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Buses are charging passengers 50 per cent more than the set fare for short-distance trips inside the capital, despite the authorities and transport owners agreeing to a 27 per cent hike in price on Sunday.
Buses were back on the streets on Monday after a three-day strike to protest a hike in diesel prices, but the problem cropped up in several areas of the capital, including Mirpur, Azimpur, Mohammadpur and Badda.
With word of an official decision on the fare making the rounds, the higher fares are leading to arguments and scuffles between passengers and bus conductors.
Bus helpers and assistants say the government has yet to publish the list of new fares, so they are charging fares according to the instructions of their owners, reports bdnews24.com.
Selim Mia, a driver’s assistant of Prajapati Paribahan, said the fares are causing altercations with “80 per cent of the passengers”.
A passenger ‘Hasan’, who was headed from Mohammadpur bus stand to the College Gate area, got in an argument over paying Tk 15 for the trip. He asked for an official fares list but Selim had none, so the two argued all the way to Hasan’s destination.
Selim later said, “The owners asked us to charge a minimum fare of Tk 15. All buses are doing the same.”
A meeting between the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and transport associations on Sunday decided that city buses will charge Tk 2.15 per kilometre in place of Tk 1.70, while fares for minibuses were set at Tk 2.05, up from Tk 1.6 a kilometre.
A notice was issued stating the minimum fare to be Tk 10 for buses, and Tk 8 for minibuses.
An Itihas Paribahan worker in front of the National Heart Foundation Hospital in Mirpur said the fare from Mirpur to Savar was Tk 30 before, but the owner wants them to charge Tk 45 for the trip now, and only those who are willing to pay it are being allowed to get on.
Cantonment Paribahan buses are charging people Tk 20 in place of the previous Tk 10 for trips from the Mirpur-10, which is double the original expense.
For a trip to Savar’s Fantasy Kingdom, Mohana Paribahan replaced their old fare of Tk 40 with Tk 55.
Alif Paribahan is now claiming Tk 65 for trips from the National Heart Foundation Hospital to Savar’s EPZ in place of Tk 50, which was already more than the specified fare. Many passengers opted not to get on the bus after hearing the fare and waited for another that would charge less.
A trip from Mirpur-10 to the Mirpur-1 roundabout is costing people Tk 10.
In Mirpur-1, a Transilva Paribahan conductor said they were charging Tk 26 for trips to Shahbagh in place of Tk 20, a 30 per cent price hike.
A trip from Mirpur-1 to Gabtoli on a Basumati Paribahan bus now costs Tk 10 in place of Tk 5 or 7.
Mohammad Delowar, an assistant at an Itihas Paribahan bus, said, “An official fares list is yet to be issued after the government raised fares. The owner asked us to charge Tk 20 for previous fares of Tk 16 and Tk 30 in place of Tk 24.”
“We do not profit when we have arguments with passengers over the fares, the owners do. I need to look for the scope to make a profit.”
Mahmud Hossain, a bank employee arriving at Mohakhali from Savar on a Baishakhi Paribahan bus, said, “The fare was Tk 40 before. Today they charged Tk 55. What can I do? There’s no other way.”
Bus conductors and passengers got into fights over fares at Badda, Rampura and Mouchak.
Akash, Victor Classic, Raida, Anabil, Turag, Ramzan, Taranga, Swadhin, Nur-e Makkah and several other buses run through the streets in those areas. All buses there, with the exception of Turag, collected whatever fares they wanted, ignoring BRTA directives.
“The fares were set according to the owner’s decision last night and we are following that. But the passengers do not want to pay additional money and rebuke us when we ask them to,” a transport worker said.
After a fracas on an Akash Paribahan bus, Monir Hossain, a businessman travelling on it, said the fare from Badda to Gulistan was previously set at Tk 10-12. But they had to pay Tk 20 for the trip, and it has now been raised to Tk 25.
“No buses ever followed the government’s fares list. They won’t now. My point is - the fare for Badda to Gulistan trips is supposed to be around Tk 15, even if they follow the new instructions.”
Ferdousi, an eighth-grader, makes a bus trip from Mirpur-1 to Azimpur Girls School and College every day with his mother. The fare was hiked from Tk 15 to Tk 20 on Monday.
“All the passengers are under pressure. Nobody notices how hard it is for us to pay the fares when it increases,” her mother said.