The government is expected to give the green light to "Seating Service" buses in Dhaka after a combined committee on fair public transport service came out in favour of the practice.
The move would represent a massive U-turn in government policy, coming less than six months after the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) conducted a month-long drive to stop private operators running such buses for additional fares.
Bus owners say they suffered losses because of April’s drive, while passengers who were using the illegal "Seating Service" or "Gate Lock" buses said only their comfort – and not the higher fares – had been reduced following the clampdown.
Now the combined committee has recommended that "Seating Service" buses should be allowed because passengers are already habituated to them and transport owners feel comfortable operating the services.
“We have prepared a draft set of recommendations on seating service buses which will be submitted to the BRTA within a few days,” said BRTA Director Sheikh Md Mahbub-e-Rabbani, who is head of the committee.
“The draft has suggested that the seating services be allowed. However, BRTA and the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges will make the final call this month.”
Around 150 private transport operators are running 4,500 buses and minibuses on the 165 routes in Dhaka city.
The Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association (BPWA) claims the bus operators have pressured the regulatory authorities and the combined committee into the move to allow the previously banned services.
“The bus owners are very powerful. They pressurised the government to permit the illegal seating service,” BPWA Secretary General Mozammel Haque said.
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The Road Transport and Highways Division formed the combined committee to address such grievances and recommend improvements to the public transport system. As such its approval of ‘Seating Services’ is conditional on certain guidelines being in place.
According to the draft recommendation, the BRTA will fix the number of buses that a company can operate as a Seating Service on a case-by-case basis, preventing any operator from running every bus in its fleet in such a way.
The second recommendation is that buses will have a fixed colour for each route to help passengers find their buses. Buses in Dhaka are currently not required to follow any colour code.
The third recommendation is that although Seating Service fares can be higher than the standard fare, the BRTA will fix the rate and operators cannot charge additional fares in the name of special facilities like Direct or Gate Lock services.
As per the BRTA fare chart, the standard bus fare in Dhaka is Tk1.7 per kilometre while the mini-bus fare is Tk1.6 per kilometre. The Seating Service providers, however, have been charging fares according to their will.
The fourth recommendation made by the committee is that the Seating Services will have some stoppages and the fare will be fixed according to the distance. It has been common practice for bus companies to turn their local buses into Seating Services during peak hours, causing suffering to commuters waiting for transport.
Committee member Ajoy Dasgupta, who is also associate editor at the Daily Samakal, said the recommendations had been drafted following a series of meetings to ensure a fair public transport system in Dhaka.
“If the BRTA follows the suggestions, public transport system will be improved,” he said. “Representatives of the bus owners and workers are also participating in the combined committee and they have also agreed to the guidelines.”
Ajoy Dasgupta said the committee had also made some general suggestions about the public transport system. “In particular, we suggested that we should stop issuing permits for private operators in new routes and that the fleet of BRTC double-decker buses should be increased,” he said.
Khandaker Enayetullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity, told the Dhaka Tribune that it would be helpful if the BRTA created a guideline to ensure discipline in the public transport system.
“Currently Seating Service is running without any guidelines [and] operators can demand any fare they want,” he said. “When a seating service bus gets a fixed colour for each route, no one will be able to operate a local bus as a seating service.”