Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS) on Sunday rejected the recent hike in bus fares due to the increased price of fuel and demanded that the new bus fare should be set after “proper cost analysis”.
During a meeting between Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and bus owners in view of the increase in fuel prices, BJKS said the increased bus fare was a “monopoly”.
Secretary General of the BJKS Mozammel Haque Chowdhury made this claim in a statement sent to the media on Sunday morning.
Alleging that BRTA and Transport Owners Association have increased fares without passenger representatives in violation of the International Consumer Law, the statement said, the announced increased bus fares should be withdrawn and the bus fares should be determined afresh after proper cost analysis.
Mozammel said that the movement is on to demand the withdrawal of the monopoly increase in oil prices.
He added: “In the meantime, the bus owners are busy increasing the bus fare in cooperation with the government without demanding the withdrawal of fuel prices. The bus fare was increased by 35% when the price of fuel increased by Tk15 per litre last November.
“Within nine months, with the increase in the price of fuel again, the bus fare has been increased by 22% in one jump without proper cost analysis.”
The BJKS official said the hike in bus fares severely damaged passengers' interest.
He complained that the government fixed the fare as per the demand of the bus owners, but the fare fixed by the government is not effective on any bus.
“Even if bus fares are collected several times higher than the government fixed fare, the government can practically not take any action against these buses,” he said.
Mozammel Haque further said: "In city service, the government has fixed the fare per kilometre, but the bus fare is charged on the basis of the passenger's head on the waybill. Even if you travel a short distance in the so-called sitting service of Dhaka city, you have to pay the fare up to the final destination.”