Bubbles burst
The BRTA has suspended for 15 days its drive against “seating”, “nonstop”, “gate-lock” and other so-called special bus services in the capital, apparently giving in to pressure from transport owners.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority took the decision in a meeting yesterday, a day after Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader publicly expressed helplessness over the matter.
“Another meeting will be called in those 15 days to find out how the seating service can be brought under a legal framework,” said Khandaker Enayetullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity. He was one of the participants of yesterday's meeting.
Meanwhile, passengers' rights campaigners and commuters expressed frustration at the BRTA decision, saying the government body gave in to pressure from the bus owners. They also termed the decision a defeat of the government and the people to the transport operators.
“This will set a bad example in the history of transport sector and will have an adverse impact on the sector in future,” said Ilias Kanchan, chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai, a platform working for ensuring road safety. He also took part in the meeting.
“What was the necessity of launching such a drive, if you would stop it midway? Today's decision will definitely make the transport owners and workers more desperate,” said Mahmud Khayer, a private job holder who was waiting for a bus near Farmgate intersection yesterday.
Recently, the BRTA and the transport owners announced that no public transport would operate in the city in the name of “special” services from Sunday.
The same day, the BRTA launched the drive against the services with which bus operators have long been charging passengers extra.
Soon after the drive began, many transport operators withdrew buses from the road to artificially create a transport crisis in the capital. As a result, the commuters suffered badly for the last four days.
They did it to mount pressure on the authorities to stop the drive, said one of the members of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity, wishing not to be named.
As of January, the city had some 6,000 buses run by private operators. In addition, the state-run BRTC operates about 100 buses.
Following the drive, private operators took some 25 to 30 percent of their buses off the roads, Iqbal Ahmed, a traffic inspector (Tejgaon) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said on Tuesday.
Amid this, Obaidul Quader, while talking to reporters at the secretariat, expressed helplessness, saying, “What can I do? If someone keeps his buses off the road showing various excuses, can we bring them back on the street forcibly?”
Even after that, many hailed the drive hoping it would bring a “positive change“ in the transport sector.
YESTERDAY'S MEETING
The BRTA yesterday held the meeting at its office in the capital's Elenbari in the wake of the transport crisis.
Of the participants, 40 were representatives of the bus owners while four were from the police. The civil society had just one representative, said meeting sources.
From the very beginning, some of the bus owners behaved as if the BRTA drive had already been over, said the sources, adding some of them suggested suspending the drive.
At one stage, BRTA Chairman Mashiar Rahman left the room. He, however, returned after some time and declared that the drive had been suspended for 15 days.
Mashiar said they would continue their drive against unfit vehicles and drivers without licences.
He also said the bus operators would have to follow the fare fixed by the government during the period. Otherwise, they would be punished, added the sources.
Talking to The Daily Star last night, Abul Mansur Bulbul, publicity secretary of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity, said, “The BRTA took the decision in the face of the transport crisis that surfaced after many owners kept their buses of the streets amid the BRTA drive.”
He said the crisis deepened as drives against unfit vehicles and drivers without licence had already been underway.
Comments