Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) a regulatory body was constituted under the Ministry of Communication in 1987 following the rapid expansion of national highway, regional and feeder roads and the rising demands for road transportation. BRTA started its operations formally in 1990 to formulate rules and regulations for control of motorised transport as and when required. BRTA is also responsible to render its services efficiently to achieve a sustainable road safety mechanism beside an efficient, responsive, economic, less time consuming, comfortable and eco-friendly road transport system in the country. IT-based services have been introduced here to make those easily accessible to the clients through up gradation of software and automation of BRTA enforcement activities.
Table BRTA’s revenue earning.
| Year | Target (TK. million) | Income (TK. million) | Achievement (%) |
| 2003-04 | 2400 | 2450 | 102.08 |
| 2004-05 | 2610 | 2510 | 96.17 |
| 2005-06 | 3260 | 3350 | 102.76 |
| 2006-07 | 3820 | 4010 | 105.00 |
| 2007-08 | 4410 | 4900 | 111.11 |
| 2008-09 | 5500 | 6470 | 117.64 |
| 2009-10 | 6600 | 3845 (July-February) | - |
The Headquarter of BRTA is located at Allenburi, Tejgaon in Dhaka. It has divisional offices one each in six divisional cities beside thirty-one regional (circle) offices throughout the country. It has 291 manpower led by the Chairman to administer the offices throughout country.
BRTA is mandated to perform the following activities: (a) Formulation of rules and regulations for control of motor transport as and when required; (b) Registration of motor vehicles and ownership transfer; (c) Issuance of motor vehicle driving licenses; (d) Issuance of fitness certificates for motor vehicles; (e) Issuance of route permits for transport vehicles; (f) Inspection of vehicles involved in road accidents; (g) Ensuring road safety and enforcement; (h) Registration of driver training schools; (i) Maintaining accident records and statistics; (j) Collection of Motor Vehicle Tax, fees and other related charges.
In 1989 the total collection of non-tax revenue earned as motor vehicle taxes and fees by BRTA was Tk. 300 million which went up to Tk. 6470 million in 2008-09, against the target of Tk. 5500 million. The comparative statement of revenue income for the last six years is given below.
The revenue income registered an upward trend as because the number of vehicles was also increased. Every year thousands of new motor vehicles are added to the existing fleet. As on 30 June, 2001, over 406,000 different types of automobiles were plying on the roads of Bangladesh.
The number of registered motor vehicles in Bangladesh up to 2009 was over 1.3 million. The average growth rate of motor vehicles is about 15% per year. BRTA issued 950 thousands motor driving licenses till 2009. It issued 50,350 driving licenses during 1991-96 and 82,688 in 1996-2001.
Table number of year wise registered motor vehicles in Bangladesh.
| Type of Vehicles | UP To 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Grand
Total |
| Motor Car | 116196 | 5410 | 6431 | 8447 | 11941 | 16927 | 21461 | 186813 |
| Jeep/St. Wagon/Microbus | 49364 | 2514 | 3963 | 5540 | 5650 | 6537 | 9027 | 82595 |
| Taxi | 10932 | 540 | 515 | 275 | 15 | 9 | 12 | 12298 |
| Bus | 30617 | 857 | 783 | 1020 | 1368 | 1342 | 1184 | 37171 |
| Minibus | 33364 | 622 | 361 | 241 | 382 | 307 | 320 | 35597 |
| Truck | 51375 | 2583 | 2791 | 3065 | 2521 | 2609 | 6561 | 71505 |
| Auto-rickshaw/Auto-tempo | 98479 | 8974 | 4877 | 6898 | 10530 | 19071 | 14902 | 163761 |
| Motor-cycle | 321347 | 24941 | 43226 | 51106 | 85131 | 93541 | 45142 | 704434 |
| Others | 25726 | 2761 | 2931 | 3713 | 3734 | 4076 | 6634 | 49575 |
| Total | 737400 | 49202 | 65878 | 80305 | 121272 | 144419 | 145243 | 1343719 |
BRTA has taken up the following initiatives for ensuring Road Safety and to mitigate problems in road transport sector: (1) National Road Safety Council has been re-constituted and made active. Road Safety Committees have also been constituted in all districts and upazilas; (2) National Road Safety Action Plan 2008-2010 was prepared and it is being implemented by 24 lead agencies; (3) Steps undertook for removing the worn-out and defective motor vehicles from Dhaka city roads in phases. Old buses and trucks of more than 20 and 25 years respectively are not allowed to run in Dhaka Metropolitan Area; (4) The Computerised Vehicle Inspection Center has been made operational for the purpose of determining the fitness of the vehicles. Steps have also been taken to lease out its operation and maintenance work in private sector. Besides, draft rules have been prepared for the purpose of checking fitness of the vehicles through different motor vehicles repairing workshops in Dhaka city; (5) Mobile courts are taking legal action against the worn-out and defective motor vehicles of Dhaka city and other places in the country. Mobile Courts led by two Executive Magistrates of BRTA are trying offenders under Motor Vehicles (MV) Ordinance 1983. 3223 cases were filed under the ordinance from 03/08/2009 to 18/04/2010 and Tk. 60,41,230 has been realised as fine. Two accused persons were awarded sentences for different terms and 157 motor vehicles have been sent to dumping station; (6) BRTA have been providing training to professional drivers to raise awareness. In 2008-2009, BRTA conducted 38 training courses on traffic laws, rules and imparted training to 3070 professional drivers to build awareness in BRTA head office and 29 other circle offices. It also conducted 21 seminars and workshops throughout the country in which 4261 persons of various concerned sectors participated. An awareness raising campaign on Road Safety through media and leaflets, posters stickers etc is going on. In 2009-10, BRTA provided training to 6000 professional drivers through 33 sessions; (7) High security plastic card driving license has been made compulsory for both the professional and non-professional drivers; (8) BRTA-IS customised software has been introduced with a view to preparing database of all services provided by BRTA-such as, registration, issuance of fitness certificate and its renewal, issuance of route permit and its renewal, motor driving license etc. BRTA hoisted an internet website (www.brta.gov.bd) containing Index Page, Frequently Ask Question (FAQ), Organogram, Vehicle Search, Vehicle Search Help etc. Various prescribed forms of BRTA services such as Motor Vehicle Registration, License, Fitness, Route Permit etc are available in this website to download; (9) Initiatives have been taken for updating the existing MV Ordinance 1983 under a project of Dhaka Urban Transport Co-ordination Board (DTCB) funded by World Bank.
BRTA has under taken the following measures to reduce Environmental Pollution and Traffic Jam: (1) From January 2003, about 35000 two-stoke three-wheelers were completely withdrawn form dhaka metropolitan city and introduced double decker buses and 4-stoke CNGs three-wheelers; (2) CNG-run motor vehicles are encouraged to ply on the streets and renewal of route permits of diesel-run mini buses used for over 15 years and CNG-run mini buses used for over 20 years has been stopped to reduce traffic jam. Besides, route permit of CNG auto rickshaw used for over 9 years and taxicab used for over 10 years is not renewed. Road transport is a very fast growing sector as over 70% of passengers and 60% of freight are now being carried by road. As a result, BRTA has become an important organisation to render public services. [Md. Lokman Hossain Mollah]
