BRTA orders front number plates on motorcycles by November 15

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has made it mandatory to display number plates on the front of motorcycles as well as the rear.

Under the new directive, motorcycle owners must fit a manual number plate on the front of their vehicles by November 15, following the prescribed size and design and arranging it themselves. Legal action will be taken against those who fail to comply within the deadline.

Under the Road Transport Act, 2018 and the Road Transport Rules, 2022, motorcycles are required to use approved retro-reflective number plates with RFID tags. In line with this, the BRTA has issued the new instruction on displaying plates at the front.

The directive sets the size of the front plate according to the type of motorcycle. For scooters, the plate must be 200 millimetres long and 100 millimetres wide. For all other motorcycles, it must be 285 millimetres long and 50 millimetres wide.

The plates must be made of stainless steel or aluminium, with a white background and black letters and numerals. Bangla letters and numerals must be used, with a height of at least 20 millimetres.

The BRTA directive does not permit any extra decoration, designs or other embellishments on the plates. They must be made and installed on the front of the motorcycle strictly according to the specified design and size.

In addition, for motorcycles other than scooters, the registration number may be displayed on a single horizontal line. Owners have been given until November 15 to comply with the directive.