BRTC to procure 600 new buses

DOT Desk: Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation is set to procure 600 new buses from India under the second Indian line of credit this year to ensure quality passenger services, according to officials, reports The New Age.
The corporation officials hope that the new buses would enhance BRTC services.
The new buses will also increase revenue earning of the corporation, which has long been incurring losses.
The new buses are scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh by April this year, said officials.
Of them, 300 are double-decker (Ashok Leyland), 200 single-decker air-conditioned city and intercity (Ashok Leyland) and 100 single-decker non-AC (TATA Motors Ltd) buses to be purchased at Tk 458 crore including original prices and loan instalments.
BRTC chairman Farid Ahmed Bhuiyan told New Age that they were bringing 10 per cent spare parts with the new buses
which would help them run these buses uninterruptedly for at least five years.
The spare parts for these buses were also available locally, he said.
Earlier on December 10, 2018 in a meeting, chaired by Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia, eight routes were proposed for operating the new BRTC buses.
The routes are Dhanmondi-New Market-Azimpur Circular, Malibagh-Khilgaon-Motijheel Circular AC, Uttara-Motijheel- (via Kuril Flyover-Rampura-Malibagh-Paltan) AC, Uttara-Saydabad (via Kuril Flyover-Rampura-Malibagh-Kamalapur) AC, Uttara-Gulshan (via Banana-Gulshan 2-Kuril) Circular AC, Mirpur-Bhulta (via Kalshi-Kuril 300 Ft), Gabtoli-Sadarghat (via Asad Gate-Science Lab-Shahbagh-Paltan) and Uttara-Motijheel (via Mohakhali-Moghbazar-Kakrail-Paltan) bus services.
The buses will be operated on Uttara-Saydabad, Mirpur-Bhulta and Uttara-Motijheel routes at first.
Till date, as per official data, the corporation has a total of 1,445 buses in its fleet, out of which 921 are in serviceable condition, 360 are under heavy repairs and 164 are beyond economic repairs.