As soon as the government announced revised gas prices, the CNG-run vehicle owners have decided to hike fares from September 1.
Mohibul, driver of a CNG-run bus on Azimpur-Mirpur route, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that bus fares would rise from September 1 if the price of CNG went up as per the government’s announcement.
Habib Hossain, who drives a CNG-run autorickshaw, said he that would charge passengers extra fare from the first day of September as gas prices had gone up.
But the vehicle owners said that the increase in fares would not be the same as the previous hike.
For long, the Dhaka commuters have been complaining that they are charged arbitrarily on the streets in absence of a monitoring system that the authorities concerned should have put in place.
Passengers blame the regulator, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), for failing to install digital meters in the CNG-run autorickshaws as the drivers are reluctant to carry passengers as per the existing metering system.
Farid Ahmed, a resident of Paribagh, said that it was nothing new that autorickshaw and bus fares would go up following the increase in gas prices. “We have already been paying extra fares for long.”
In the BRTA fare chart updated in 2011, Tk25 was fixed for the first two kilometres of commute on CNG-run autorickshaws, Tk7 for each subsequent kilometre and Tk1.25 per minute for stand-by.
Admitting the problem, Dhaka Metropolitan CNG-run Autorickshaw Malik Samity Oikya Parishad President Barkat Ullah Bhulu told the Dhaka Tribune the new fair rate would be set after discussing with the authorities concerned.
“Presently, extra fares are collected considering the price hike of essential commodities.”
But the commuters say that there cannot be any strong reason to justify collection of such high fares from them. Most autorickshaw drivers charge almost triple the normal fare when traffic is at its peak on the city streets.
Bhulu earlier said a proposal was submitted to the government to increase the minimum fare and the per kilometre charge for a vehicle’s stand-by mode.
Bus passengers alleged that they were charged more than the prescribed fare while travelling in the city. Tk1.55 per kilometre was prescribed for inter-city buses while Tk1.45 for non-AC buses in January 2013.
The government also prescribed Tk7 for seating service buses and Tk5 for local service buses as minimum fare.
But the passengers alleged that they were charged Tk10 as the minimum fare even when they travel a short distance.
Bangladesh Road Transport Owners’ Union leader Khondokar Enayet Ullah Khan said that the new fare rate of CNG-run buses would be set after discussing with the government.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner (traffic) Moslem Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune that they were monitoring the situation. “If the drivers charge more than the fare prescribed officially, the commuters can seek help from the traffic police officials working in that area,” he added.