•           Fare may be much higher than buses’

•           Uttara-Motijheel distance be covered in just 40 min

•           Govt subsidy may be necessary to reduce fare

Abdul Khaleque Khandker: The much-talked-about Dhaka Metrorail is expected to appear in service in 2022. Now, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) is thinking to fix the fare from Uttara to Kamlapur at Tk. 2.40 per kilometer..

If this rate of fare is determined, then the route fair will be Tk. 40 and 25 paisa to cover 20.1 kilometre distance from Uttara to Dhaka, says the Metrorail source.

It is expected that the first ever metro rail service in the country will start services in 2022 in Dhaka, not far ahead from now.

 As many as 60 thousand passengers will be transported back and forth per hour from 6 am to 10 pm by this mass public transport.

Every day the number of the metro rail using passengers will be 9 lakh and 60 thousand and it will take 40 minutes only to reach from Uttara to Kamlapur.

It was learnt from a metro rail officer, every day as much as 2 crore and 33 lakh takas will be required to operate the metro rail and so, if 4 lakh and 83 thousand passengers take this rail service, then this money will be recovered.

A committee will soon sit in a meeting to determine the fare finally. It is also learnt from a source that, DMTCL has asked the convener of the committee and executive director of Dhaka transport coordination authority to prepare a draft chart of the fare and thus, they have almost reached a decision about fixing the fair of the metro rail service. After determining the fair, they will send it to the ministry of road and bridges for final decision.

In determining the fare, the committee will consider the project costs, administrative cost, maintenance cost, the distance between Uttara and Motijheel and the number of passengers. They will also think about the total time of the movement, rate of capacity for carrying the passengers and the distance among the stations.

It is estimated that it will require Tk. 2 crore and 33 lakh everyday to manage the maintenance cost of the Metrorail service which will come to Tk. 69 crore and 91 lakh.

In the meantime, the mass people have called upon the fare determining authority to keep the fare in the tolerate limit for the commoners so that they may avail the services.

They said, at present, the bus fare per kilometer is 1 taka 70 paisa for big bus and 1 taka 60 paisa for mini bus. In this way, the bus fare from Uttara to Motijheel comes to almost Tk. 30, whereas, the Metrorail fare from Uttara to Motijheel is expected to be Tk. 48.25. From this point of view, the Metrorail fare will be much higher than the bus fare although the time matters as the Metrorail will take 40 minutes only to travel from Uttara to Motijheel whereas bus takes twice or thrice this time.

An expertise BUET engineer, in this regard said, Metrorail services receive incentives in different countries by which they can afford its proper maintenance. There people prefer Metrorail to bus services to enjoy more facilities. But in our case, if the Metrorail fare is double the bus fare, mass people will be unable to use it.