Sufferings mount

• Severe scarcity of transports

• Health safety guidelines ignored

With extremely fewer number of public transports plying in the streets in the capital Dhaka on Thursday - the second day after resumption of services amid strong demand from working low-income groups - the suffering of the commuters knows no bound.

Gripped with trauma with previous experience of losing jobs and income during last year's lockdown, people of all income groups desperate to attend offices rush to their workplaces defying any danger of being infected with coronavirus. 

But unavailability of sufficient vehicles not only adds sufferings but also increases the fear of falling sick with the deadly disease and put themselves as well as their families at high health risks.

Visiting different city areas, it was observed that the number of buses in the capital was much less than requirement on the first two days.

The bus services that resumed in all cities on Wednesday - two days of nationwide lockdown, failed to abate the sufferings of passengers. Besides, extra bus fare was a reason for dissatisfaction of the passengers as this caused huge burden for the low-income people.

“Even though offices have resumed, I decided not to use public transport as the infection rate from coronavirus has increased in the recent days,” said Khairul Ahmed Rubel, a banker who earlier used buses regularly. “I bought a bicycle to travel to and from my office which is only 2km away from my home,” he added.

Joint Commissioner (Traffic North) Abu Saleh Sheikh Russel said, “City buses started operation from Wednesday morning but the number is very low. We can only guess, the bus owners are operating a little number of vehicles as there is less passengers.”

“We’re also monitoring whether people are following health guidelines,” he said.

Since the government directives compelled public transports to run at half capacity, the bus staffs are reluctant to take short-distance passengers. As a result, many passengers are seen waiting for long time to get on a bus. They fight to reach offices on time and also suffer because of high fare as no bus carries passengers at a fare less than 20 taka.

Jayanta Sarker, a regular passenger, said. “Knowing my short distance journey, no bus conductor allowed me to get into a bus even there was some seats empty.” Expressed displeasure he shared he had to suffer a lot and count extra fare. If calculate, I will find a large part of my salary will go for spending as bus fares. 

Roaming around Kalshi, Farmgate, Asadgate, Kallyanpur and Gabtali areas of the capital Thursday morning, it has been seen that the office-going passengers had to wait a long time to get on the bus. But later the scenario changed as buses were seen waiting for passengers in many places.

General Secretary of Bangladesh Passengers’ Welfare Association Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said, “People were already going through a financial crisis because of the pandemic. The extra bus fare is putting more pressure on them. Therefore, if the number of seats was transported according to the health rules, the passengers would be relieved from the pressure of extra fare.”

Asad Ali, who was on his way to Mirpur from Shahbag, said, “The office was open but public transport was banned. In the last two days, I was too late to go to the office. As there are no buses, I had to pay extra for CNG fare to go to work. With the resumption of bus services, our suffering has been reduced to some extent.” 

Meanwhile, there has been a slowdown in public transport in complying with health regulations. The instruction to disinfect the bus at the beginning of the journey is not being followed by the bus drivers. Most of the buses did not follow the rules of hand sanitizer too.

Since the resumption of public transport, buses are only allowed to carry 50pc of their passenger capacity in order to maintain social distancing. Due to the low number of passengers, the following of health guidelines has not been a problem.

Earlier, the government had announced a strict lockdown with 11 directions for a week from last Monday because of Covid cases rose across the country. Due to this public transport was banned. However, the ban was relaxed on Wednesday and public transport was allowed in the city corporation area from 6 am to 6 pm. This decision was taken to reduce the suffering of some people, but it was not enough.

Several buses of Balaka Paribahan were observed at the Sayedabad bus terminal in the morning. After finishing a trip they started picking up passengers again but they did not disinfect the bus. The driver of the bus Tofazzal Mia said that it was sprayed with Savlon once in the morning. “I can't find time to spray again as the passenger pressure is high. Most of the bus passengers also had masks on their faces.” He added.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader came up with the announcement on Tuesday saying public transport services will operate in Dhaka, Chattogram, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Cumilla, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal, Rangpur and Mymensigh city corporation areas between 6am and 6pm.