It’s official. From Wednesday, all students will get a 50 percent discount on bus fares in the Dhaka metropolitan area.
The announcement by the Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association on Tuesday comes in the wake of mass student protests over the past week.
“However, the reduced fares will only be allowed in the Dhaka metropolitan area as the students here have demanded it,” Khandaker Enayet Ullah, the secretary of the Association, told the media. “The students will have to produce their institutional ID cards to avail the concessional fares.”
However, the discounted fares for students will be allowed only from 7am to 8 pm and it will not be applicable on government holidays, weekly holidays and other holidays of educational institutions, said Khandaker.
On Friday, the Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had asked them to reduce fares by 50% in state-run buses.
On November 3, the government raised the prices of diesel and kerosene by Tk 15 per litre, prompting the transporters to enforce an indefinite strike in the country on November 7 demanding a hike in bus fares.
Amid the worsening public woes caused by the transport strike, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) raised the bus fares of intra-city and inter-district buses by 26.5% and 27%, respectively.
Following the hike in fares, students started demonstrating in the streets demanding half fares in public transport vehicles for them. Hundreds of students, particularly from Dhaka College, took to the streets to press for their demand.
On November 20, students from two colleges – Dhaka College and Ideal College — vandalised 10-12 buses in the Science Laboratory area, demanding a 50% discount on bus fares in the city for students.
On November 23, students from other colleges joined the protests.
