BRTC to launch metro rail shuttle service from Dec 29

State-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) is set to provide special shuttle service for metro rail passengers from December 29 with a fleet of 30 double-decker buses to and from the stations.

The passengers who will get down at Uttara North (Diabari) and Agargaon stations will get the service. The buses will run on two routes from Agargaon station to Motijheel via Farmgate, Shahbagh and Paltan and from Uttara North station to Abdullahpur-House Building.

The service has been initiated as there is no direct passenger bus to reach Uttara North station from House Building. Besides, there is no adequate number of city buses on the Motijheel route from Agargaon.

On the first day of passenger service by the metro rail authority, BRTC will operate 20 buses from Agargaon station and ten buses from Uttara North station, said BRTC General Manager and spokesperson Amjad Hossain.

This shuttle service will be available for four hours in the morning as the trains will be running at that time. Once the metro rail authorities launch full-fledged service in the future, the BRTC will also provide its service with around 50 double-decker buses, he added.

The BRTC had already completed trial run and found some problems, including parking space shortage. These problems will be addressed gradually as well. BRTC started their trial run in the third week of this month with 15 buses. They also conducted a road survey to get an idea about possible passenger pressure during the operation of metro rail.

MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the implementing agency of the metro rail project, recently said that parking space has been kept near the two stations. “Let us start the service first. We will troubleshoot the problems with time,” he said.        

BRTC stepped in following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with them in November. The tenure of the agreement is till 2030.

The BRTC buses carrying the metro rail passengers will run one after another to make their journey comfortable. “We will be a part of this big project. We will not let this service become an ineffective one,” said the BRTC spokesperson.

These buses will follow government-approved fare chart like other city buses. There will be POS machines to collect fare with transparency. The condition of buses will also be better than the privately-owned city bus companies, he added.   

The 11.73-km section of the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon would be opened on December 29, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurates it. 

According to the project plan, the Agargaon-Motijheel section of the MRT line-6 will be operational by December, 2023 and the extended portion from Motijheel to Kamalapur would be ponded by June 2025.

The original cost of the project was Tk 21,985 crore which was finally revised upward to Tk 33,472 crore recently.