Dhaka’s latest attempt to bring order to its chaotic bus network will begin on November 1, but passengers are unlikely to see many new vehicles.
Most of the buses will be the same ones already operating on the city’s roads, repaired and repainted under a new company-based system.
The government plans to introduce the service on six routes with a proposed fleet of 816 buses, bringing competing operators together under designated companies.
The aim is to stop the race for passengers, introduce disciplined boarding and ticketing, and gradually replace the city’s fragmented bus network.
But with electronic ticketing arrangements still unsettled, many designated stops missing and bus owners reluctant to abandon existing practices, the initiative faces obstacles similar to those that derailed earlier reforms.
The Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) says replacing thousands of buses immediately is not feasible. Instead, owners have been given two months to repair and repaint existing vehicles, while those found unfit are to be excluded.
That could leave the initial fleet smaller than planned.
Dhrubo Alam, deputy transport planner at the DTCA, told Dhaka Tribune that previous attempts failed partly because the authorities had imposed decisions without sufficiently involving bus owners.
“Whenever an initiative was taken, the government made decisions without coordinating with the owners’ associations. It simply imposed its decisions,” he said.
This time, the authorities intend to work with operators while conducting joint drives against unauthorised buses and vehicles without valid fitness certificates or route permits.
Six routes, 816 buses
The initial rollout will cover five non-air-conditioned routes and one air-conditioned route, connecting Gazipur, Mirpur, Keraniganj, Ghatarchar, Demra, Kanchpur and other major destinations.
The air-conditioned service will run from Tongi Airport through the expressway and Farmgate to Azimpur and Dhakeshwari Temple.
The plan follows an October 8 meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, where the authorities were directed to accelerate bus route rationalisation.
Dhaka currently has around 7,500 buses operated by 66 companies on just 98 of its 418 approved routes, according to the DTCA.
Under the proposed overhaul, the 98 operating routes will eventually be consolidated into 32, with one designated company responsible for each route.
Officials say around 70% of the proposed routes will follow existing alignments, although some passengers may need to change buses to reach their destinations.
The government wants franchise arrangements for all 32 routes finalised within two months and the overall program completed within six months.
Ticketing remains a major obstacle
One of the biggest unresolved issues is how passengers will pay fares.
The new system is supposed to introduce electronic and counter-based ticketing, GPS tracking and designated boarding points.
But DTCA sources said bus owners on all but one of the 32 proposed routes have yet to agree to electronic ticketing.
An official acknowledged that even setting up ticket counters had proved difficult, raising doubts about how quickly a digital system could be introduced.
The experience of previous initiatives offers little reassurance.
A 2024 DTCA inspection found that 165 of approximately 400 designated bus stops across eight pilot routes had not been implemented.
Without functioning ticketing systems, passengers eventually returned to paying fares directly after boarding.
The authorities are also considering monthly salaries for drivers and helpers to replace commission-based earnings, widely blamed for aggressive competition between buses.
Kadir Molla, a bus driver on the Sadarghat route, said the proposed single-operator arrangement could reduce that competition.
“If only one company’s buses operate on this route, we will no longer have to compete with other buses for passengers,” he said.
A familiar experiment
Bus route rationalisation has been discussed in Dhaka for more than two decades.
The proposal appeared in the 2004 Strategic Transport Plan and was revived by former Dhaka North mayor Annisul Huq in 2015.
A pilot service between Ghatarchar and Kanchpur began in December 2021 but failed to expand as planned amid resistance from operators.
Another attempt on the Gabtoli–Chashara route in 2025 also fell short.
More recently, the BRTC’s Pink Bus service for women, launched in August with repainted buses, encountered operational difficulties within two months.
Passenger welfare advocates fear the new initiative could meet the same fate.
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, questioned whether reorganising operators and repainting existing buses would substantially improve services.
He said the government should have introduced new vehicles and consulted passenger representatives during planning.
Urban planner Adil Mohammad Khan said the initiative could succeed only if unauthorised buses were prevented from competing with the designated operators.
“Stopping parallel bus services opens up a new possibility,” he said.
However, he stressed that vehicle quality could not be ignored, particularly given Dhaka’s heat and heavy passenger demand.
He called for a clear deadline to introduce modern, air-conditioned buses at affordable fares, alongside functioning stops and ticketing systems.
The DTCA separately plans to introduce new, smaller buses on 25 circular routes connecting to the metro rail network in about two months.
For the November 1 rollout, however, commuters will largely be boarding familiar vehicles. Whether they receive a different service will depend on changes that have repeatedly proved harder to deliver than new paint.