Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon said bus route rationalization will be completed by December 2020 as all the buses hitting the streets to ply 22 routes will be brought under six companies.
The pledges came in a press briefing at the Nagar Bhaban, after he sat with the stakeholders of the public transport sector on Wednesday afternoon.
He also said that the circular bus service will be launched in the Motijheel area by the end of April, and in Uttara, early next month.
A feasibility study on the Gulistan-Jatrabari route via Sadarghat for the circular bus service will be completed very soon, the mayor furthered.
“Since 2020 is going to be marked as Mujib Year – on the occasion of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s 100th birth anniversary – we planned to pay our profound tribute to the great leader by bringing discipline on the roads,” Khokon said.
He went on to say the bus companies will be allowed to run their buses in the six colours: pink, orange, green, violet, maroon, and blue.
Wednesday’s meeting was the sixth, ever since a committee on ensuring road safety and restoring discipline was formed with Mayor Khokon working as its convener. The other members include his Dhaka north city counterpart, Md Atiqul Islam.
In the fifth meeting of the committee held on April 3, the DSCC mayor had said some 4,500 new buses—half of which will be air conditioned—will be introduced in the capital, whereas, all old buses will be removed.
Abul Kalam Azad, principal coordinator of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) Chairman Farid Ahmed Bhuiyan and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Chairman Md Moshiar Rahman, were present at the meeting.
The Dhaka north and south city corporations launched the circular service on March 27 on two routes. As per the plan, four AC buses are plying the between Dhanmondi and Azimpur, and four double-deckers are hitting the second (Abdullahpur-Motijheel) route.
