Most city buses are not following the Dhaka Metropolitan Regional Transport Committee’s official list of fixed bus stops, stopping haphazardly to pick up passengers, say the Dhaka Metropolitan Police officers.
The regional transport committee, comprising members of the DMP, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and different bus owners’ associations, formulated the list of approved bus routes at a meeting in Dhaka on July 13, 2010.
The committee fixed a total of 161 routes in the capital and gave approval to 5,288 buses belonging to different companies to use these routes — though there was an opportunity for another 1,800 buses to get approval.
The locations of bus stops were also fixed by the committee.
But most of the buses have either increased the number of pick-up points where they stop or fail to stop at the official bus stops at all, the sources said.
Buses belonging to different companies, including Taranga Plus Transport Limited, Dibanishi Transport, Ena Transport (Private) Limited, Winner Transport, Ekushey Transport Limited, Megacity Service, Nisharga Transport, Midway Transport Limited, Belal Enterprise Limited, Bengal Motors, Anik Transport, Falgun, Pravati Banassree Transport, and Salsabil had set up their own bus stops or take on passengers at different points on their route ignoring the official list.
Buses run by companies, including Shikar Paribahan, Mirpur United Service Limited, United Service, Silk City Service, Pallabi Super Local Service, Safety Enterprise (Private) Limited, Bikalpa Transport, Bihanga Transport, Choice Transport (Private) Limited, ETC Transport Company Limited, and Balaka Services do not stop at any fixed but stops at all.
Sumon Shariar, a resident of Rampura said that the Taranga Plus Transport bus from Banasree to Mohammadpur, ‘stops at four bus stops in Banasree and one at Rampura where many people get onto the bus.’
However, according to the RTC list, this bus is only allowed to stop at five official bus stops at Mouchak, Kakrail, Shahbagh, Science Lab, and Jhigatola.
Jihanul Islam, a resident of Mirpur, said some buses operating in the area did not have any official bus stops and just gave tickets inside the bus if any passenger asks
The Association of Bus Companies’ senior vice-president Syed Rezaul Karim acknowledged that this was the situation explaining that neither the DMP nor the BRTA took any measure against these buses.
He said the drivers and passengers did not follow the system of fixed bus stops as there were no fixed structures where people could queue.
Rezaul Karim demanded a joint monitoring system for the buses where members from DMP, BRTA and different bus associations would be appointed.
Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity secretary general and Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity general secretary Khandaker Enayet Ullah said that whilst sometimes different buses took passengers from places which were not fixed by the government, the law enforcement authority did take actions against these buses on regular basis.
DMP deputy commissioner of traffic (south) Najmul Hussain said the situation would not change till drivers and passengers were willing to follow the rules.
Whilst DMP joint commissioner of traffic Mahbubur Rahman told New Age that his men daily filed about 2,200 to 3,500 cases against these types of violations.
‘We are trying to curb these problems but you know the city buses are just out of control,’ he added.
The joint commissioner said that the drivers were driving recklessly on the city’s roads and that the drivers should be punished and not just the owners who currently were the ones who were punished.
-With New Age input
