Farmgate-Uttara: Bus ride smoother than ever

Alauddin Hossain endures long tailbacks during his daily commute but his yesterday's experience was completely different.

"I couldn't just believe that I reached the airport area from Farmgate on a bus in just about half an hour," said an elated Alauddin.

The resident of Farmgate said the BRTC bus service has made his daily commute much easier.

Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) yesterday launched the bus service on the Uttara-Farmgate route via the Dhaka Elevated Expressway on a trial basis.

Like Alauddin, many other office goers were happy to avail the bus service as it helped them cut their travel time significantly.

They expressed content as they reached their destinations in a reasonably short time.

Gias Uddin said that people like him, who don't own a car, were not being able to take advantage of the expressway until yesterday.

"A Farmgate-airport trip by road would usually take a person around two hours. But the time has now come down to just about half an hour with the launch of the BRTC bus service via the expressway," he said.

Yesterday, eight double-deckers operated on the route from 11:25am.

After entering the expressway via the Bijoy Sarani ramp, the first BRTC bus paid toll at 11:50am and reached Kawla near the airport at 12:05pm.

Earlier, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary ABM Aman Ullah Nuri inaugurated the bus service on Manik Mia Avenue.

Speaking to reporters, he said, "We have launched this service on an experimental basis. Buses will operate from 7:30am every day. The service will continue as long as there will be passengers."

He said more buses will operate on this route if the number of passengers increases. Passengers can travel from Farmgate to the airport by paying the current BRTC bus fares, the secretary added.

The fare for a 15km Khejur Bagan-airport trip has been fixed at Tk 35 and the 17km Khejur Bagan-Jasimuddin Road trip at Tk 40. There is no scope for charging extra fares as tickets will be sold under e-ticketing system, BRTC sources said.

The toll for buses using the expressway has been set at Tk 160.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had opened the airport-Farmgate section of the expressway on September 2.