Home ›› 03 Jul 2022 ›› Front
With the Padma Bridge opening for traffic, the owners of long-haul launches running on southern routes are looking for ways to stay afloat as they are facing a dramatic reduction in the number of passengers.
The bridge has cut the bus travel time to the districts in Barishal division to almost half. While this has made the journey for passengers more comfortable, launch owners are worried about survival.
However, launch owners said they were facing temporary passenger shortages and would overcome the crisis in the future. For the time being, they have also decreased fares and are also finding ways to attract more passengers.
This happened with Eid-ul-Azha less than a week away. This is the time when water vessels usually transport more passengers than their capacity to cope with the mad rush of home-goers to celebrate Eid with family members. The situation this year, however, is different.
On the other hand, bus owners said the Barishal region would gradually be a more attractive destination for them in terms of business. They also said the current growth in business due to the Padma Bridge’s opening would not slow down soon.
Ground reality
Launch owners said the number of passengers had decreased by 35-40 per cent since the bridge’s inauguration. The Dhaka-Barishal route, the busiest among southern destinations, has especially seen a big drop in the number of passengers.
To tackle the situation, launch owners have already cut fares on the route unofficially. They are charging Tk 800 for a non-air-conditioned business class single cabin instead of Tk 1,200 and Tk 1,000 for the air-conditioned one, which was Tk 1,400 before.
Besides, passengers can now purchase air-conditioned double cabin tickets at Tk 2,000, which was Tk 2,400 a few days back. Non-air-conditioned double cabin tickets are being sold at Tk 1,800 instead of Tk 2,000. For deck tickets, passengers are paying Tk 150-200, which was Tk 350 before the opening of the bridge.
But launches are failing to attract passengers even after cutting ticket prices. For this, even till Friday, launch owners did not decide on running extra trips to transport the large number of holidaymakers during the upcoming Eid rush.
“We are yet to announce fare cuts officially. There will be a meeting of launch owners soon to decide fare reductions and extra Eid trips,” launch owners’ association Vice-President Saidur Rahman Rintu told The Business Post recently.
Launch owners usually arrange extra trips from Dhaka to southern districts four to five days ahead of Eid while similar arrangements remain after the festival for home-goers to return, he said.
He believes passengers’ enthusiasm for travelling via the Padma Bridge will wane in the future.
“Many people just want to experience how it feels to cross the bridge as it was recently inaugurated. But launches have a strong base of passengers, and they will come back as we provide comfortable and affordable journeys,” he added.
Saidur, also the owner of Sundarban Navigation Company, said launch was still the best choice for low-income people. “You cannot travel to the capital from Barishal by any bus by paying Tk 200-250.”
However, the ground reality is different. On Thursday evening (June 30), six launches left Barishal for Dhaka with half of their cabin tickets unsold and thin crowds on the decks.
Bus owners overwhelmed
Mosharraf Hossain, general manager of Hanif Enterprise, told The Business Post the response they were getting from southern districts’ passengers since the bridge’s inauguration was beyond their expectations.
“However, the number of bus passengers on pocket routes, such as Patuakhali, Kuakata, Jhalakathi, Pirojpur, and Barguna, is still low. We do not have direct bus services to Bhola either,” he said.
He also said they were operating a bus trip from the Sayedabad terminal every 25 minutes. The Barishal route has now become the busiest for them in terms of passengers and trips, surpassing even the Dhaka-Chattogram one.
“Till midday today [July 2], we have operated 20 trips from Dhaka and 20 from Barishal. We are not even selling advance Eid tickets this time. Instead, there will be running trips, meaning a bus will leave Dhaka every 25 minutes once it is full,” explained Mosharraf.
He believes this rush will prevail for at least six months. “The number of passengers may drop after that as many may choose launch for comfort. But we are trying to keep the number static by offering faster services.”
The company had ordered 30 new buses for the Dhaka-Barishal route that would join the fleet within two months, he added.
Raihan Kabir John, chief executive officer of Sakura Paribahan, said a good number of bus companies would start offering trips to southern districts after getting route permits, which would create competition.
“But for pocket routes, the number of buses is still low. Launch owners still have a greater number of passengers there,” he added.
