Budget again ignores public transport

At least half of the urban population in Bangladesh does not have the convenient access to the public transport. An international study unveiled the finding a few years ago, based on data from 2020. It showed that around 51.80 per cent of the country's urban population have some convenient access to public transport. The same report, prepared by Our World in Data, mentioned that the ratio was 45 per cent in Sri Lanka, 39 per cent in India and 19 per cent in Pakistan. It means that, despite many problems, access to public transport in Bangladesh is better compared to that of peer countries in South Asia. Nevertheless, regular commuters in Dhaka and other major urban centres of the country may differ with the data, as they have to bear with the inconvenience of accessing public transport.

The globally recognised benchmark for convenient access to public transport is the distance from a location to a public transport node is not more than 500 meters so that it can be conveniently covered on foot. The convenience criteria also include the availability of buses and trains, especially during peak hours, adequate boarding and disembarking facilities in these transports, and stoppages at safe and comfortable locations. Although it is not always difficult in Dhaka to reach a public transport node by walking 500 meters or less, other amenities are largely absent. There is no timetable for public buses.  A safe and comfortable bus stop is almost nowhere to be found. Moreover, the majority of public buses in Dhaka are mini-buses, which are unable to accommodate a large number of passengers at a time. Again, many of these buses are dilapidated and continue to pollute the air by spewing out thick clouds of black smoke, causing environmental pollution.

Over the years, a number of attempts have been made by the governments to make bus-oriented public transport efficient. Most of the moves fail due to flawed planning and mismanagement. The overhead metro rail, introduced a few years ago, is the only efficient and convenient public transport in Dhaka, which has already gained tremendous popularity. There is a long-term plan to expand the metro rail network by constructing five additional routes, which may take two to three decades to complete. In the meantime, demand for public buses is expected to remain high even after all six metro routes become fully operational.  Instead, better public buses are necessary to complement the metro rail and make overall public transportation more efficient in the long run.

Attempts to discipline the public bus service have failed time and again, mainly due to the strong presence of rent-seekers in the sector. The Hasina regime provided political patronage, making the rent-seekers very powerful. The result is the criminalisation of the public bus sector. Even ten months after the fall of the autocratic regime of Hasina, the Yunus-led interim government has failed to make any tangible changes in the sector. It is now under the grip of newly emerged rent-seekers.

The proposed budget for the next fiscal year (FY26) also fails to address the issues relating to revamping the country's public transport, such as allocating a portion of the transport budget to replace the existing ramshackle public buses with newer, better ones. 

Moreover, the advance taxes on various types of public buses have been increased, which will take effect from the next fiscal year. For instance, a commercially running bus having 52 or more seats will be subject to Tk 25,000 advance income tax annually, which is now Tk 16,000. In a similar vein, buses having seats less than 52 will be charged Tk 20,000 instead of Tk 11,500. For air-conditioned buses, the tax will be much higher. No doubt that bus operators will charge extra fair to cover the tax hike, and passengers have to pay the ultimate price.

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