THIS is unfortunate that the project for bus route rationalisation in Dhaka has so far not given a chance to see whether the outcome would bring any order on the road and how far it could smoothen public transport management. The initiative to launch company-based bus operation under the project keeps going through hiccups. Whilst the initiative, which began in 1997 under the Dhaka Urban Transport Project aimed at bringing order on the road and ease in traffic congestion, has not been able to get off on an effective start until now, it ran into a problem earlier this year. The government initiative was meant to launch the company-based bus service on nine routes on a pilot basis, beginning on February 25, as the adviser to the interim government on road transport and bridges said in December 2024. But the Dhaka Road Transport Owners’ Association on February 4 announced a similar bus operation under 21 companies on the Abdullahpur route in the Uttara area beginning on February 6. Two similar attempts under the government project were rendered unsuccessful earlier as private companies did not stop running buses on the routes.

The government initiative has this time run into another problem, with a dispute having surfaced regarding bus routes. An inter-ministerial committee on April 23 decided to introduce company-based bus services on 21 new routes. This falls beyond the jurisdiction of the Dhaka Metro Passengers and Goods Transport Committee, formed keeping to the Road Transport Rules 2022, replacing the Dhaka Regional Transport Committee, that approved the new routes. But the committee, with 12 of its 31 members from the police, is mandated only to approve, in coordination with the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, route permits and the number of buses that would run on the routes. The Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority Act 2012, rather, mandates only the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority to work out strategic plans for Dhaka’s transport sector and to work out plans for transport routes, enforce guidelines and set routes and lanes. The Transport Coordination Authority, which is planning 42 routes for 22 proposed bus companies under nine clusters, on June 26 sent its opinions and observations on the 21 routes that the inter-ministerial committee has created, noting that 17 of the new routes would overlap with the routes already under the project and three other routes would not be viable.

The government should, therefore, see that the company-based city bus service project does not go through further hiccups. The initiative, which has failed to get off the ground effectively in about 28 years, should be given a chance.