The government yesterday increased fares of intercity buses by Tk 0.15 per kilometre less than 48 hours after increasing fuel prices. The new fare will be effective from tomorrow.

It was the third time the government increased bus fares within a year. The government increased bus fares by around 30 percent on May 16 and Tk 0.5 a km on September 19.

However, fares of Dhaka and Chittagong city service buses will remain unchanged until further notice.

The decision to increase the intercity bus fare was made at a meeting held between Communications Minister Obaidul Quader, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials, bus owners and others stakeholders at the Sarak Bhaban in the capital.

According to the revised bus fare, each passenger will have to pay Tk 1.35 instead of Tk 1.20 per km on interdistrict routes, BRTA Chairman Ayubur Rahman told reporters after the meeting.

The communications ministry is to issue a gazette notification regarding the new bus fare today.

"The decision of increasing 15 paisa per kilometre has been made considering 16 criteria," he said. Although the cost evaluation committee, led by the BRTA

chairman himself, proposed a Tk 0.23 per km increase, the communications minister wanted only Tk 0.15 per km hike, he said.

A meeting source said the bus owners actually wanted an even bigger increase of bus fare but the communications minister held firm.

Meeting sources said the minister told others that they should accept the Tk 0.15 increase considering the country's current economic state and sufferings of passengers.

"We are not satisfied with this fare hike. We want Tk 0.50 per kilometre increase. But we have to honour the decision and the minister requested us to consider the passengers' sufferings," said managing director of a bus service company.

On bus fares in Dhaka and Chittagong city, the BRTA chairman said more than 70 percent buses of Dhaka and Chittagong run on CNG. The fare remains unchanged since the CNG price is the same as before.

A leader of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity had demanded increasing the city bus fares in the meeting

but the BRTA officials were against it.

The BRTA chairman said legal action would be taken if any bus operator charges extra in Dhaka and Chittagong cities.

When the BRTA chairman was told that CNG-run intercity buses would now enjoy increased fare from passengers, Ayubur said only 2-3 percent intercity buses run on CNG. And that is why those buses were not considered whilst drafting the new fare chart.

Even though the government decided to increase bus fares yesterday evening, there have been allegations that bus operators on some routes had started charging extra since Friday morning.

"I used to travel to Dhaka from Munshiganj for Tk 45. But today [Saturday], they charged me Tk 50 making the excuse of fuel price hike," said Foysal Imtiaz, a student.

Meanwhile, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, also the executive president of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation, was not present in yesterday's meeting.