Metro rail: BRTC to provide shuttle service from Thursday

Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation will be offering shuttle service to metro rail passengers from Thursday, which is when the country's first metro rail will be opened to public.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Uttara-Agargaon section of the metro rail tomorrow.

"We have readied 50 double decker buses for the service and will deploy buses according to demand," BRTC Chairman Tazul Islam told The Daily Star today.

A BRTC official has said they have decided to deploy 30 buses for now as metro rail authorities will not go for full-fledged service from the beginning. The number of buses will be increased later, he told this newspaper wishing not to be named.

BRTC buses will have two routes in the first stage. One route will cover Agargaon-Farmgate-Shahbagh-Motijheel, while another route will be from Diabari to Uttara's housebuilding.

BRTC will provide the services following an agreement signed with Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), the implementing and operating agency of the metro rail, last month.

DMTCL has arranged the shuttle bus services as they are going to launch partial operation of country's first ever metro rail formally known as Mass Rapid Transit Line-6 or MRT Line-6 from Uttara to Agargaon.