Experts say city need more buses for low-income people
The communications minister, Obaidul Quader, on Wednesday said air-conditioned minibuses and taxicabs would be inaugurated in Dhaka city within the next four
months to meet the demand for comfortable vehicles.
The minister said the ministry withdrew its restriction on providing route permission only in the case of AC minibuses while the restriction would hold for non-AC minibuses.
The minister said this at the inauguration ceremony of Training Programme for Improving Professional Drivers’ Skill and Awareness — 2013 held at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority’s head office.
Former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain (January 2009-December 2011) issued an order to stop providing route permission to the minibuses in the capital city.
Obaidul Quader said the ban was withdrawn in the consideration that if the mass transport service could be expanded, sufferings of people would reduce.
He also said the transport owners were worried about investing in this city transport sector because of bad culture of vandalism and torching of vehicles.
BRTA director (engineering) Mohammad Saiful Hoque told New Age on Wednesday that the ban was withdrawn only for AC minibuses.
‘The Regional Transport Committee will provide route permission to only air-conditioned minibuses from now on,’ he said.
Another senior official said officially the total number of on-street public buses and minibuses in the capital was about 5,000 of which about 3,000 were minibuses.
‘In reality, we are assuming that the total number of buses and minibuses reduced to 3,000 at present,’ the official added.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Owners’ Association secretary general, Khandakar Enayetullah, welcomed the government decision to launch AC minibuses in Dhaka city.
Meanwhile, experts are of the opinion that the government should take immediate steps to launch more non-AC public mode of transport, rather than the AC transports, to meet the demand of the common passengers.
Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh general secretary Mohammad Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said that the government should consider the demands of low-income group passengers.
‘Both taxicab and AC minibus fare would be expensive for about 80 per cent passengers in the
city,’ he said, adding, ‘So, the government should launch more non-AC minibuses for general commuters.’
Mozammel also expressed doubt that if the government would be able to put these transports on road before next national poll.
BRTA recently amended the Taxicab Service Guidelines of 2010 to remove the bottlenecks on the way of pressing new cabs on the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet as it had invited applications in June 2012 but no company became able to fulfil the requirements.
Work for Better Bangladesh national advocacy officer Maruf Rahman said, ‘The government initiative to launch AC minibus is then meant for a particular income group of people while we need mass transports for all income groups of people.’
He also emphasised that the city needed more buses, not minibuses, to address the existing transport crisis.
-With New Age input
