Passengers hostage to city bus services
Introduction of ticket system for the bus services in the port city has become virtually ineffective due to non-compliance with the traffic rules by a section of owners and drivers, causing untold sufferings to the commuters.
The traffic department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) imposed a rule on the city buses to ply through counter-based service on April 14 in a bid to ease the passengers' hassles and streamline the service.
The system was launched to force the buses to carry passengers according to the seat capacity and to stop dropping and taking passengers from unscheduled stoppages.
Besides commuters are to wait for long time at the makeshift ticket counters after purchasing tickets everyday as the buses come after long intervals.
Female commuters are the worst sufferers failing to get into the buses after scuffling amid the huge rush due to inadequate buses.
CMP (traffic) and joint forces in a joint survey said around 50 per cent of 840 city service buses are not plying in 11 routes in the port city despite taking route permits from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
Deputy Commissioner (traffic) Abu Sufian said around 420, out of 840 buses, ply in different routes while the remaining buses ply outside the city or some carry staffs of different factories in the CEPZ on contract.
After launching of the counter-service, BRTA provided route permits to 75 buses to ply in each route while around 90 buses to the busiest route No. 10.
But the survey shows around 60 buses ply in route No. 10 a day while the picture in other routes is frustrating.
Sources said a section of bus owners started keeping their buses off the city roads since launching of the counter service to spoil the system.
Toufique, a passenger, alleged that the bus owners were unhappy with the counter service as they can't carry the passengers beyond the capacity.
So they started non-cooperation from the very beginning and kept their transport off the roads, creating the crisis, he added.
President of Transport Owners' Forum Lokman Hakim said a section of owners keep their buses off the roads and ply on routes outside the cities.
Md Mamun, working in a shop, said passengers are the ultimate sufferers, as they are to face hassles even after paying so much.
He said the fare was Tk 6 from his residence at Bahaddarhat Terminal to his workplace at Choumuhani -- a distance of 4.5 kilometre -- before introduction of the new system that is Tk 8.
“And now I am to pay Tk 10 for the same distance following the fuel price hike but still I am to make my journey standing most of the time,” Mamun said. Sometimes he is to wait for more than half an hour for a space inside a bus, he added.
Authorities concerned at a meeting of Regional Transport Committee (RTC) at CMP Headquarters on July 20 decided to take stern action against the owners for keeping their buses off the city roads.
BRTA Assistant Director Sheikh Ataullah Chowdhury said they are making list of the culprit buses and issuing show cause notices in this regard since Tuesday.
The owners will be given 10-day time to show cause for keeping the transports off the road, Ataullah said, adding that route permits of the buses will be cancelled if they fail to reply timely and the permits will be given to new ones.
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