The ‘Ride-Sharing Service Policy’ was approved at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her offices on Monday.
The announcement was made by Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam at a press briefing at the Secretariat on Monday.
Mobile app-based transportation service Uber began offering its operations in Dhaka on Nov 22, 2016 and gained in popularity. Motorcycle-based ride service SAM was operating in the capital before then and Pathao entered the market afterwards.
The BRTA first sent a closure letter to SAM and then to Uber, saying there were no laws in Bangladesh approving their operations. Representatives from the two companies met with the BRTA chairman on Nov 29.
The BRTA began preparing a draft of a mobile-app transportation service policy in February, 2017. The director of the BRTA Enforcement Division headed the committee on the policy draft. The draft was sent from the BRTA to the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry on Jun 21.
