Bus strike ‘to stop three-wheelers’: Easybike drivers enjoy 5 times regular income

Just a day ahead of the BNP rally in Rangpur, the district transport owners' association called for a 36-hour strike on Friday saying that they were protesting against the battery-run three-wheelers on the highways.

The strike, however, has turned out to be a blessing for the three-wheeler drivers.

Some of the three-wheeler drivers, as they shared with The Daily Star, earned between Tk 3,000 and Tk 3,500 a day during the strike. Their average daily income stays between Tk 600 and Tk 800.

Dalilur Rahman, a three-wheeler driver in Rangpur, said there were around 30,000 three-wheelers in the city.

As heavy vehicles were out of operations during the strike, most of these three-wheelers started plying on long routes including Rangpur-Parbatipur, Rangpur-Saidpur, Rangpur-Phulbari, Rangpur-Lalmonirhat, he added.

There are five entry points to Rangpur. Of those, the Rangpur-Kurigram road is the entry point for the people of Lalmonirhat and Kurigram, the Dinajpur-Rangpur road for the people of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh, and the Rangpur-Bogura road is for the people of Gaibandha and Bogura.

Besides, there are two more regional routes -- Phulbari-Rangpur and Rangpur-Parbatipur -- that can be used to enter Rangpur.

This correspondent visited all these entry points on Friday night and Saturday morning and found a large number of people entering Rangpur using these routes.

The majority of this crowd went to Rangpur by the three-wheelers.

Mahbubur Rahman, a leader of Kurigram BNP's Nageswari upazila unit, said he and other activists used 50 three-wheelers to cross a 100km road and reach Rangpur.

One-way three-wheeler charge for this distance was Tk 3,500, he added.

Dulal Mia, another three-wheeler driver of Mahiganj Satmatha, said he was charging a traveller to Rangpur from Kaunia Tk 150. Eight people could travel on his easy bike. He has been earning Tk 4,000 a day.

Abdul Jalil, a leader of Panchagarh BNP, said he and other activists reached Rangpur riding around 200 three-wheelers.

Meanwhile, the transport workers in Kamarpara and Rangpur Central bus terminal were frustrated as their earnings were affected because of the strike.

Mominul Islam, a helper of the Dhaka-bound bus, said he received no payment for the days.

Abdul Aziz, a driver of another Dhaka-bound bus, echoed him.

BNP Vice Chairman AZM Zahid Hossain alleged the government enforced the strike using the transport workers' leaders and bus owners. But nothing could stop people from joining the rally.