority found that only 98 of the city's 418 approved bus routes are currently active and the reformed routes could generate ridership up to 80,000 under the single company.
As these routes are under operation by companies limited within three to four, scope of operating under bus route franchise (BRF) is possible.
These were disclosed during a stakeholder opinion sharing meeting on the BRR held at the DTCA conference room with its Executive Director Moshiur Rahman in the chair on Saturday.
Member of Parliament Shamsur Rahman Simul Biswas attended it as the chief guest while Additional Secretary Anisur Rahman were present as special guest.
Dhaka Transport Owners Association President MA Baten and General Secretary Saiful Alam shared their opinions.
Representatives from different government agencies including Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Dhaka South City Corporation, Dhaka North City Corporation, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation along with ohers attended it.
As the keynote speaker, Director of BRR Project Drubo Alam disclosed the survey report findings saying that possibility of forming a single company is high in the 32 routes as these were identified in consultation with the two other proposals of the transport association and DMP.
The DMP and leaders of DBOA shared their separate bus route plans to the DTCA six months ago and the project office along with the leaders of DMP and bus owners worked on it side by side the DTCA's owned earlier proposed 42 bus routes.
DTCA in 2019 detected the 42 bus routes in the city dividing into nine clusters but the DMP in 2024 proposed 27 routes and 25 circular routes to control the city bus services.
Mr Drubo said of the total 32 routes, 13 routes are connected with suburban regions and 19 would be operated within the city having length of 30 kilometre.
The PD disclosed that the city has 388 unauthorised routes and 278 inactive routes while number of unauthorised buses identified 18,358 and inactive routes 11,315.
However, 7,043 unauthorised buses are in operation on the active routes along with approved 4,546 buses, Mr Drubo said adding that 1,053 buses are also running on the streets without fitness in the active routes.
The PD suggested cancellation of the inactive routes in the Dhaka Metropolitan area to bring discipline in the city.
Calling upon all quarters to cooperate in forming the BRF through BRR as per the Prime Minister's directive, the speakers propose to set a timeframe and roadmap to introduce the bus services.
They also sought cooperation of the government to facilitate bringing modern buses in phases to provide a modern and comfortable city bus service to the commuters.
They all agreed on identifying these routes with route numbers and fixed number of buses based on the ridership.
smunima@yahoo.com