Public transport services have resumed amid the ongoing restrictions from May 6, as the government decided to allow bus services to operate within the cities across the country.
Although strict instructions and conditions were given regarding the resumption of public transports, most of them are being violated.
Buses plying on different routes in the capital were seen filled with almost 100 percent of its seating capacity on Thursday. Passengers were sitting beside each other without maintaining physical distance.
Many of them complained that the bus contractors are charging double fares, but no seats were kept vacant. Meanwhile, the bus operators said that they are facing hardship even covering the cost of fuel.
Most bus drivers and helpers didn’t pay any heed to the passengers complaining against carrying commuters in all seats. Some passengers were voluntarily sitting beside another person to pay less fare. Most of the passengers were also found not using face masks.
Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers' welfare platform, told Bangladesh Post that their organization has tried earlier to alert the government about the maintenance of health safety guidelines in public transports.
He said that the bus owners should not be given the responsibility of ensuring health guidelines.
“The government has issued a circular regarding the resumption of public transports and the conditions that have to be obeyed during this time. But we haven’t been able to build such a country yet, where we can make people follow all the rules just by issuing a notification.”
He suggested that Bangladesh Army should be given the responsibility to ensure that government directives are followed in public transports. During the first lockdown when the army started patrolling, people became much more aware.
Regarding the additional fare, he said that the government hiked bus fare by 60 percent on the existing rate. But in some cases, bus operators are charging 150 to 200 percent extra fare as the majority of bus services overcharged passengers earlier even during the pre-pandemic period. Now they are charging the extra fare based on that rate.
Acknowledging the helplessness of transport workers, he said that the bus drivers and helpers belong to the group of low-income citizens.
“They are desperately charging extra fares as they also had to face severe consequences during the lockdown due to the ban on public transports. Moreover, the extortion collected from transport workers has doubled during the lockdown. The passengers and transport workers are bearing the brunt of this extortion.”
People of low income are preferring to walk short distances as they cannot afford to pay the hiked fare, meanwhile, the transport workers are facing huge financial losses due to lack of passengers.
Public transport services were suspended across the country on April 5, when the government announced a lockdown in a bid to prevent the transmission of coronavirus.
However, the government allowed resumption of city bus services on April 7. Later, the government ordered a complete ban on public transports from April 14. The suspension was lifted and intra-city buses were allowed to operate since May 6 after a shutdown of three weeks.