Home ›› 04 Jul 2022 ›› News
Launch owners – for the first time in Bangladesh’s recent history – have decided to wait and assess the demand before adding extra launches to their regular schedule, which becomes necessary every Eid season to cover the onrush of holidaymakers bound for home.
In the past, launch owners used to chalk out plans after holding several meetings to coordinate the additional number of trips, and then nearly doubled the number of launches to tackle the Eid rush.
But this Eid-ul-Azha season, the owners fear that the crowd of holidaymakers will be thinner, as most people making a journey will prefer to take a road trip through the newly inaugurated Padma Bridge to save time.
So, launch owners are unsure whether they need to introduce additional trips this season.
On the matter, Bangladesh Inland Waterways Passenger Carrier Association’s (BIWPCA) Senior Vice-President of Badiuzzaman Badal told the Business Post, “Launch owners at a meeting on Saturday decided to maintain the regular schedule of launches.
“The fares will remain unchanged as well. However, owners can reduce the fare of their vessels if they find it necessary, as the number of passengers have dropped beyond expectation following the Padma Bridge’s opening.”
He continued, “This decision was taken as owners did not want to risk their investment by operating additional trips. For example, before Eid, a launch operates a round trip every day. There was no schedule.
“Under that system, every day on the Dhaka-Barishal route there were more than 15 trips a day. We are not saying that we would not operate extra trips this year. If the situation demands additional trips, then we may introduce more.”
When asked why the launch owners have taken this stance despite knowing that hundreds of thousands of people usually ply the waterways to leave the capital and celebrate Eid at their native homes, he said, “We are assuming that the number of passengers to every route will drop drastically this season compared to the previous Eid days.
“We have already seen the number of passengers drop to 40 per cent. Even the garment workers, who normally chose launches, will now prefer to journey by road. We have learned that they will reserve buses and go home through the Padma Bridge to avoid hassle.”
Badal believes there will be a shortage of passengers even in pocket routes such as Bhola, Lalmohon, Barguna, Patuakhali, and Pirojpur.
“Some launch companies had finished building a number of vessels and wanted to start operating those during this Eid season. But they have slowed down work on the matter,” he added.
The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has called an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the overall situation with the owners at Sadarghat Launch Terminal conference room.
“Let us see what they can do for us,” the BIWPCA official said.
