With the lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus, coming into effect on March 26, nearly 100,000 buses were forced to stay out of the streets of Dhaka city.
The lockdown left 600,000 transport workers, including 250,000 drivers, unemployed.
When the restrictions were lifted on a limited scale on May 31, life breathed into transport workers who were bearing the brunt of the Covid-19 crisis in the country.
For nearly nine weeks, their life turned worse than a nightmare as they suffered serious financial hardships with their only means of income coming to a grinding halt, according to Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association (BRTOA).
Being daily wage earners was the main factor which added greatly to their woes, as they are employed on the “no work, no pay” condition.
Their miseries became even more clear when Dhaka Tribune recently interviewed a transport worker.
The conversation
A bus belonging to the Rajanigandha bus company was waiting for passengers at Mohammadpur bus stand when the reporter got on it, setting sight on the driver.
Who she found on the driver’s seat was shocking: a boy who did not look to be more than eighteen years old.
The driver identified himself as Md Arif and claiming to be twenty years old, said he has been doing the job for four years now.
“I have been driving on the Mohammadpur-Signboard route before working as a helper of buses and legunas (human haulers) for seven years across the city,” he said.
“In the past four years, I never caused an accident as a driver,” claimed a confident Arif, whose average daily income amounted to Tk 1,800.
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However, when he started recounting his days of the lockdown, Arif’s voice turned heavy.
“I did not earn a single penny during those days as there was a transport ban for more than two months,” he said.
But the plying of public transports on a limited scale from early June gave transport workers some relief from the continued unemployment, Arif added.
Though the government from September 1 allowed transports to carry passengers as usual, on the condition of maintaining some health guidelines to avoid coronavirus, their income did not increase to what it was in the past.
“It becomes an uphill task for me to earn even Tk500 a day now as a significant portion of the seat capacity in the buses remains vacant due to panic over coronavirus,” he said.
On many occasions, Arif claimed, his 44-seat bus has just 50% passengers.
“The seat capacity is hardly fulfilled,” he added.
What drove him to this profession?
In search of fortune, he moved to Dhaka from his village home in Barisal nearly a decade ago so that he could contribute to his family, struck heavily with poverty.
He spent months working as a waiter and a leguna helper, before finally ending up at public transports.
Just a fifth-grade graduate, Arif had to stop his studies due to the financial hardship of his family. However, he bore the expenses of his younger brother’s education.
Covid-19 caused his family to suffer too
Before the pandemic, Arif used to send Tk8,000 to his family residing back in Barisal.
“But I had to stop the contribution when the transport ban was in place,” said Arif.
His miseries
The pause in income forced him to return to Barisal, but his outstanding rent for the rented house in Dhaka kept on piling up.
“I was in Barisal throughout the lockdown and could not pay the rent for three months since I had no income whatsoever,” Arif said.
“Though I had to pass days of uncertainty for a virus we cannot see with naked eyes, I am happy for being alive and physically fit,” he said.
BRTOA General Secretary Khandaker Enayetullah said 80,000 buses are hitting the streets of Dhaka after restrictions were lifted.
“But the lockdown cost us Tk10,000 a day for each bus, for which the transport owners are still suffering and so are the transport workers,” he said.
In order to help the transport workers, the owners are also supporting them financially, he argued.