Licence to navigate

It is perhaps because of the unruly nature of traffic in Bangladesh that drivers need helpers or conductors to navigate their buses or trucks. Indeed these on-the-ground navigators paint the continuously changing picture of surrounding traffic for the driver who is very often limited to the vision straight ahead without the benefit of side or rear-view mirrors. The prized position of the driver, an exalted status among the transport operators, can sometimes be reached only if one goes through the ranks. In many cases these navigators are as much responsible for an accident as the driver himself for a delayed instruction or omitting to mention that there was a lone biker at one of the driver’s blind spots. The government is now considering implementing a provision to provide licence to bus conductors. Although such a provision is already there in the Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1983, most people are not aware of it. Even the conductors say they do not know anything about it. The fresh inclusion of such a provision in the Bangladesh Road Transport Act 2016 opens up a can of worms since many of these navigators, in their mid-teens, would automatically become ineligible for such a licence. In the proposed draft, it is said that if anyone works in public transport without any legal conductor licence, the person will be jailed for maximum one month or fined maximum Tk5,000 or both. According to the Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1983, the punishment was one month imprisonment or a fine which may extend to Tk200 or both. The proposed draft stipulates that a person or organisation cannot appoint anyone as conductor without a legal licence. If the person or organisation violates the provision then the violator would be jailed for maximum three months or fined a maximum Tk3,000 or both. It also reads that any person having heavy driving licence and approved to drive public service vehicle can work as a conductor in public transport without any conductor licence. Ilias Kanchan, chairman of road safety platform Nirapad Sarak Chai (we demand safe road), said: “The provision was in the act earlier but was not implemented. But this provision should be implemented properly as helpers and conductors play a vital role in public transports in Bangladesh even though it is rarely seen around the world.” Kanchan said in most of the cases if conductor and helper survive any road crash, they flee the spot and the transport owner claim not to have details about them. “Moreover, they misbehave with passengers on many occasions and charge extra fares. So helper and conductors should come under the licensing process,” he said. Recently, a workshop was held on the draft Bangladesh Road Transport Act 2016 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, where experts and stakeholders voiced their demand to include the helpers into the act. Osman Ali, general secretary of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, also spoke in favour of the licensing system for conductors and helpers. However, when contacted for comments, officials at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority said they did not know about the existence of such a provision in the existing ordinance; they also could not say whether any licence for helpers had ever been issued. Even in the website of the BRTA, there is no information about conductor licensing. Bijoy Bhushan Paul, director (enforcement) of BRTA, said: "We basically launch drive against driving licence and other things but never against conductor licence. I was not aware of the issue. This time the issue was brought in the forefront to make the provision effective."