Minister Quader, operators question new post-lockdown transport rules

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader and bus operators have questioned new rules stipulating the use of half of their fleets in rotation after the end of the coronavirus lockdown.

“It'd have been better had our ministry and Bangladesh Road Transport Ministry been consulted before the decision was taken,” Quader said at a programme of the Roads and Highways Department on Monday.  

“Because who will guarantee that half of the vehicles will ply the roads and the rest won’t. How will it be ensured? We would've given our opinion had we been consulted.”

Transport owners have demanded that they be allowed to keep all buses transporting passengers at half the capacity instead of using half the buses they have in rotation.  

They say the new rules for the public transportation system after the coronavirus lockdown are too complex to follow.

The rules will cause financial damage to the owners and sufferings of the workers, leaders of transport owners’ associations say.

The Cabinet Division in a notice on Sunday lifted almost all lockdown restrictions from Wednesday.   

Public transport by road, rail, and river will be allowed to reopen and can take passengers at full capacity.

However, operators in each city corporation and district will only be allowed to use half the number of vehicles in a given day and the rotation must be decided in discussions with the local government, law enforcers, relevant departments and agencies and owner and worker associations, the notice said.

Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said the new rules will be mainly for long-haul passenger transport services as recommended by the law-enforcing agencies.

Quader made it clear that the Road Transport Division will not be responsible to implement the new rules.

“The district administrations and the police have been tasked with the job. If they can implement the government decision, that’s fine. It’s not under our authority.”             

He said the Road Transport Division can ensure the health and other rules on the vehicles – whether the workers and passengers are wearing masks and sanitising hands, or the government-fixed fare is being followed.    

The minister, however, called for everyone’s cooperation to ensure the new rules are adhered to.  

Previously during the pandemic, public transports carried passengers at half the capacity to ensure physical distancing.  

The decision to change the rules is not a wise one, said Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, president of Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association.

“It was easier to transport passengers adhering to the health rules earlier. I don’t think it will be possible to follow the new rules,” he said on Monday.

Companies with a large fleet of buses can follow the new rules but the owners who have only one bus will not be able to do so. “There are hundreds of thousands of such owners. How can we tell them to operate half their bus?” 

Khandaker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, said in a statement: “It will be difficult to find out how many vehicles an owner has and how many they are allowing to transport passengers. On the other hand, workers will have no job. Owners will also face huge losses.”

“Moreover,” he said, “allowing only half of the vehicles will create a transport crisis and the pressure of passengers will increase, which will lead to possibilities of an increase in infections.”

The association, however, has asked the owners to follow the new rules and keep the increased fare unchanged.