Committee recommends launch fare hike up to 50%

A working committee, tasked with re-fixing the launch fare, has recommended that the government can raise the fare by a minimum of 19% to a maximum of 50%, against the launch owners' demand of doubling the fare.

Additional Secretary (Ministry of Shipping) SM Ferdous, head of the working committee, told The Business Standard that the owners may accept up to 50% increase of the launch fares.

The committee recommended that the government can raise the fare by 19%, 22%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 42% or 50%, added the additional secretary.

Earlier, the shipping ministry Secretary Mustafa Kamal said the demand, put forth by the launch owners, to double the fare in the aftermath of the recent fuel price hike, is unreasonable.

"A working committee has been formed for this. The committee will propose to the government by today and the fare will be increased accordingly," he said on Monday after meeting the launch owners at the secretariat.

"We are hoping to issue a notification by tomorrow [today] or by 10 August," added the secretary.

When oil prices were hiked by Tk15 a litre last November, launch fares were hiked by 35%. Then the fare for up to 100km was increased from Tk1.70 to Tk2.30 per km and for above 100km the fare was increased from Tk1.40 to Tk2.

Besides, the minimum fare per person was increased from Tk18 to Tk25.

Meanwhile, the launch owners' association has written to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), demanding to double the launch fares due to the fuel oil price hike.

The owners proposed to increase the current fare from Tk2.30 to Tk4.60 per km up to 100km and Tk2 to Tk4 per km for routes above 100km.

In view of this, the Ministry of Shipping held a meeting with the launch owners, but there was no decision about the rent.

Bus fare anarchy continues

Incidents of scuffle between passengers and transport staff over the bus fare in city buses were reported on Monday (8 August) like the previous day. The passengers alleged that buses were charging more than the government fixed fare.

Although the buses were supposed to hoist a fare chart, none of the buses were found to have any. Rather, the transport staffers continued to charge extra fare.

People alleged that Shikor Paribahan charged Tk10 more than usual as fare from Mirpur-10 to Gulistan. 

"The fare from Mirpur-10 to Gulistan used to be Tk30. But the Shikor Paribahan bus charged Tk45," said Sharara Prothoma, a passenger.

"The bus attendant asked me to get down from the bus unless I was willing to pay the higher fare," she added.

Passengers in other bus routes also made similar complaints.

At present, the government has set a fare of Tk2.50 per kilometre for city transport in Dhaka and Chattogram and Tk2.20 for long-distance 51-seater buses.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has published the fare chart of various bus-minibus routes on its website on Monday night according to the newly fixed fare.

Meanwhile, the number of passengers in long-distance buses has decreased despite the adjustment according to the new fare.

"We are giving tickets as per the fare fixed by the government. But suddenly our passengers have decreased. Most of the transport companies are having to cancel trips due to lack of passengers," said Provat Roy, manager of Syamoli NR Paribahan.

Besides, some of the passengers who are coming are reluctant to pay the new fare, he added.