Wi-Fi facilities on public buses elude Dhaka commuters

“We started this service on a pilot basis. The outcome wasn’t successful”

With the number of hours that people need to spend as a result of traffic snarls increasing day by day, public buses are probably the best spots to have Wi-Fi facilities, but very few fruitful initiatives have so far been taken in the capital to cater to the digital requirements of commuters.
The state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) and some of the private bus companies have introduced Wi-Fi services in the public buses in the past two years, but nearly all these services have been closed down. This correspondent recently travelled in those buses and found that in some cases, the drivers and conductors were not even aware of the facility in their buses. “I don’t know what service you are talking about,” replied Akram, a conductor of one of the BRTC buses from Motijheel to Uttara when he was asked whether or not the bus had Wi-Fi. Incidentally, that bus (Dhaka Gha-11-6536) was one of the buses where the state-run corporation had earlier installed a router to provide free Wi-Fi services. The router is gone now and no such facility is available.
Amidst much hype, BRTC first introduced Wi-Fi services in 20 of its public buses on the Motijheel-Uttara route on April 10, 2014. In those buses, the passengers could use the free internet service by scanning the QR Code in the bus. To avail this service, the QR code scanner has to be enabled on passengers’ devices.
These services, however, are no longer available. BRTC chairman Md Mizanur Rahman told The Independent that the Wi-Fi services have been closed in the buses because of some technical difficulties.
“We had started this service on a pilot basis. The outcome wasn’t successful.” The chairman, however, did not elucidate why that service had been closed down.
An official with the BRTC, who preferred to be unnamed, said the project was not successful as the routers bought for the buses were of sub-standard quality.
The money for buying those routers and their installation were disbursed from a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) fund. During the initial stage, the programme was run under director (technical) Col. AR Parvez Majumder. But after some time, the project was transferred to the BTRC chairman’s office as the director (technical) had procured those sub-standard routers.
The Independent contacted Col. AR Parvez Majumder, who merely said he was no longer with the BRTC.
Another BRTC official told The Independent that the BRTC is now planning to introduce the Wi-Fi service again on a larger scale, in collaboration with the government’s Access to Information (A2I) project.
The funding for the project might come from the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC). It is to be noted that in September 2015, the state minister for post and telecommunications, Tarana Halim, said idle funds to the tune of Tk. 7.25 billion lying with the BTRC would be used for IT and telecom services, including Wi-Fi in buses, especially the ones used by students.
She also said the telecom ministry would work with transport companies to incorporate free Wi-Fi services in the public buses.
Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi facilities in some of the private bus services, too, are not working properly. In January 2016, ‘52’ Paribahan Ltd started offering free Wi-Fi services in 12 of their mini buses. They were planning to spend an additional Tk. 1 lakh a month on operational expenses.
This correspondent took a ride in one of their buses but failed to log into the internet despite several attempts. When queried, Md Palash, a director of the company, said they have not closed down the service, but the Wi-Fi was not working in some of their buses.
“We have taken the internet service from Wi-Max operator Qubee. It allocates 30GB bandwidth a month to a bus with a capacity of 20–25 passengers, but in most cases, there are more passengers inside the bus. So the service crashes in most cases,” he explained. “We will try to improve the services,” he promised. Again, the Teletalk router barely works in another transport service named ‘Ayat Poribahan’. Chatak Chowdhury, one of the 11 owners of ‘Ayat Poribahan’, told The Independent that they would change the service from Teletalk to some other Wi-Max or mobile operator.

 

Wi-Fi facilities on public buses elude Dhaka commuters

“We started this service on a pilot basis. The outcome wasnt successful”

With the number of hours that people need to spend as a result of traffic snarls increasing day by day, public buses are probably the best spots to have Wi-Fi facilities, but very few fruitful initiatives have so far been taken in the capital to cater to the digital requirements of commuters. The state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) and some of the private bus companies have introduced Wi-Fi services in the public buses in the past two years, but nearly all these services have been closed down. This correspondent recently travelled in those buses and found that in some cases, the drivers and conductors were not even aware of the facility in their buses. I dont know what service you are talking about, replied Akram, a conductor of one of the BRTC buses from Motijheel to Uttara when he was asked whether or not the bus had Wi-Fi. Incidentally, that bus (Dhaka Gha-11-6536) was one of the buses where the state-run corporation had earlier installed a router to provide free Wi-Fi services. The router is gone now and no such facility is available. Amidst much hype, BRTC first introduced Wi-Fi services in 20 of its public buses on the Motijheel-Uttara route on April 10, 2014. In those buses, the passengers could use the free internet service by scanning the QR Code in the bus. To avail this service, the QR code scanner has to be enabled on passengers devices. These services, however, are no longer available. BRTC chairman Md Mizanur Rahman told The Independent that the Wi-Fi services have been closed in the buses because of some technical difficulties. We had started this service on a pilot basis. The outcome wasnt successful. The chairman, however, did not elucidate why that service had been closed down. An official with the BRTC, who preferred to be unnamed, said the project was not successful as the routers bought for the buses were of sub-standard quality. The money for buying those routers and their installation were disbursed from a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) fund. During the initial stage, the programme was run under director (technical) Col. AR Parvez Majumder. But after some time, the project was transferred to the BTRC chairmans office as the director (technical) had procured those sub-standard routers. The Independent contacted Col. AR Parvez Majumder, who merely said he was no longer with the BRTC. Another BRTC official told The Independent that the BRTC is now planning to introduce the Wi-Fi service again on a larger scale, in collaboration with the governments Access to Information (A2I) project. The funding for the project might come from the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC). It is to be noted that in September 2015, the state minister for post and telecommunications, Tarana Halim, said idle funds to the tune of Tk. 7.25 billion lying with the BTRC would be used for IT and telecom services, including Wi-Fi in buses, especially the ones used by students. She also said the telecom ministry would work with transport companies to incorporate free Wi-Fi services in the public buses. Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi facilities in some of the private bus services, too, are not working properly. In January 2016, 52 Paribahan Ltd started offering free Wi-Fi services in 12 of their mini buses. They were planning to spend an additional Tk. 1 lakh a month on operational expenses. This correspondent took a ride in one of their buses but failed to log into the internet despite several attempts. When queried, Md Palash, a director of the company, said they have not closed down the service, but the Wi-Fi was not working in some of their buses. We have taken the internet service from Wi-Max operator Qubee. It allocates 30GB bandwidth a month to a bus with a capacity of 2025 passengers, but in most cases, there are more passengers inside the bus. So the service crashes in most cases, he explained. We will try to improve the services, he promised. Again, the Teletalk router barely works in another transport service named Ayat Poribahan. Chatak Chowdhury, one of the 11 owners of Ayat Poribahan, told The Independent that they would change the service from Teletalk to some other Wi-Max or mobile operator.