Fares raised by 45 paisa for city, 38 paisa for long distant buses

PBC News: A decision has been taken to withdraw nationwide transport strike following an agreement between the government and transport owners in the capital on Sunday.

Accordiing to the decision, the inter-district and long distant bus and minibus fare has been fixed at Tk 1.80 per kilometer, while the fares for buses and minibuses plying in the Dhaka and Chattogram metropolitan city have been fixed at Tk 2.15 and Tk 2.05 respectively.

The fare for long distant bus services has been re-fixed Tk 1.80 per km raising from Tk 1.42 per km. The fare of the buses and minibuses plying on the metropolitan cities has been re-fixed at Tk 2.15 per km raising from Tk 1.70 per km.

It is learnt that a notification will be issued tonight.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the leaders of Transport Owners’ Association with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) held at the BRTA office at Banani in the capital on Sunday morning in the wake of fuel price hike by the government.

BRTA chairman Noor Mohammad Mazumder is presiding over the meeting.

Bangladesh Road Transport Owners’ Association secretary general Khandker Enayet Ullah, Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners’ Association assistant general secretary Ramesh Ghosh, representatives from several government agencies and transport-related bodies, including the Bangladesh Transport Workers’ Federation, were present at the meeting.

Meanwhile, transport owners announced that buses and minibuses would ply from Sunday afternoon following reaching an agreement with the BRTA to raise the fares. Bus and goods carrying trucks’ strike have also been withdrawn.

The government hiked diesel and kerosene prices by Tk 15 to Tk 80 per litre on Wednesday, citing a volatile global market for crude oil and smuggling to neighbouring India. In response, transport owners and workers enforced an indefinite nationwide strike, demanding either a rise in fares or lifting fuel price hike.