Keep the waterbus routes operative

WATERBUS services from Sadarghat to Gabtoli and Narayanganj to Tongi, linking Kanchpur route, have failed to deliver due to lack of proper management. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) launched the waterbus services with two buses on August 28, 2010, in a bid to ease Dhaka’s traffic congestion and ensure a smooth journey for the daily passengers. But it failed to deliver regular services to the city dwellers of the respective areas as well as to earn revenues to maintain the cost of operation. In this backdrop, the government recently leased out the waterbus services to a private company, reported the media on Saturday. The report said that the service remains unchanged and it has rather worsened after handing it over to the private operator. Irregular timetable, improper maintenance and mismanagement of the authorities concerned are the main reasons for the poor quality of service. Experts said that these problems can be solved through effective coordination among the Ministries and the departments concerned.
When government owned it, the authorities operated four to five round trips a day. But now the private company operates only two trips a day — one in the morning and other in the evening. It appears that the private operator follows no timetable. With the reduction of number of trips the common users have lost their interest in this water route as they can hardly rely on it now.
Quoting knowledgeable sources, the report said that if the authorities – be that the government agency or the private firm so engaged should first ensure that the service would be operated on a regular basis with increased frequencies of trips, at least 4 times a day and there should be adequate publicity about this low cost easy transport facility.
The report said that the BIWTC raised a fleet of 12 waterbuses, built at a total cost of Tk 10.61 crore. But as the waterbuses now mostly remain inoperative it is now incurring a daily loss of around Tk 25,000. That is the government is incurring huge losses on daily basis. Leasing out of the waterbuses to private hand may increase the loss further if they do not operate it at all.
The journey by buses takes more or less over two hours during rush time. But a waterbus can cover this 16km route in just one hour which is both a time saver and less costly for the passengers.
In our consideration, the department concerned – BIWTC – should continue the operation of waterbus routes on its own in a more coordinated management style and make it corruption free. BIWTC should immediately cancel the lease given to the private party because that would only hasten the discontinuation of this useful public service prematuredly.