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Transport operators in the city as well as elsewhere in the country are extorting arbitrary bus fares from the commuters, violating their agreement with the government.
They raised bus fares between 20 and 50 per cent on different routes and distances on top of the fare fixed by the government following the recent increase of fuel prices.
The communications ministry increased bus and mini-bus fares by 11.11 per cent last September 14 after three rounds of discussions with different transport leaders.
The increased fares came into effect from October 1.
Apart from such diesel-powered buses, the transport operators have also raised fares on buses run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in the city although CNG prices remained unchanged.
Prior to price hike of fuel in early-September this year, different transport operators like Mega City, Citi Bus and others used to charge Tk 4.0 for a minimum distance for limited seat-capacity and 'gate-locked' services.
At present, they are charging Tk 2.0 on top of the earlier fixed fares.
The other smaller bus and mini-bus service providers have also increased their fares. "We're now charging Tk 3.0 instead of Tk 2.0 on the shortest distance", said Abdul Mannan, a mini-bus driver of Mirpur-Jatrabari route.
"I used to pay Tk 4.0 to avail such special services for a minimum distance stretching from National Press Club to Shahbag in the city, but now I have to pay Tk 6.0 for a similar distance" Shahin Akter, a bank official said while venting her frustrations.
Officials of Trans Silva (BD) Ltd., a special bus service run both on CNG and diesel, admitted that they were also charging higher fares both for CNG- and diesel-run buses.
Bikalpa (17), a CNG-run bus service, is also extorting extra fares from the passengers on different city routes.
Sajjad Hossain, a resident of Mirpur and a newsman, said that all the bus services plying on the Mirpur-Motijheel route had increased fares by a flat rate of Tk 2.0.
"Even, the state-run BRTC busses increased its fares from Tk 10 to Tk 12 for a distance covering Mirpur to Motijheel", he added.
Munir Ahmed, a resident of Konabari, said that he now has to pay Tk 32 instead of earlier Tk 27 to travel from Paltan to Konabari.
Abu Taher, a management trainee of a commercial firm in the city, said that transport operators had been charging Tk 2.0 extra at Tk 22, for commuting from Sonargaon to Motijheel.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority Director (Admin) Md Shuaib said that they would not take any action for violating government order as long as passengers do not lodge any formal complaint with them.
When asked about display of fare chart at a visible place inside the bus, he said that they would provide fare charts to the operators after completion of due procedure by the Roads and Highways Department.
"The process is likely to be complete within the next one week, after which the charts will be provided to the transport operators", he said.
In the meantime, bus movement was disrupted for more than six hours at south Chittagong last Thursday over charging illogical fares by the operators.
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