Pilot run pushed back to September

Originally scheduled for an April 1 launch, the proposed pilot to run buses under a single company on the Kanchpur Bridge-Ghatarchar route has been pushed back to September 7, said Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh yesterday.

The mayor, also chief of the Bus Route Rationalisation (BRR) committee -- formed to bring discipline to the capital's chaotic bus operations -- made the announcement after the 17th meeting of the committee held at the Nagar Bhaban.

Earlier, for the pilot, 155 buses were slated to run from April 1. The mayor said the launching date had to be pushed back due to delays caused by the coronavirus situation.

He said he and DNCC mayor Atiqul Islam has already visited Ghatarchar and selected 12 bighas of land to set up a bus depot.

Taposh said they have also taken an initiative to construct a bus-bay and passenger shed in the route.

He said they have already finalised the draft for the contract with the owners who will run the buses and prepared a guideline in this regard. The mayor said they will make the contract on July 29.

The mayor said they have another initiative to construct four bus terminals. The terminals will be constructed at Hemayetpur, Vaturia, Keraniganj and Kanchpur. Bangladesh Bank will allocate Tk 100 crore loan in this regard, sources said.

After the meeting, DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam said 1,646 buses in Dhaka are now running without any route permit, which one of the main reasons behind traffic congestion in the city.

The two city corporations and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority will conduct a joint drive against those buses from July, he said.

The initiative to rationalise the city's bus service was first taken by late mayor Annisul Huq. The plan looked to bring all buses in the capital under a few companies, each to be provided with permits for their respective routes and made responsible for proper public transport management and minimising congestion.

However, after his death in late 2017, the project lost momentum.

The issue came back to the fore after the 2018 road safety movement, where students demonstrated for safe roads following the death of two college students in a road accident in Dhaka on July 29.

On September 9 of that year, a 10-member committee -- comprising of representatives from government bodies, police, transport owners, workers and transportation experts -- was formed, with then DSCC mayor Sayeed Khokon as convener.

However, the project faltered again since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, as the committee failed to hold meetings for around six months.

Taposh resumed the meeting in October, 2020 and selected the pilot route after holding several meetings.