Six private banks keen to set up clearing house

 As uniform tickets for all public transports are being planned in Dhaka city, six private banks have come forward to set up a clearing house to make the fare collection system workable.
Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd, BRAC Bank Ltd, Prime Bank Ltd, Non-resident Bangladesh, Mercantile Bank Ltd and Bangladesh Commercial Bank Ltd (BCBL) have shown interest in setting up the clearing house for service providers and recipients.
Official sources said the response from these banks was received after the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) invited Expression of Interest (EoI) last month to launch integrated circuit (IC) cards for bus, train and launch services.
According to the DTCA, some 700,000 IC cards will be issued within next two to three years to passengers for availing bus and launch services under the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
The card to be named as 'Rapid Pass' will be used to automatically pay fares for a certain distance through the provision of topping up money on it.
"We have already brought necessary equipment to set up card recharge stations as well as clearing house at DTCA and the banks. The banks will be selected based on negotiations on seeking minimum commission," said an official.
He said a bank will get the job of issuing IC cards to passengers and distributing shares of respective transport operators through banking channel in exchange of commission.
It is learnt that the cards to be sold for not less than Tk 400 will be divided as deposit for DTCA and transport operators for use per kilometre. When card money for transport use will be finished, card users can top up money as per their needs.
Official sources said initially, introduction of Rapid Pass has been planned for all public transports, but gradually its 'using area' will expand to private sector bus services.
It is estimated that at least 1.0 million IC cards will be issued after launching of metro rail in the city.
The official said effort is on to bring private bus operators under the same ticketing system. "Some private bus owners including Trust have also shown interest to avail of IC cards for passengers of their buses," he added.
The DTCA on December 20 held a pre-bid meeting with the banks responded to EoI to clarify their understanding on new kind of service for the country. They were asked to submit proposals by January 4.
As IC card issuance is very new for the country, technical experts with help of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) are providing necessary support to set up infrastructures and run the cards through clearing house.
The DCTA earlier tried to launch similar IC card named 'SPASS' for BRTC bus passengers about three years back, but they could not continue it for non-cooperation from bus operators.
DTCA officials said efforts were made to overcome the shortcomings of SPASS in Rapid Pass and make IC cards popular through pilot projects for BIWTC and BRTC in next couple of months.
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