Farhana Neela works at a private company. She has to travel to different parts of Dhaka, so she commutes using ride-sharing motorcycles.
This morning, Sunday, she travelled from ECB Chattar in Mirpur to Road 70 in Gulshan-2 for office work. This correspondent spoke to her there.
Farhana said, “Earlier, it used to cost around Tk 100 to come here from ECB Chattar. Today, I had to pay Tk 140. The rider mentioned fuel shortages and increased prices.”
Amid the global fuel crisis, fuel prices in the country have now reached the highest level in its history. Last night, Saturday, the government issued a notification increasing fuel prices.
It stated that the price per litre has been set at Tk 115 for diesel, Tk 130 for kerosene, Tk 140 for octane, and Tk 135 for petrol. The new prices came into effect from Sunday.
The impact of the fuel price hike has already begun to be felt in daily life. At the start of the first working day of the week, many office-goers like Farhana Neela had to pay higher fares for ride-sharing motorcycles than before.
However, motorcycle riders say that fuel is already difficult to obtain, and prices have increased on top of that. Therefore, they are compelled to charge higher fares.
This correspondent travelled from Bashundhara Residential Area to Gulshan this morning on a ride-sharing motorcycle. The rider, Md Musa Khandakar, said he had stood in line for nearly seven hours last night to get fuel. After that, he heard about the price hike.
Musa Khandakar said, “It already takes a long time just to get fuel. Now prices have increased again. Fares will obviously go up. If the apps do not adjust fares, we will have to ask customers for a bit more money.”
Another commuter Jafar Iqbal also spoke to this correspondent in Gulshan area. He lives in Basila of Mohammadpur. Due to his job at a private company, he has to travel to Gulshan daily by motorcycle. He said he booked a ride through a ride-sharing app this morning from the Basila Bridge area and paid Tk 240.
The man said, “Yesterday afternoon, it cost Tk 187 to return from the office. This morning it became Tk 240. I had to use a rented motorcycle because my own one had no fuel.”
Nazhatul Towa came to Gulshan-2 from Farmgate. She works in a private company and has been attending a training programme here for the past three days. Compared to the previous two days, she had to pay a higher fare today.
Nazhatul said, “Yesterday, I came by a ride-sharing motorcycle booked through an app for Tk 150. This morning, I had to pay Tk 220.”