Dhaka public transport: How long dilapidated buses will ply

The passenger buses should be comfortable and clean as the expenditure of bus maintenance is taken from passengers as part of their fare, according to the law. Yet, the buses of Dhaka are not only unclean, they also make the passengers and their clothes dirty.

To earn extra bucks the owners of the buses add extra seats so the passengers have to fold their legs in the squeezed area and as the buses are not washed the seats become extremely dirty.

Not only inside the buses, but also the outside is not maintained. Most of the buses do not have headlights, body paints are faded and looking glasses as well as indicators are being broken. As a result, it becomes difficult for the vehicles behind them to anticipate their movements.

The buses also vie to pick up extra passengers and their tussles cause many deaths on the road.

Metrorail is the new addition to public transport in Dhaka. Private cars are shiny; Buses on the other hand are dirty.

Buses have been the mainstay of Dhaka's public transport since the 1980s. Why is the bus in such a state? Some reasons are known from transport owners, workers and transport experts.

Firstly, Dhaka's bus management system is flawed. About 6000 buses and minibuses ply in the capital and there are more than 2000 owners. These owners leave the buses in the hands of the drivers on contract in pursuit of higher income. A large proportion of bus-minibus owners are political leaders, activists or influential people. As a result, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) does not have much control over them and consequently flouting the rules has become norms.

Secondly, extortion is a routine thing in the transport sector. The issue of huge extortion is not taken into account while determining the passenger fare. So, the transport owners charge extra fare to collect the extorted money and also change the shape of the bus to carry extra passengers for earning more money. That is why the owners of the transport do not want to spend money on maintenance.

Thirdly, enforcement of the law is lacking. It is BRTA's responsibility to see whether the shape of the bus is changed or whether the comfort of the passengers is ensured. The organisation is unable to fulfill its responsibilities. Traffic police also hardly do their job in this regard.

There is a cost-analysis committee headed by BRTA to determine bus fares. They take into account 12 investment factors every time they decide to increase fares or permit a bus. And by identifying the 16 expenditure sectors, they find out how much money is spent on them annually. 10 per cent of profit is added to this and the fare per kilometer is determined. However, in many sectors expenditure is shown on paper, which does not exist.

According to the latest cost analysis in August last year, the purchase price of a bus was shown as Taka 3.5 million. Bank loan interest is Taka 1 million 50 thousand. Registration fees, cost of collection of number plates and owners' digital blue book are also collected from the passengers. In total, the cost of putting a bus on the road is estimated at Tk 4.5 million 92 thousand. The fixed age limit of a bus is 10 years.

According to the cost analysis, the renovation cost of each bus or minibus every five years is Tk 0.65 million. That is, the fare is determined assuming that Tk 1.35 million will be spent in this sector during the 10-year period of the bus. Apart from this, there are expenses for routine maintenance once every 25 days and scheduled repairs once in three months. Expenses for minor risks including accidents are also taken into consideration in determining fares.

The question is, despite purchasing a bus for Tk 3.5 million and spending 1.1 million for maintenance, why is such a hapless situation? According to owners-workers, in reality not much maintenance is done apart from buying fuel and altering engines and wheels in Dhaka buses. The owners do the minimum that is enough to run buses.

Another thing is, despite the lifespan being estimated at 10 years, in Dhaka the buses are older than that. That means the owners run the dilapidated buses even after acquiring their investment at the expense of immense perils to passengers. 

According to the Road Transport Act, a big bus will have 52 seats including that of driver. The number of seats in the minibus will be 31. In recent times, there are buses in between buses and minibuses, called 'omnibus'. These are registered as large buses by BRTA, with 36 to 38 seats.

On the surface, a 31-seater minibus has 36 to 40 seats; And a 36-seater bus has 40 to 45 seats. The number of seats in big buses has been increased to 60. It is completely against the law. Because of this, the passengers are not getting the comfort.

According to the Road Transport Act, every passenger must be allotted at least 16 inches of space to sit. The clear difference between two seats must be at least 26 inches. If the seats are facing each other the empty space must be doubled. But most of the buses do not follow this rule. There are many other things in the Road Transport Act. For example, more than the prescribed number of seats cannot be placed. Dhaka buses will operate with 95 per cent of seats filled; But most of the time passengers are transported standing in piles. It is completely prohibited to transport passengers by hanging on the doorsteps and doors. But who cares!

If there is too much criticism, BRTA imposes some fines by conducting mobile courts. But in front of everyone's eyes, day after day, month after month, year after year, irregularities and suffering of people go on.

According to Dhaka's 20-year strategic transport plan (revised), people in and around Dhaka make more than 20 million trips a day. 64 per cent of these are done by buses.

In 2018, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNSCAP) conducted a study on Dhaka's sustainable transport system.

Passengers' opinions were taken on eight issues. 62 per cent of the passengers felt that none of those eight were satisfactory. More than 67 per cent of people were unhappy about the comfort and cleanliness inside the bus.

In 2015, the erstwhile mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, Annisul Huq, took the initiative to reform the bus system. Plans also went a long way. But after his death the matter fell into uncertainty.

The current mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, has so far managed to run buses on three routes under Dhaka City Transport. These buses are fairly good; But there are also complaints about the service.

Many old dilapidated buses are visible on the streets in the capital. Low-income people have to board those buses to go to their destinations. Bangladesh's economy is moving forward, increasing per capita income, receiving recommendations for transition from least developed countries (LDCs), metro rail is in operation – but how compatible are Dhaka's buses with these? How long will this conundrum continue?