After a long wait, a brand-new fleet of taxicabs began its journey on the capital’s streets yesterday compounded by an unusual high fare rate for commuters.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the new cab service, operated by the Trust Transport Services under the Army Welfare Trust, at the Army Golf Club at Kurmitola in the capital.
After the inauguration, the premier, however, urged authorities concerned to charge Tk85 for the first two kilometres instead of Tk100.
“The people would start using these taxicabs if they get to know that the fare rate had been cut-down. On the other hand, the operators would not be affected much if the fare is cut down by Tk10 to Tk15,” she said.
“It would be better for all if the fare for the first two kilometres is fixed at Tk85 instead of Tk100,” she said and observed that the people are ready to spend something extra for safe and comfortable journey.
She further hoped that the Army Welfare Trust would earn the confidence of the people by ensuring a safe and comfortable journey.
Saying the city dwellers were being deprived of such essential, she also said due to the inadequate taxicab service in the capital it was not possible to attract tourists to Bangladesh.
Communication Minister Obaidul Quader, Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of Army Welfare Trust General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan and Chairman of Trust Transport Services Major General AKM Mujahid Uddin also spoke at the function.
The Trust Transport Services will initially operate in the capital 27 taxi cabs of minimum 1500cc engine of Premio, Allion, Probox and Axio models purchased from Japan’s auto giant Toyota.
Another private organization, Toma Group, will also operate the same kind of 19 air-conditioned taxicabs preliminarily.
The two companies would operate 600 taxi cabs in Dhaka and Chittagong. The Trust Transport Services is expected to introduce 400 such taxicabs while Toma Group will introduce another 200 units.
Out of the 600, the army trust will operate 100 taxis in Chittagong.
The Army Welfare Trust on August 1 last year sought permission from the communications ministry to introduce 400 taxicabs on streets in Dhaka and Chittagong within four months. The same year on July 14, the ministry allowed Toma Construction Ltd to press 250 more cabs into service.
All the taxi cabs will have equipped with high-tech facilities, such as Global Positioning Systems or GPS, vehicle tracking systems and wireless communications.
The fare for the new service was fixed at Tk 100 for the first 2km, Tk 34 for each subsequent km, and Tk 8.5 for two minutes waiting for air-conditioned cabs. For non-AC ones, the fare comes down to Tk 50, Tk 20 and Tk 5 respectively.
The rate is comparatively high than other major cities in South Asia and South-East Asian counties. In Kolkata, an AC cab charges Tk 32.31 at the beginning of the journey, Tk 19.38 for each kilometre and Tk 1.52 for per minute waiting. In Kuala Lumpur, a taxicab charges Tk 71.25 as the rent charge, Tk 23.23 for each kilometre and Tk 10 for per minute waiting. In Bangkok, the fare charge goes to Tk 101 for the first kilometer, from Tk 11.95 for 2-12 kilometres.
However, most of these cities have better roads conditions than Dhaka and are also free from traffic congestions.
As Dhaka is one of the traffic-crowded cities in the region, a journey from Mouchak to Mirpur-10, covering around 12km including a 30-minute loss due to traffic jam, will cost around Tk 552.5 for an AC cab and Tk 325 for a non-AC one.
However, the Communications Ministry and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) seemed determined to impose such high rates for the new taxi cabs.