Thus, it is high time that a
comprehensive plan is taken up and rigorously pursued to address these transportation related woes of the people of the city at the fastest
Hazards of city commuters
A serious every day hazard in the life of the residents of Dhaka city are the torments they have to face in the morning hours when they are found in a rush to reach their work places on time. This is seldom accomplished by a large number of the citys commuters who are burdened by a transportation system which is not efficient to say the least.
The stresses on them and the delays have many causes. First of all, the traffic jams which have to be encountered too frequently are the results of not using the services of the signaling devices that have been set up in most of the thoroughfares of the city. Why the traffic system is kept deliberately in such a retarded state, no one knows. Its only contribution is keeping alive the identity of Dhaka as a city of traffic jams. There are also other aspects of bad traffic policing that contribute to jams or the other symptoms of a poor traffic management but the same are not capable of being fully discussed in the confines of this short column.
A large number of the commuters rely on buses. But the buses are probably short in number compared to the need. Besides, these are operated without a care during the peak hours. Many of them do not stop at the stoppages and run a sort of direct service between some points by charging the commuters extra fare. The result is that many people are excluded from utilizing these bus services in the peak hours. Getting into the overcrowded buses that do stop at all the stoppages poses a big ordeal specially for the female travelers. Besides, the services of taxi cabs and CNG three-wheelers which have been encouraged during the last couple of years, specially with an eye for middle class commuters, are shot through with mischief by their operators. The drivers of both taxi cabs and the CNG three-wheelers generally refuse to travel short distances and would not like to be paid according to their fare meters ; they demand in most cases fares much higher than the ones shown on the meters if their services are to be hired.
Thus, it is high time that a comprehensive plan is taken up and rigorously pursued to address these transportation related woes of the people of the city at the fastest.
