Ride-sharing motorbikes rev up fare

With the increase in fuel prices, ride sharing motorbike fares are being hiked. Passengers are having to pay even over double the fare in some instances to commute in various areas of the capital city.

A rider charged his passenger Tk 150 instead of Tk 100 from Kalyanpur to Panthapath Saturday morning. The rider, Md Intaz Ali, told Prothom Alo that he charged his passenger Tk 150, where before he would charge Tk 80 to Tk 100 on the same trip.

Intaz Ali has been ride sharing for around two years. He said, "Fuel prices are on the rise, what can we do? If the prices increased by 10 to 15 taka, it would be okay. But this increase makes no sense."

Ujjal Hossain paid over double the fare coming to Karwan Bazar from Mirpur by ride-sharing motorbike. He normally pays Tk 120 but today had to pay Tk 250.

Many riders are not even taking passengers as the fare is inadequate. Md Majed Ali came to Panthapath at 8:00 in the morning, but didn't pick up any passengers till 11:00. He said, while talking to Prothom Alo, "I have turned away over 10 passengers since the morning. The passengers want to pay less than before, but we cannot even carry passengers for the same fare as before and so have been refusing them."

A motorcycle rider Shahid Miah took a passenger for a fare lower than normal. He charged the passenger Tk 130 to come from Badda to Shamarita Hospital on Panthapath. He said, "I wouldn't have come for less than Tk 150, but I was sitting idle and I had bought the fuel earlier. I would never have been able to charge so little if I had to buy fuel at the increased rates."