Editorial
Rush for tickets
Alleviate plight of commuters
The prevailing situation at both the bus and launch terminals in the city appears to be the same as in previous years. Apparently, advance ticket buyers are hard-put to find seats in buses and launches to be bound for southern part of the country from October 9 to 3. To add to the misery of the waterway passengers, operators of launches bound for Barisal,Chandpur and Khulna routes are charging double the fare fixed for a cabin.
Many bus owners are saying that this year the ticket crisis is severer compared to the previous years since old and unfit buses are kept off the roads through strong monitoring by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Besides, road stretches have been damaged due to floods so that certain routes are being avoided. Be that as it may, what is not understandable as to how tickets are being whisked away on the inter-district bus services routes. We understand that limited number of tickets are being issued.
With highly focused media display of meetings held between the Bus/Truck Owners Association and the various agencies of the government we had hoped to see some tangible improvement in the handling of Eid rush for travelling. The transport owners had promised to ensure that the commuters would not be charged more than the fixed fares. Renewed dialogue is needed between the government agencies and the transport operators.
It is our observation that much of the problems are due to non-availability of adequate number of both road transports and launches. Given some thoughts and proper planning well in advance much of the sufferings of people could be avoided. We are however happy to see that Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority ( BIWTA) has already agreed to increase trip frequencies to avoid overloading of passengers. We also recommend that similar arrangements be made by the Railway authorities.
Finally there should be continuous and effective monitoring of all bus and launch terminals for ensuring security and safety of passengers.
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