The pilot cluster-based bus service from Ghatarchar to Kanchpur has been announced to be launched on December 1, revising the earlier schedule of September 7, without forming any single company.
The bus service under the Bus Route Rationalisation Committee (BRRC) will run on a joint venture agreement among the bus operators now operating buses on the city's busiest routes.
Some 150 buses under different companies now operate on the route from Ghatarchar to Kanchpur.
With this, the schedule to launch the Ghatarchar-Kanchpur pilot cluster-based bus service has been changed three times failing to complete necessary preparation and agreement among shareholders.
Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Fazle Noor Taposh announced the fresh schedule after a meeting of the special committee formed to introduce the bus route franchise (BRF) system in the city for bringing discipline in public transport.
The mayor said 120 buses will run on the route under a joint venture agreement.
'We haven't formed a single company yet signing a joint venture agreement," he told journalists during a briefing after the meeting at Nagar Bhaban.
He said necessary preparations have almost been completed and the rest will be completed in next two months claiming major hurdles in the preparation have been removed by working in the last one year.
The 18th meeting under the leadership of the DSCC Mayor was also attended by DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam.
Other members of the committee, including heads of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, BRTC, Bangladesh Police and Bus Transport Owners and Workers' Association were also present.
The DSCC Mayor said the bus of the service named Nagar Paribahan will be green colour.
He also said buses will run on the route mostly by rearranging those to original model specification. But new buses will also be added to the fleet.
No bus of a model before 2019 will be allowed to ply, he said replying to a question.
But the mayor said initially non-air-conditioned buses will be in the fleet.
The DNCC Mayor said 16 bus bays and 40 bus shades have already been built up on the route hoping that the pilot bus service can be launched with total new buses.
He said design of the buses will be finalised within two weeks.
"The task of launching the bus service has been very challenging. But we are hopeful to bring discipline in the bus services in phases," he told the journalists during the briefing.
Mayor Taposh said the Ghatarchar-Kanchpur cluster bus service will be launched with new buses. He said new buses will be imported at the cost of the transport owners which will be later accommodated with the Bangladesh Bank's Tk 1.0 billion fund for the BRF.
Since the pilot bus route has been finalised at the 12th meeting, the committee has selected a land for bus depot which is yet to be made ready.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Chairman Nur Mohammad Majumder, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Chairman Mohammad Tajul Islam, RAJUK Chairman ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, Secretary General of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Khandaker Enayet Ullah, General Secretary of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation Osman Ali, Additional Commissioner of Police of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Public transport expert Dr SM Saleh Uddin and Dhaka Transport Coordinating Authority Executive Director Khandaker Rakibur Rahman attended the meeting.
smunima@yahoo.com