Only 95 routes active among 386 approved

The well-known widespread disorder in the capital's public transportation system has reduced the number of operational bus routes to 95 from the 386 officially approved in 2020.

Additionally, bus operators have arbitrarily introduced 12 new routes and exceeded the approved number of buses on several routes, further complicating Dhaka's transport landscape.

"It is clear that bus operators divert vehicles from their assigned routes to others at will due to a lack of strong monitoring," said an insider.

The 386 routes approved by the Regional Transport Committee (RTC) in 2020 were surveyed under the Bus Route Verification programme in February.

The survey found that 110 routes were active in 2021.

Done under the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority's (DTCA) supervision, it also found that buses approved for importers, including Nitol Motors, are being operated by other companies under different names.

This happened as the original companies leased the approval.

Dhaka Chaka is one such example.

Besides, Trust Transport Service operates buses on only five routes out of the 11 approved and runs more buses than officially permitted, as per the survey.

Another study done under the initiative to update the revised strategic transport plan found that the deterioration of bus services has reduced its modal share to 9 per cent from around 21 per cent.

The RTC, formed under the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), is supposed to oversee and regulate transport operations in specific regions, including Dhaka, Chattogram, and other divisional cities.

But its members are mostly non-technical persons representing different transport service owners and high officials of the police.

It is well-known that the RTC-approved bus routes are usually sold to interested investors, who can run the approved number of buses.

Though the BRTA on different occasions cancelled many bus routes, no step could bring discipline in the city bus services.

Buses were operated on those routes allegedly after bribing the BRTA and traffic police.

There is always a nexus between bus operators and traffic police in collaboration with BRTA officials.

Based on the nexus, pink bus services were launched on three routes from Abdullahpur early this year.

However, the routes were not approved by the authorities concerned.

The initiative eventually failed due to a lack of focus on bus route rationalisation (BRR) and franchising.

A new committee was formed recently to regulate bus operations, but it is playing the same role as it comprises non-technical individuals and makes decisions that are not based on data.

The DTCA, which was assigned to introduce "single route, single company bus service" under the DTCA Act 2012 as part of the BRR initiative, could not play any role in establishing discipline in bus services either.

The BRR committee has launched three routes so far to run Dhaka Nagar Paribahan services, but to no avail.

The third one was launched after revising route 21 in February this year.

Sources said the Dhaka Metro Passenger and Freight Committee (DMPFC) formed under the DTCA now approves new routes either after revising the existing ones or as per the proposals.

It was formed as a new BRR committee could not be constituted after the 2024 July-August anti-government movement.

The previous committees were usually chaired by the Dhaka South City Corporation mayor and co-chaired by that of the Dhaka North City Corporation.

Sources said the DMPFC approves routes considering road capacity and after ensuring that they do not contradict the DTCA's route network plan.

As most of the approved routes are inactive, many bus companies are now applying to the DTCA for fresh routes. The applications are sent to the DMPFC for consideration.

It is also known that the DMPFC in its meetings forms sub-committees to inspect the routes before giving approval.

The sub-committees comprise police officials and representatives from the Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association and the Dhaka Road Transport Workers Federation.

Some five new route proposals are now under the DMPFC's consideration.

smunima@yahoo.com