The transport company owners, whose buses operate only within the city limits, may not like the empty streets of the capital during every Eid, but that does not mean they do bad business during the “off-peak” season.
During Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha every year, millions of people leave Dhaka to observe the religious festivals with their dear ones at their village homes.
That also leaves the city of more than 10 million residents unusually empty for more than a week. Because of the reduced demand for transport, a significant number of vehicles in the fleets of the city bus services, have to remain idle.
In recent years, the owners have discovered an alternative way of earning instead of keeping their vehicles in “sleep mode.”
Compared to the big buses with heavy engines that carry passengers from one district to another, the buses that operate within the city are smaller. They do not even have the permission to ply the highways.
However, several city services have been for a number of years lending their smaller buses to the intercity services.
With less than a couple of weeks to go before Eid, local private bus services such as Bahon Paribahan, Baishakhi Paribahan, Suktara Bus Service, Monjil Paribahan, Falgun, Rupkotha Paribahan, Projapoti Minibus Services, Gulistan-Dhamrai Bus Services and Shuvojatra Bus Services have been gearing up to lend some of their vehicles to run on the long routes.
Some of these buses are 10-20 years old and not even fit to carry passengers within the city.
Instead, the borrowers are including these small buses in their fleets to carry passengers on 100km journeys.
They are borrowing these old “local buses,” getting them painted and minimally repaired and incorporating them into the route plans.
According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), a total of 92 bus services are operational in the city. But during the Eid season, most of these buses carry passengers on the long route, officials said.
Mohammad Belayet, owner of Suktara Minibus Services, told to Dhaka Tribune that he had arranged six buses to meet the needs of home-bound passengers. He said he rented his buses for around 10 days during Eid every year to renowned transport companies that operate on the long route.
He also said he had never faced any action from the administration.
A recent BRTA study says 87% of the buses and minibuses that run in the capital are unfit. But during Eid, these unfit buses meet the demand of the home-bound people with their new colours but very little to no repairs.
The Dhaka Tribune correspondents have found that workers and painters at the city’s Gabtoli, Mohakhali and Sayedabad bus terminals are busy re-painting these local buses.
Kazi Jaynal Abedin, owner of Decent Engineering Workshop, said: “I have got six orders for repairing and re-painting buses this year. If they properly repair the unfit vehicles, they will have to spend Tk45 lakh. But instead, they spend only Tk25,000-Tk35,000 for painting and repairing, just to make sure that the buses look new.”
A few days ago, a Konok Paribahan city bus was given a new name – Anita Paribahan, which operates on the long route. They just replaced the sticker.
Tapash Kumar, owner of Anita Paribahan, was standing right there. He said: “From the 26th of Ramadan, home-bound people start leaving Dhaka. I cannot meet the demand of so many passengers. So, I hired four buses from Konok Paribahan to send passengers to Nilphamari.”
When asked why he had hired these unfit buses, he said: “I am spending more than Tk1 lakh to give them a new look. The passengers do not care what buses they ride. All they need is a vehicle to carry them home during Eid.”
Ripon Mia, owner of another long route bus company, said: “I have hired five buses from a city service named Bahon Paribahan for Tk30,000 each. I am repairing those buses for Tk20,000- Tk30,000 each. I will send those buses to Rajshahi and Rangpur. Each seat will be sold for Tk700-Tk800.”
On that count, considering that they will make three trips ahead of Eid, each of these 50-seat buses will fetch Ripon at least Tk1,05,000.
The law enforcement agencies do not get any instructions to prevent this dangerous practice.
Khan Muhammed Rajowan, Deputy Police Commissioner (traffic), said: “Usually, because of the high demand, long route bus services hire vehicles from the city services. But this is risky because many of those buses are over 20 years old. So they are unfit according to law.
But if we get any instruction from the higher authorities, we will take action against those unfit buses and the owners. But, till now, we do not have any instructions from the Communications Ministry.”
BRTA Chairman Nazrul Islam said: “These mini buses can run outside Dhaka if they are fit. But if they are unfit, they cannot operate outside the city. The owners just put fresh colours on those unfit vehicles. It is just an eyewash. So, we have decided to be strict. If we can identify them, we will take stern actions.”
He also claimed that mobile teams had been visiting the bus terminals to check the illegal practice.
