Take action against overcharging bus operators

Immediately after the government increased bus and minibus fares due to the fuel price hike, many bus operators in Dhaka and Chattogram have started charging passengers more than the government-fixed fares. While the government increased bus fares up to 28 percent, many operators were found to be charging as much as 50 percent higher. Unfortunately, the ongoing mobile court drives have not been able to prevent them from overcharging the passengers.

What is even more concerning is that, taking advantage of the situation, many CNG-run vehicles have also raised their fares, further exacerbating the sufferings of the commuters. Since the new bus fares came into force on November 8, as many as 10 mobile courts of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) have been conducting drives to prevent bus operators from overcharging. According to BRTA, of the 245 buses that were fined on November 14 in the two cities, 198 were diesel-run, while the rest were 49 CNG-run.

Reportedly, the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association's decision to abolish seating and gate lock services to lower the bus fares have not yielded much result as yet. Ignoring the decision, many buses were found to be charging the passengers extra in the name of providing seating service.

The irregularities regarding the bus fares were bound to happen, given the fact that our bus operators have always tried to make profit at the expense of the passengers' sufferings. As such, the authorities concerned should have put a plan in place to mitigate the sufferings of the public before hiking the bus fares. People are already bearing the brunt of rising prices of essentials—and the exorbitant bus fares have only added to their woes.

Under the circumstances, in order to lessen the sufferings of commuters, the authorities must take action against the bus operators who are overcharging. In addition, the mobile court drives should continue, and if needed, more mobile courts should be deployed to bring the situation under control. All the buses must have a printed list of bus fares pasted on their vehicles to avoid overcharging, while the CNG-run ones should use stickers on their buses mentioning that they are CNG-run. We strongly urge the authorities to take legal action against the bus companies for overcharging and other irregularities.