Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (JKS) on Sunday urged the government to reconsider the new bus fares announced in the wake of the fuel oil price hike and prepare a fresh fare chart through proper cost analysis.
The passenger welfare association made the call in a statement saying the new fare chart was announced by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and the Transport Owners Association without the presence of any passenger representative, which is an infringement of the international consumer law to fix the bus fare.
"When various social and political organisations are protesting in the field demanding withdrawal of the increased fuel oil price, bus owners are busy raising bus fares in collaboration with the government," said the statement.
The association Secretary General, Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, said bus fare was increased by 35 per cent when the price of fuel oil was increased by Tk 15 per liter in last November. After 9 months of this, with the increase in fuel oil price again, the bus fare was again raised by 22 per cent without proper cost analysis, he added.
Even though every old bus was considered as a brand-new bus in the fare analysis, bank interest and other facilities of the new bus are analysed for the old buses plying the roads.
Ninety-eight per cent of the buses and minibuses are unfit for running in the city, says the statement.
"Forty-eight per cent of the long-distance buses have been running for more than 20 years. These buses have become risky for travellers. Quality of passenger service of these old buses has gone to the bottom," it mentioned.
nsrafsanju@gmail.com