Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
Profile
- Head
- Abu Momtaz Saad Uddin Ahmed
- Role
- Chairman
- Annual budget
- —
- Staff
- 291
- Established
- 1988
- Legal basis
- Constituted under section 2A of the Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1983 (as amended 1987); formally established 20 December 1987; operations commenced January 1988. Current statutory basis: Road Transport Act, 2018 (Act No. 47 of 2018) and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority Act, 2017.
BRTA is managing three concurrent pressure points: (1) a fare-revision cycle triggered by the April 18 diesel price hike, with revised per-km rates published April 23 and detailed route charts following days later amid passenger confusion; (2) a post-Eid road safety reckoning -- 320 deaths in 286 accidents over 17 days, up ~19% year-on-year -- that underscores persistent enforcement gaps; and (3) the expiry of its October 2024 six-month deadline for removing overaged commercial vehicles (buses over 20 years, trucks over 25 years), against which compliance remains minimal and the finalised Motor Vehicle Scrapping Guideline remains ungazetted. The driving licence card backlog (560,000-610,000 pending) persists; the interim government has shifted new applicants to PVC cards while the e-licence portal offers a digital fallback.
Recent activity
- 2026-04-23 regulation BRTA published a revised bus and minibus fare chart following the government's April 18 diesel price increase. Inter-district and long-distance bus fare raised by Tk 0.11 per km: inter-district rate from Tk 2.12 to Tk 2.23 per km; city buses in Dhaka and Chattogram (52-seat) from Tk 2.42 to Tk 2.53 per km; DTCA-area minibuses from Tk 2.32 to Tk 2.43 per km. Minimum fare held at Tk 10. CNG-run bus fares unchanged. Specific route fares: Dhaka (Sayedabad)-Chattogram Tk 704 (51-seat) and Tk 552 (40-seat); Dhaka-Cox's Bazar Tk 900 (51-seat). Detailed fare charts for inter-district and long-distance routes published on BRTA website the following Saturday after initial confusion among passengers. ↗↗↗↗↗↗
- 2026-04-20 other BRTA Eid-ul-Fitr 2026 road accident data: 320 deaths and 462 injuries in 286 accidents over the 17-day Eid travel window (4-20 April 2026), up approximately 19% year-on-year. Dhaka Division recorded the highest fatalities (73); Sylhet Division the lowest (17). Motorcycles were involved in the largest share of accidents (117 incidents, 28.61% of total); buses and minibuses second. Average of 19 deaths per day during the Eid travel period. BRTA had deployed field teams and set up road-safety checkpoints ahead of Eid. ↗↗
- 2026-04-08 policy BRTA's six-month compliance deadline for removal of overaged commercial vehicles expired: buses and minibuses older than 20 years and trucks and covered vans older than 25 years were to be withdrawn from roads by this date under the October 2024 notice. As of the deadline, over 75,000 registered buses, minibuses, trucks, covered vans, and tankers nationwide had exceeded their operational lifespan. Compliance remained minimal; enforcement drives continued. The Motor Vehicle Scrapping Guideline (originally drafted 2023) has not yet been gazetted as a finalised policy; a separate gazette notification capping bus economic life at 20 years and truck life at 25 years was issued in May 2023 under the previous government but subsequently suspended in August 2023 under transport-sector pressure. ↗↗↗↗
- 2026-02-15 other Driving licence card backlog: BRTA's smart card programme has a confirmed backlog of approximately 560,000-610,000 cards as of late 2024 to early 2026, with supplier Madras Security Printers (MSP) under a Tk 1.2 billion contract (July 2020) obligated to deliver 4 million smart cards by July 2026 but having delivered roughly half that number. The interim government declared an end to the smart card programme, replacing it with standard PVC cards for new applicants. BRTA has also operationalised a permanent e-driving licence system via the BRTA Service Portal, allowing licence holders to display a digital licence on their smartphone, which BRTA has declared legally equivalent to the physical card. ↗↗↗↗
Provenance & notes
BRTA was constituted on 20 December 1987 under the Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1983 (Amended 1987) and commenced operations in January 1988. Headquarters: BRTA Bhaban, Allenburi, Tejgaon, Dhaka. Under the current government structure, BRTA is subordinate to the Road Transport and Highways Division, one of two divisions under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (the other being the Bridges Division). BRTA operates 8 divisional offices and 64 circle offices nationwide per its revised organogram. staff_count 291 is per Banglapedia (core manpower per the organogram); total workforce including field and contract staff is substantially larger but not primary-source verified with a specific figure. annual_budget_bdt omitted: BRTA budget is not disclosed as a standalone line item in accessible public documents; it is part of the Road Transport and Highways Division allocation. Chairman Abu Momtaz Saad Uddin Ahmed (previously additional secretary, Public Safety Department) was appointed in June 2025, confirmed by Views Bangladesh and BSS wire reports. head_since is approximate (June 2025) as exact date of assumption of charge is not found in primary sources. Eid 2026 accident figures (320 deaths, 286 accidents, 462 injuries, 4-20 April 2026, ~19% year-on-year increase) are BRTA's own published statistics, cross-referenced via TBS News and The Daily Star editorial. The April 8 2026 date for the scrapping policy event represents the approximate expiry of the six-month deadline set under BRTA's October 2024 public notice for removal of overaged commercial vehicles; a specific gazette dated April 8 2026 was not found in primary sources searched -- the event is described as the deadline expiry, not a new gazette issuance. Bus fare figures (April 23 2026, Tk 0.11/km increase) are confirmed by 5 independent primary sources (The Daily Star, bdnews24, BSS, Prothom Alo, New Age). Driving licence backlog figures are from TBS News citing BRTA records; the shift from smart cards to PVC cards and e-licence portal are confirmed by TBS and UNB. Verification: 2+ independent primary sources for all four notable events.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Road_Transport_Authority
- https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Bangladesh_Road_Transport_Authority
- https://brta.gov.bd/
- https://bsp.brta.gov.bd/?lan=en
- https://rthd.gov.bd/
- https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/transport/news/brta-publishes-new-bus-fare-chart-4160666
- https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/transport/news/govt-raises-bus-fares-11-paisa-km-4158631
- https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/26a8099ef39f
- https://www.bssnews.net/news/380665
- https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/eal0sfls09
- https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/298023/brta-publishes-new-bus-fare-charts
- https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/295-killed-accidents-during-eid-holidays-brta-833071
- https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/editorial/news/recurring-road-carnage-has-stop-4170006
- https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/transport/news/govt-again-moves-remove-outdated-vehicles-roads-3721241
- https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/govt-caps-lifetime-buses-20-years-trucks-25-3921326
- https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/editorial/news/remove-expired-vehicles-the-streets-3882921
- https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/ef932338889e
- https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/transport/56-lakh-smart-licence-backlog-frustrates-brta-clients-many-fail-get-job-abroad
- https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/transport/brta-yet-clear-1245-lakh-smart-driving-licence-backlog-404422
- https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/transport/brta-implements-permanent-e-driving-licences-832831
- https://unb.com.bd/category/Special/no-clarity-on-smart-driving-licence-cards-as-applicants-anxiously-await-a-solution/147491
- https://viewsbangladesh.com/abu-momtaz-appointed-as-new-brta-chairman/
- https://www.bssnews.net/others/313492
- https://www.bssnews.net/news/337368