Regulating public transports
Bangladesh Jatree Kalyan Samity (JKS), a platform of passengers welfare, came up with a survey results on Saturday that revealed that commuters in Dhaka city have been facing extreme sufferings as about 96 per cent of the bus-minibus plying in the city streets keeping their doors shut in the name of seating service during the changed Ramadan office hours from the beginning of the holy month of fasting. Passengers who need to get in and get off from buses in between two long-distance points are facing utmost sufferings between 7am and 11am and 2pm to 11pm during this Ramadan as the public transports have been operating the so-called gate-lock service. Besides, 94 per cent of CNG-run auto rickshaw drivers are giving passengers the rides on contractual basis, and 98 per cent of them are charging extra.
Mismanagement of public transport in the capital city has become unbearable in recent times. The commuters are bearing the brunt of it. Vehicles without fitness certificates, drivers without licence, weak traffic management, realization of excess fare from passengers, misbehaviour with passengers by drivers and conductors of buses, stoppage of vehicles here and there without rhyme or reason, cheating in the name of seating service, occupation of female seats by males are some of the causes that have bedeviled the public transport system in the capital. Frequent traffic congestion has aggravated the sufferings of the commuters.
The population of the capital city is increasing day by day, and with this the number of public transports is also swelling but the services rendered to the city-dwellers are far from satisfactory. Most of the buses that ply the city roads are overloaded with passengers. There are pushing and jostling in most of the buses. As a result, sufferings of passengers, particularly female passengers, know no bounds. There are some drivers who are accustomed to rash driving, triggering panic among the passengers. Number of taxicabs is quite inadequate in the city and the fare of the same is almost prohibitive. People with limited income cannot indulge in this luxury.
Majority of the people living in the capital have to depend on the mass transports for going from one place to another. It is the responsibility of the government, particularly the law enforcement agencies, to see that the commuters get optimum services from the mass transports. Anarchy in the public transport system cannot go on like this. The relevant authorities should take effective measures to ease the sufferings of the commuters.
