Bus fare row halts major city service

A scared child with her blind parents and sister hurriedly gets down from a bus after passengers infuriated at bus operators for not reducing fares started vandalising the bus at Mirpur in the capital yesterday.Photo: Anisur Rahman

Bus link between Mirpur and Gulistan remained suspended for about five hours yesterday following a row between workers and passengers about fares, causing severe transport crisis since morning.
Different bus operators did not run their buses from 8:30am to 1:30pm and barred other operators from plying their vehicles.
Hundreds of commuters could not reach their workstations, while many others were seen stranded at different points on the busy route. Besides, many walked in a desperate bid to attend their offices in time.
The angry commuters went on the rampage and vandalised over 12 buses.
Earlier at about 8:00am at Farmgate, staffs of a Mirpur-bound bus from Gulistan had an altercation with passengers, who pressed for reduced bus fares citing the recent cut in fuel prices.
At one stage, the angry passengers manhandled the employees of Safety Paribahan that led to a wildcat strike on the route.
Witnesses said different bus companies called the strike and forced others to keep their buses off the road.
The commuters became helpless in absence of transport and many of them in an angry move vandalised several vehicles parked on the road.
The bus communications, however, resumed with the police intervention later.
Anwar Hossain, DMP's deputy commissioner of Mirpur Zone, told The Daily Star, "The hassle between passengers and bus employees was followed by misunderstanding over bus fares."
"We asked the protesting operators not to create obstacle to other buses and also detained some of the employees who tried to resist others," he said.
The government has meanwhile reduced fares of diesel-run inter-district and long-haul vehicles by Tk 0.07 per kilometre following the reduction in diesel oil price by Tk 7 per litre.
However, fares of CNG-run buses and minibuses operating in Dhaka and Chittagong metropolises remain unchanged at Tk 1.2 and Tk 1.1 per kilometre respectively, says a PID handout.
It adds fares of CNG-run buses and minibuses running on the roads of the districts adjacent to Dhaka and Chittagong will also remain unchanged.