Govt plans to set up clearing house

The government has planned to set up a clearing house to introduce the one ticket system for all modes of public and mass transport services to reduce hassles of commuters.
Officials said the one ticket system, known as 'smart card' would be made available to all modes of public and mass transports after the clearing house is set up.
They said the clearing house would keep records of each card for distributing payment information to respective transport service providers.
The smart card is now being used for some bus routes of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) in the city under a pilot project supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
JICA is providing technical support to the government to introduce the card for all modes of transport to reduce revenue loss, as the card price is fixed based on costs of operation.
"We have so far got good response after launching the smart card for the BRTC air-conditioned buses on a promotional basis. Based on the response we are now trying to introduce the same card for other transports also," said an official.
He said without the clearing house related information cannot be stored on dues to all public transport service providers.
The officials said the smart card would be required more when the mass rapid transit (MRT) and the bus rapid transit (BRT) services will be introduced in the city.
BRTC introduced the 'S-pass' smart card on its four routes - Abdullahpur-Motijheel, Mirpur-Motijheel, Mohammadpur-Motijheel and Nabinagar-Motijheel - after the pilot project was launched in 2009.
However, the card is now being used only for the BRTC AC service on Gazipur-Motijheel route, as the organisation maintains ticket counters and stoppages.
Use of the card on other BRTC routes could not be possible for lack of required outsourcing of those services to the private operators, as it would stop their ill practice of demanding extra fare from passengers.
The officials said introduction of the smart card for all public transports would l be challenging. But the government will have no other option to run MRT and BRT without such an electronic ticketing system.
They said the 'S-pass' card removes the passengers' hassles of buying daily tickets by standing on queues and checking. Thus it reduces their time and ensures income of the transport operators.
For these reasons such cards are popular in many countries, as transport tickets or as debit cards.
The officials said after introduction of the 'S-pass' card by the BRTC, the Bangladesh Railway and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation are trying to introduce the same card for their passenger services.
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