The government has announced revised bus fare for 15 routes as new tolls for different vehicles using Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway is all set to be collected from Friday.
According to a circular issued by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, the new toll has been fixed adding the toll of the Expressway. The existing bus fare already includes the toll of the Padma Bridge.
For a 40 seat bus, passengers will have to pay Tk 454 for going to Barishal from Dhaka, Tk 423 to Gopalganj, Tk 575 to Khulna, Tk 257 to Shariatpur, Tk 580 to Pirojpur, Tk 561 to Patuakhali, Tk 344 to Madaripur, Tk 689 to Satkhira, Tk 323 to Faridpur, Tk 767 to Kuakata.
From Cox’s Bazar to Barishal bus fare fixed at Tk 1,388, from Chittagong to Khulna Tk 1,192, from Chittagong to Barguna Tk 1,282.
The fare has been revised adding tolls of the expressway named as Jatir Pita Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Highway—Tk 10 per kilometer, which has been recently fixed by the Road Transport and Highways Division.
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A joint venture firm led by the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) will collect the tolls and do maintenance works of the expressway. They will collect the tolls manually in the first six months.
The tolls for the expressway will be collected at Dhaleshwari Bridge, Bhanga, Abdullahpur, Srinagar, Puliabazar and Maligram. Vehicles using those points to enter or exit the expressway can pay tolls there.
The toll for using the Padma Bridge will be collected separately.
Adding to the existing tolls collected at the Padma Bridge, now a truck has to pay Tk 2,650, a bus Tk 2,895, car has to pay Tk 890, and a bike Tk 130.
The amount these vehicles used to pay at the Padma Bridge was -- medium-sized truck, bus Tk 2,400, car Tk 750 and a motorcycle Tk 100.
However, the authorities have already banned motorcycles on the bridge and were thinking of banning the vehicle on the expressway as well ahead of Eid-ul Azha.
