BRTC to Run Bus Service for Metro Rail Passengers

Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation is scheduled to run 50 buses on different routes based on the passenger demand from December this year, reports media.

The bus service will start from Agargaon and cover different areas of the capital to facilitate journey for metro rail passengers.

The country’s first ever metro rail is scheduled to run commercially on the Uttara–Agargaon route from December this year and on the Uttara–Motijheel route from December 2023.

Currently, the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited is implementing the Mass Rapid Transit Line 6 project-popularly known as metro rail.

Earlier, the BRTC on May 13 sent a draft memorandum of understanding to the DMTCL in this regard and the DMTCL officials visited the metro rail project office next day to evaluate the proposal.

The 20.1-kilometre-long elevated metro rail line between Uttara Phase 3 and the Bangladesh Bank at Motijheel in Dhaka follows the route via Pallabi, Rokeya Smarani, Khamarbari, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Dhaka University’s Teacher-Student Centre, Doyel Chatwar and Topkhana Road.

BRTC chairman Md Tazul Islam told New Age on Thursday that primarily they proposed to engage 50 buses for the passengers coming to Agargaon.

‘Based on the demands we will fix the number of buses when the service will start,’ he said.

Sixty to 65 drivers would be engaged for driving BRTC buses, he mentioned.

The chairman said that the buses would be in operation and there would be no need to park the buses on roads in Agargaon area.

Replying to a question he said that the traffic on roads would be a challenge for them to drive buses through heavy congestion.

According to the corporation deputy general manager (operation) Shukdeb Dhali the corporation buses from Agargaon would run on different routes, including Mohakhali, Gulistan, Kamalapur, Uttara, Gabtoli, Sadarghat, Gazipur and Tongi.

‘Our plan is to take passengers from a point like Gulistan from where they will get another bus to go to other destinations like Cumilla and Narayanganj,’ he said.

In the same way, he continued, people could reach Mohakhali from Agargaon by BRTC bus and then avail inter-district buses to other destinations like Tangail.

BRTC chairman Md Tazul Islam also said that they were planning to launch 50 air-conditioned buses, which are scheduled to be added in the corporation fleet by end of this year, to the Agargaon service.

If not then they would add 50 buses, including double-decker ones from the existing fleet, he added.

Meanwhile, till April this year, the overall progress of the metro rail was 78.95 per cent while the progress of civil works between Uttara third phase and Agargaon stretch was 92.02 per cent.

Following a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office, the company started working on extending the line by 1.16 kilometres up to Kamalapur.

The metro rail will carry 60,000 passengers per hour from both ends by 24 trains at the speed of up to 100 kilometres per hour after the completion.