The government on Sunday announced a fresh increase in long-route bus fares by seven per cent to adjust the cost of operation after the latest increase in fuel oil prices.
\nThe bus fare hike comes into effect on Tuesday.
\nPassengers of long-route buses will have to pay Tk 0.10 more for a kilometre from Tuesday. With this, the government raised bus fares by Tk 0.25 a kilometre in two phases in last two years and a half because of an increase in the price of diesel by Tk 24 a litre.
\nEarlier on December 31, 2011, the government increased the long-route bus fare from Tk 1.20 to Tk 1.35 per km after the diesel price had been increased from Tk 56 to Tk 61 a litre in that phase.
\nThe communications minister, Obaidul Quader, after a brief meeting at the conference room in the ministry said that the government had to consider the interests of the passengers as well as transport owners while increasing the bus fare.
\nBangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity Secretary general Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, who had attended as an observer the communications ministry meeting on refixing bus fares on January 15, criticised the latest increase saying that so much increase in the bus fare was hardly justifiable.
\n\u2018If the costing committee had made a thorough analysis of the operation costs, the fare hike would not have been more than five paisa,\u2019 he told New Age on Sunday.
\n\u2018A 10 paisa increase in bus fare per kilometre is apparently too little an amount, but we have to pay Tk 80 for a trip between Dhaka and Chapainawabganj at this rate,\u2019 said Abdullah Tahir, a businessman who commutes between Dhaka and Chapainawabganj regularly.
\nThe minister admitted that the transport owners were charging extra from long-route passengers before the government officially fixed the fare.
\n\u2018Even the staff of BRTC [Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation] buses are charging extra from passengers in the city,\u2019 Obaidul Quader added.
\nBut the fares of buses and minibuses operating in
\nDhaka and Chittagong metropolitan cities were not raised as most of them were CNG-run buses.
\nAfter the fresh seven per cent fare hike, long-route bus fare will now be Tk 1.45 a kilometre after the government increased diesel price from Tk 61 per litre to Tk 68. Earlier the fare was Tk 1.35 a kilometre.
\nBangladesh Road Transport Authority\u2019s costing committee on Thursday had suggested a rise in long-route bus fare from Tk 1.35 to Tk 1.54 a kilometre, but government rejected the proposal.
\nEarlier on January 13, the committee had proposed to fix the fare at Tk 1.58 per km but revised its proposal in line with a communications ministry directive.
\n\u2018We have re-fixed the fare at Tk 1.45 a kilometre by slashing 13 paisa from the costing committee\u2019s proposal for a Tk 1.58 fare per kilometre,\u2019 said adding that he was not aware of any second proposal of the costing committee.
\nAbout the transport owners\u2019 proposal for increasing the fare of diesel-run buses and minibuses operating in Dhaka and Chittagong metropolitan cities, the minister said that a proposal would be sent to prime minister Sheikh Hasina for a final decision.
\nBangladesh Road Transport Owners\u2019 Association secretary general Khandaker Enayet Ullah said that in December 2011, the government had slashed only eight paisa from the costing committee\u2019s proposal for long- route bus fare, but this time it was a 13 paisa the reduction.
\n\u2018I think this decision would cause financial losses to transport owners,\u2019 he said and urged the government to increase the fare of diesel-run buses and minibuses operating in Dhaka and Chittagong cities.
\nSunday\u2019s meeting at the ministry was attended, among others, by communications secretary MAN Siddique, BRTA chairman Mohammad Ayubur Rahman Khan and director (engineering) Mohammad Saiful Hoque, BRTOA leader Rustom Ali Khan, Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners\u2019 Association vice president Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, Shohag Paribahan managing director Mohammad Faruk Talukder Sohel and Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity secretary general Mozammel Haque Chowdhury.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government on Sunday announced a fresh increase in long-route bus fares by seven per cent to adjust the cost of operation after the latest increase in fuel oil prices. The bus fare hike comes into effect on Tuesday. Passengers of long-route buses will have to pay Tk 0.10 more for a kilometre from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9764],"yoast_head":"\n