Union of CNG auto-rickshaw drivers seek raise in fare

Dhaka Auto-rickshaw Workers Union yesterday wrote a letter to the road transport and bridges minister in this regard. However, it did not mention any rate for the hiked fare.

Hanif Khokon, general secretary of the union, said a 10-member committee determines the fare of CNG-run auto-rickshaws. He hoped it would fix a new fare considering all relevant issues.

Led by the chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the committee has representatives from transport owners, workers, and the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, said Hanif, also a member of the body.

The union took the move around a month after the energy regulator decided to increase gas prices from July 1. Under the revised gas tariff, the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been increased by 7.5 percent.

The letter said the government hiked gas prices four times since September 2015, but the fare of CNG-run auto-rickshaws was last increased in November 2015.

At that time, the fare for travelling first two kilometres was hiked to Tk 40 from Tk 25. The rate for travelling each km next was fixed at Tk 12 and the waiting charge was fixed at Tk 2 per minute.

Previously, the rate was Tk 25 for the first two km and Tk 7.64 for each km next. The waiting charge was Tk 1.40 per minute.

According to the existing fare structure, the drivers have to pay Tk 900 daily to the vehicle owners as deposit money, up from Tk 600.

The union’s letter argued that a CNG-auto-rickshaw driver has to spent an additional Tk 100 daily as the increased CNG price has not been adjusted with the fare. Besides, the living expenses of the drivers almost doubled in the last three and a half years, making their lives miserable, it added.

Hanif said their union represents 9,273 workers. He said some 30,000 CNG-run auto-rickshaws run in the capital and around half of them are illegal.

DEMAND OPPOSED

Denouncing the price hike proposal, Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, general secretary of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, said it was a new “attempt to cheat the people.”

Almost all the CNG-run auto-rickshaws were running on contract with passengers instead of metered fares, he told The Daily Star last night.

“Then why are they asking for hiking the fare? This is nothing but an ill attempt to make the CNG-run auto-rickshaw rides costlier.”

A survey conducted by the Samity during last Ramadan showed that almost all the CNG-run auto-rickshaws in the city were running under contract with passengers, which costs them three to four times more than the meter fare.

Besides, 93 percent auto-rickshaw drivers do not want to go to passengers’ desired destinations, it found.