Three days have passed, and there is no sign of any respite. With the city’s public transport system going haywire since Sunday, commuters have been left in the lurch as the government has yet to come up with a solution.
Amid the drive against so-called “special services” that overcharge passengers and yet operate in a chaotic manner, the capital saw many of its rickety fleet of buses and minibuses going off the roads over the last three days.
While Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) dumped some buses that had no valid papers, transport owners withdrew many buses from the streets, protesting the drive.
As of January, the city had some 6,000 buses run by private operators. In addition, the state-run BRTC operates about 100 buses.
Following the drive, private operators took some 25 to 30 percent of their buses off the roads, said Iqbal Ahmed, a traffic inspector (Tejgaon) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, reports The Daily Star.
However, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a platform for commuters, said private operators withdrew some 40 percent of their buses over the last three days, causing immense public suffering.
Amid this, Roads and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader expressed his helplessness.
“What can I do? If someone keeps his buses off the road showing various excuses, can we bring them back on the street forcibly?” he told reporters at the secretariat.
“Those in the transport sector are no ordinary people. Many of them are very influential … The current situation in the transport sector can be described as noting but anarchy,” he said.
Asked, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Secretary General Khondaker Enayet Ullah said bus owners, who did not have fitness certificates and valid documents for their vehicles, kept those off the roads.
“What can we do?” he said, adding that the drive must go on.
Meanwhile, the bus owners’ association is expected to meet officials of the BRTA to discuss the ongoing drive at 4:00pm today.
On the third day of the drive yesterday, BRTA mobile courts filed 140 cases on different grounds, which include charging extra fare.
They fined bus operators Tk 4.38 lakh, sent two drivers to jail for not having driving licences and dumped two buses for not having fitness certificates.
Several passengers expressed frustration about the anarchy on the streets.
“Is there anyone to see our problem? We’re tired of this drama,” said Lubna Haque, a private banker.
Over the last three days, Lubna, who lives at Wari, suffered badly commuting between her home and office.
“On the first day [Sunday], there was no problem going to the office, but on the way back, there were a few buses for the huge number of people waiting to go home,” she said.
In the last two days, she failed to get any bus even after waiting for about an hour. So she took auto-rickshaws, which cost her way beyond her budget.
