Bus operators stare at losses

Bus services, the main mode of passenger transportation in Bangladesh, have been shut for nearly a week in the wake of violence centring the quota reform movement and the subsequent imposition of a nationwide curfew by the government.

The shutdown not only deprived operators from carrying passengers and earning revenue, but also caused them to incur huge losses. This is because they still have to bear expenses to repay bank loans, pay salaries to employees and pay counter rent.

There is no exact estimate of losses, but a top leader of a bus operators' association said inter-district operators have been losing out on at least Tk 18 crore in daily revenue since Friday, when they stopped plying the roads amid escalating violence.

Around 30,000 buses ply inter-district routes daily under around 200 companies. Each bus is losing at least Tk 6,000 in revenue daily, said Khandker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Road Transport Owner's Association.

The loss is even greater if fixed expenditures are factored in.

Bangladesh has over 83,000 registered buses, with private investment in the business growing in line with the expansion of national and regional highways.

The country now has roughly 4,000 kilometres of national highways and 4,900 kilometres of regional highways.

Buses carry roughly 70 percent of passengers, followed by inland waterways, rail and air.

Enayet estimated overall investment in the sector by private operators at several thousands of crore taka, saying that they are the first victims of any violence or unrest.

He added that the sector directly employs around 10 lakh individuals.

Enayet said their business suffered heavily when a lockdown was imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Operators did not get support from the government, nor did banks defer interest and instalment payments, he said.

Md Abdur Sattar, general manager of Green Line, an air-conditioned bus service provider, said they have not been operating for a week due to the ongoing violence and curfew.

Green Line operates over 100 air-conditioned buses on eight routes, he said, adding that they have 47 counters and around 400 staff members.

"Although we are not operating, our unavoidable costs (fixed costs) are almost Tk 1.5 crore per day, including rent of counters, staff salary and utility charge," he said.

"We have no revenue because our operations are stopped, but bank interest will still have to be paid," he said.

However, he said they would not need to pay drivers, conductors or helpers as their job is under the master roll, meaning they are not paid when operations are halted.

A number of their buses were stranded in different districts, Sattar said, adding that they even had to repay passengers who had booked trips in advance as those were cancelled.

He further said that miscreants had vandalised three of their buses.

"But we have to accept reality as we have no alternative," he lamented.

Moshareff Hossain, general manager of Hanif Paribahan, said they will resume operations after getting the green signal from the government.

On the other hand, sources at the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation said they are yet to get any order regarding bus operations from government high-ups.

SM Nadiruzzaman, managing director of Dola Paribahan, which operate buses on the Dhaka-Khulna and Dhaka-Pirojpur routes, said they have also faced huge business losses due to unavoidable circumstances like other operators.

"Although we did not need to pay salary to the drivers and support staff, we have to provide food to the staff and allowances to those who take care of the vehicles. That amount is not low at all," he said.

He added that they had decided to begin operating from today as the government has relaxed the curfew hours.

Shuvenkar Ghosh, proprietor of Shyamoli NR Travels, said they already started to operate considering the plight of their workers. As they needed to make a living, the company decided to operate on a limited scale on very limited routes, he said.

"Despite starting operations, the number of passengers is very low. If the number of passengers rises, we will increase the number of buses on all routes," he said.

Ghosh, also joint secretary of the Bangladesh Bus, Truck Owners' Association, said other operators will also start operations soon.