Bus conductors now hardly give e-tickets to Dhaka commuters

E-ticketing in Dhaka was launched in 2022, first on Mirpur route and then on other routes for over 3,000 buses, aiming to bring discipline to the capital’s public transport sector and reduce conflicts between passengers and bus helpers over additional fares.

The service, however, now remains on paper only.

Since the very beginning, allegations were raised against bus staffers for refusing to use the POS (point of sales) machines provided by the bus owners’ association for e-tickets and collecting fares, and the situation has only become worse over time.

These POS machines now seem to have disappeared from the hands of Dhaka bus conductors. Many commuters remain unaware that they are supposed to get e-tickets for local buses.

When the service was first launched, the bus owners provided e-tickets for the first two months.

But the situation went back to the previous state from the beginning of this year. Buses now hardly use POS machines.

The Dhaka Road Transport Owners’ Association introduced the e-ticketing system on November 13 last year, originally encompassing 1,643 buses from 30 companies, with the goal of checking extra fare collection on Dhaka city and suburban routes.

On January 10 of this year, an additional 717 buses from 16 businesses joined the initiative in the second phase.

The e-ticketing system was then further expanded to 947 more buses from 13 additional companies on March 1.

Currently, 3,307 buses from 59 firms are expected to use e-tickets as per the association’s decision.

Every initiative taken by the government and city authorities as well as every promise made by the government to bring discipline to road transport management has failed due to lack of coordination, and helplessness of the government to the transport owners and their staff.

Every month, thousands of people die in road accidents, and immediately after any accident we get to know that the vehicle had no license, the driver had no license and the vehicle was unfit to run.

If we continue to hear news of fatal road accidents everyday through the news media, what is the justification of citizens paying the salary of thousands of traffic police, dozens of institutions, bureaucrats, and ministers?