Transport fares to go up soon
Staff Correspondent
In the wake of increases in the prices of diesel and kerosene the fares of passenger carrying buses and launches will shortly be increased by as much as 15 percent, The Daily Star has learnt.Launch owner leaders said they will increase the fare in the next couple of days while road transport leaders said they intend taking increased fares after about 10 days. In December last year, the government increased the prices of kerosene and diesel by about Tk 3 a litre. The road transport leaders say that the new fares will match the fares set out in the government fare-chart set by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). This would mean that for each kilometre the new fares would not be higher than 72 paisa for large buses and 75 paisa for mini buses. Saiful Alam, president, Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity yesterday told The Daily Star that buses were "currently taking far less than the BRTA fare rate." He said that they will sit with the Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association, another government recognised national body in the transport sector. Khaza Golam Morshed Pintu, assistant general secretary of Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association said they will have an internal meeting today on this issue and will decide from when they will start taking the increased fare from the passengers. The river transport leaders told The Daily Star they have put forward a proposal to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) for increasing the fare. For journeys less than 100 kilometers, they have proposed a fare rise of ten paisas from 75 to 85 paisas. Journeys over 100 kilometers would increase from 64 to 75 paisa. M Kolimullah, president of the Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger vessels) Association told The Daily Star that the authority is yet to respond. "We will start taking higher fares within the next couple days. We hope that our proposal will be approved by the BIWTA authority tomorrow. But we will not wait for that approval as we are now carrying passengers whilst having to pay the higher fuel prices," Kolimullah said. Syed Monwar Hossain, director, port and traffic, BIWTA said that the Authority was looking over the proposal. However, he said although the owners proposed to increase fare by 30 percent they would not allow more than a 10 percent increase.
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