BRTC to operate buses on three new routes to India

Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will launch bus services on three new international routes to India soon. 

The new routes will be Dhaka-Siliguri, Dhaka-Chattogram-Dhaka-Kolkata and Cox’s Bazar-Chattogram-Agartala.

BRTC Chairman Md Tazul Islam informed a group of journalists about the decision at a programme held at its headquarters in Dhaka on Monday.

He said that BRTC is now operating buses on five international routes--Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Agartala, Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala, Dhaka-Khulna-Kolkata, and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati. In Bangladesh, they are operating buses on 208 routes. 

According to BRTC, the corporation has a total of 1,350 buses and 505 trucks. Shuttle bus service has been launched on four routes to Dhaka International Trade Fair. Around 150 buses ply from Kuril, Farmgate (Khejur Bagan), Narayanganj and Narsingdi to carry visitors to the fairground in Purbachal.

Apart from this, shuttle bus of BRTC is running from Uttara (House Building) to Diabari’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station to pick metro rail passengers. Passengers can use Rapid Pass to pay fares for this service.

BRTC wants to increase the use of Rapid Pass for their buses and they are now working on choosing the routes. This service will be launched on at least two more routes in the capital within next 15 days, the BRTC chairman said.

The reporters, who are the members of Reporters for Rail and Road (RRR), were led by platform’s President Anowar Hossain and General Secretary Tawhidul Islam.