Some 20 double-decker buses of the state-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) are carrying passengers from Agargaon station coming from Uttara.
The double-decker buses leave the station every 10 minutes.
The BRTC bus service has been introduced so that the passengers do not face any difficulty in getting public transport from Agargaon.
During a visit to Agargaon metro rail station it was found that 10 BRTC buses were waiting to carry passengers.
The remaining 10 buses have left for Motijheel with passengers, said the staff in charge at the ticket counter of BRTC.
They said that the buses are leaving every 10 minutes. But if the passengers are already full, the bus is released before 10 minutes.
When talking to the waiting BRTC drivers, they said that several BRTC buses were kept ready on the road from Kazipara to Agargaon under the Agargaon metro rail station at 7:45am. Although the buses are old, they have been washed and prepared for the journey.
The fare of double-decker buses with 75 seats has been fixed at a maximum of Tk30 (Motijheel) and a minimum of Tk 10.
Metro rail passengers have welcomed such facilities of BRTC buses.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first ever metro rail service in the capital amid much enthusiasm and festivity.
She inaugurated the operation of the first phase of the project-- Uttara to Agargaon.
The latest addition to Dhaka's public transport started its first journey with passengers at 8am in the morning.
Initially, the metro trains will run from 8 am to 12 noon every day from Uttara to Agargaon stations without any stoppage.
It will take 20 minutes to travel the 11.73km distance from Uttara to Agargaon, but soon it will come down to 16-17 minutes.
In the beginning, the trains will not stop at all stations. They will leave the Uttara station and stop at Pallabi, and then they will go to Agargaon without stopping. The stopping of trains at intermediate stations will start later.
Initially, the trains will carry 200 to 250 passengers and later 700 to 800 passengers.
Of the 12 trains ready for operating from Uttara to Agargaon, 10 will run regularly and two will be on standby for any problems.
The metro rail project was taken up in 2012, and a loan agreement in this regard was signed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a Japanese development cooperation agency, the following year.
