Govt body starts working to fix metro-rail fares

The government has started working on fixing fares for the first-ever metro-rail, being constructed from Uttara to Motijheel in the city, expecting to propose the rates within a few months.
The fare fixing committee, formed through a circular in September, organised its first meeting on Sunday. The meeting discussed various aspects of fare fixation, including investment, operational cost and capacity of people.
Sources said the committee has got an operating cost of Tk 2.4 per kilometre based on the Mass Rapid Transit Line-6 (MRT-6) traffic demand forecast. But, the total rate of Tk 48.25 is pre-matured to work on it.
"Assessment of minimum or maximum and fixed rate of fares will be necessary to propose the MRT fare chart," said an official.
He opined that the committee will also have to consider various user groups as well as compare the fares with those of other modes of transports.
However, the sources said traffic demand models all the ongoing MRT projects have been prepared based on calculated fares.
It is learnt that traffic demand models of all the MRTs, including the MRT-6, have been prepared based on the Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study-2, which was done in 2011-12.
Since then, works of the MRT-1, 5 (North) and 5 (South) have been going on by adjusting the rates with inflation. According to the model, fare for the total 20.1-km-long MRT-6 could be nearly Tk 150, they added.
When asked about the meeting on Sunday, Executive Director of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) Khandakar Rakibur Rahman said the meeting has requested the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) to place a proposal to work on by assessing all kinds of issues, including monthly expenditure and loan repayment.
Mr Rahman, who is also the committee chairman, further said the committee will work on the proposal considering various other aspects, and then propose fares to the government. The final fare charts will be fixed by the government high-ups.
The MRT-6 project consultant is supposed to prepare a pricing model from technical point of view, a few months before completion of the construction. The DMTCL will use this model to fix fares.
The government formed the committee comprising representatives from the DMTCL, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, the Bangladesh Railway, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, in line with the Metro Rail Act 2015 and the Metro Rail Regulation 2016.
The seven-member committee will propose the minimum and maximum fares after assessing operational costs of the metro-rail and capacity of people.
The first meeting was chaired by Khandakar Rakibur Rahman, and was attended by five other members.

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