Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon on Sunday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the DSCC and Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Ministry to bring Dhaka’s bus services under six companies, envisioned by late Annisul Huq, former mayor of Dhaka North.
He made the statement at a press conference titled Nirapad Sarake Aamader Koronio (Things we need to do for road safety) organized by the DSCC authorities and held at Nagar Bhaban in Dhaka around 2pm.
According to the Dhaka south mayor, the proposed six companies will run 4,000 buses on different routes.
“The ministry will conduct a meeting tomorrow [Monday] at 11am to finalize how the proposed system will work,” he said.
At present, a total of 6,897 approved buses from 204 companies are operating on 289 routes, according to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) statistics.
Six big companies have over 100 buses, meaning other companies have few buses, and all operate on and share the same routes—leading to competition.
With the number of casualties rising every year, stakeholders repeatedly said the authorities concerned have failed to take concrete steps to help resolve the issue. They repeatedly blame drivers for 90% of the road accidents, citing competition-based reckless driving between bus drivers as the main reason for accidents.
Also Read- What is the future of the colour-coded bus service?
Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) officials have also said the drivers of different bus companies are competing with each other to get more passengers.
The drivers stop anywhere, to let passengers board, and this often leads to accidents, the DTCA officials said.
According to late mayor Annisul Huq’s plan, all private bus operators will come under the six companies and operate bus services on 22 major routes, instead of the 100 existing bus routes that make the city chaotic. The bus services are supposed to be in six colours – orange, blue, maroon, pink, violet, and green.
During a meeting on July 24 last year, around 2,000 bus operators and workers agreed to join the colour-coded system in the presence of Annisul Huq and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader. Annisul negotiated with transport owners, but since his death, the progress of the project slowed down drastically and DTCA could not convince bus owners to follow through.
DSCC to sit with parents, guardians of protesting students on Monday
During the briefing, Khokon announced a sitting with parents and guardians of the protesting students on Monday at the Nagar Bhaban, pledging that DSCC will decide on next course of measures upon the parents’ recommendations.
Khokon also said a vested quarter is attempting to topple the government by taking advantage of the demonstration over road safety by instigating the protesting students.
“This vested quarter is making an all out effort to take advantage of the situation by using the movement as a weapon to bring down the government,” he said.
Claiming the government has already accepted the demands of the demonstrating students, Khokon also urged their parents and guardians to bring them back home.
The protests began and spread across Dhaka and the rest of the country soon after the death of two students in the Airport Road bus crash on July 29.
