Govt under pressure to hike bus, minibus fares

Transport owners have stepped up pressure on the government to raise bus and mini-bus fares in the capital ahead of the much anticipated hike in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) price, officials said Tuesday. Finance Minister AMA Muhith last week told reporters that CNG price will be increased within weeks to trim the government's ballooning energy subsidy. Groups of transport owners have since started lobbying for raising the fares of the city's estimated 6,000 buses and mini-buses in line with the expected fuel hike, communications ministry officials said. "A government minister, who leads a transport union, is leading the lobbyists. The minister and other transport owners groups have demanded immediate hike in bus fares," one official told the FE. Officials said bus and mini bus owners submitted a fare-hike proposal to Bangladesh Road and Transport Authority (BRTA) months ago, claiming that cost of vehicle maintenance, tire, battery and spare parts has shot up since the fares were last raised in 2008. Secretary General of a leading transport association Khandakar Enayetullah told the FE that fare hike was needed to keep the bus companies financially afloat. "We are making legitimate demand. Due to low fares, at least 30 bus companies in the capital have become bankrupt," he said. He said his association wants immediate increase of bus fares in Dhaka to cope with high cost maintenance, upswing in driver's salaries and recoup losses due to acute traffic jams. Bus fares on nationwide inter-district bus routes could be increased after the hike of CNG prices, he added.