Public transport in Dhaka collects an additional fare of Tk 1.82 billion per day from passengers, causing fare anarchy, commodity price hikes, social unrest and crime, experts said on Passenger Rights Day.
They raised the issue in a discussion titled ‘We want effective measures to stop the anarchy against excess fare collection’, organised by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity to mark the 4th Passenger Rights Day on Tuesday.
In the discussion, held at the National Press Club, Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, general secretary of the Passenger Welfare Association, said that public transport fares were increased at an unusual rate after fuel oil prices hiked twice in the last 12 months.
The public transport sector became unstable due to fare hikes. At present, there is no fare set by the government for any kind of transport in the city. The anarchy of collecting extra fare is afoot, he alleged.
According to Passenger Welfare Association’s assessment, at least 25 passengers were assaulted in public transport and 14 passengers were thrown from the bus and killed for protesting the charge of extra fare.
A JICA survey found that on average 30 million trips per day in different types of public transport take place in Dhaka.
Passenger Welfare Association’s assessment also found that due to daily deposits to owners, high fuel prices, extortion, vehicle repair cost and commodity price hike, bus owners are forced to run such fare anarchy.
Low-income passengers travel in the capital's 5,000 buses and minibuses, 30,000 auto-rickshaws, thousands of human haulers and 500,000 ridesharing vehicles. And they collect fares two to three times higher than the actual fares, said the speakers.
The welfare association demanded that the transport sector should be radically reformed and a system of digital fare collection should be implemented.
The bus fare execution committee should be reorganised with experts from BUET to stop public transport owners' dominance in deciding fares, it added.
Besides, arrangements should be made to display fare chart inside the bus on a digital banner in large letters. Wanton fare collection, seating service and gate-lock service in the name of waybills should be stopped too.
Journalist Masud Kamal, former president of Dhaka Journalist Union, Quddus Afrad, president of Association of Bus Companies, Rafiqul Hossain Kajal, president of SME Owners Association Ali Zaman, former adviser to World Health Organization and prominent crime scientist Mozaherul Haque were present in the discussion.
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