More than one crore of people live in Dhaka city and all of them except a very limited number depend on buses as means of transport since both rickshaw and auto-rickshaw are expensive. Rickshaw fare from the Khilgaon Level Crossing to the Shahbagh square is Taka 50 to 60 on all week days except Friday and other public holidays and by auto-rickshaw Tk 120 or as the driver demands.
Nonetheless, the bus far is Tk 15 only though it takes longer time than by the two other means. But the number of buses plying between the Shahbagh Square and the Khilgaon Level Crossing is inadequate considering the number of commuters. Moreover, the bus operators do not maintain any timetable. As a result, none can say when those buses will start and when will touch the midway stations. The other day, I waited for half an hour at the Sabujbagh stoppage and finally being annoyed hired a rickshaw.
Such problem prevails everywhere in the city-from Mirpur 14 to Motijheel C A, Gabtoly to Jatrabari, Mohammadpur to Kamalapur.
Moreover, passengers are huddled inside the buses, giving little opportunity to take breathing. The reserve seats for the female passengers are occupied by the male passengers, which is really indecent and embarrassing. So, we request the authorities to look into the problems facing the city commuters for solution.
A.Rashid
Khilgaon,
Dhaka
