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Editorial

Students’ bus ride at half the fare

Meet their demands immediately


Bangladeshpost
Published : 22 Nov 2021 10:09 PM

Transport workers’ disrespectful behavior and rude attitude towards students especially the female centering half fare facility are unacceptable, to say the least. It is disconcerting to note that transport workers are mistreating the students when they are being asked about the half fare facility.

Students always pay half fare in public buses and minibuses for long but many transport companies do not follow this custom. As soon as the government increased bus fare in order to reflect the increase in diesel and kerosene prices, the transport workers have become more desperate to extract full fare from the students.  

It has been noticed over the last few days that in most cases, the protesting male students got locked altercation, vandalised vehicles, shattered glasses and windows, beat the transport workers in capital Dhaka, other metropolitan cities and district towns. The agitating students on Monday also staged demonstrations demanding passes for half fare in public transport. Besides, they were also seen shouting slogans and putting stickers on a number of buses that read, “Students will pay half fare on public transport”.


We hope the government will take the 

issue seriously and meet the students’ 

demand immediately


Students were also seen holding placards with slogans inscribed with 'We want justice,' 'Half fare is not begging but our right'.  The protesting students also threatened to go for a tougher movement if their demand is not met.

We hope the government will take the issue seriously and meet the students’ demand immediately.

On Sunday when a female student of Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls’ College student refused to pay extra fares, the helper used abusive words and acted indecently and threatened to rape her in the bus. We think paying half bus fares is students’ “right” as they do not have a source of income. Besides, it is not possible for a student to afford the increased bus fare.

Therefore, government, transport owners, workers and traffic police must take necessary measures to meet students’ demand alongside putting forth coordinated efforts to ensure an effective system to remove harassments of female students and anarchy in the sector. 

In this regard, mobile court should be conducted frequently to punish those who violate rules and harass female students. We need to make our transport system friendly for students. 

Besides, transport workers and other stakeholders must sit with the government to address the issue as early as possible.