A young woman looking for a ticket counter at Gabtoli bus terminal was being followed by at least 15 people, everyone calling out to her, asking for her destination.
The repeated questions and bullying puzzled the woman who was there for the first time.
"I usually travel to Panchagarh by train but couldn’t manage a seat this time,” the irate woman told Dhaka Tribune.
“Hence I came here for the first time to buy a bus ticket on my own,” she said, adding that all the cat-calling and harassment has already made her uncomfortable.
The correspondent’s two-hour stint at the terminal made it clear that these incidents are common here and safety of passengers is a far cry.
Even though there is supposed to be a police outpost at every terminal, no police, Ansar or community police members were seen there.
In fact, despite the police outpost the area remains highly unsafe after 7pm for women, most of whom complain of harassment and eve-teasing.
“I still face various kinds of verbal torture here,” said Maloti Roy, an NGO worker who had been working at the terminal for the last eight years.
Passenger sheds always occupied
The bus terminals remain unsafe and unfriendly for passengers despite the heavy traffic in the area and one of the reasons is the waiting areas or passenger sheds which are occupied by drug addicts most of the time.
A spot visit to three inter-district bus terminals in the capital showed that the areas lack monitoring which allows drug addicts to occupy the benches, depriving passengers of the little comfort in the hectic place.
Moreover, the waiting areas remain mostly unhygienic, smelly, dark, and noisy and full of people who have no qualms about public smoking
While the Mohakhali Bus Terminal waiting area gets little sunlight at due to the transparent shades, at night it remains dark and uninviting. Even though it is the only terminal with a separate room for females and infant care, there is no privacy and even male passengers are seen sitting there without any regard for privacy.
Drug addicts are not the only ones occupying the terminal benches. It is a common scenario to see a group of homeless people using those areas as temporary housing.
Many have set up cooking arrangements there as well and there is no monitoring to stop them.
On the other hand, small business owners and hawkers use the footpath and the passenger seats to sell their wares. As a matter of fact, they reportedly pay leaseholders Tk100-500 per day, depending on the size of the space.
No one to keep the terminals clean
The city’s bus terminals are a cornucopia of environment guideline violations with the entire area being littered with garbage.
The eyes automatically move towards the walls which are covered in various types of posters while the stench of urine and garbage assail the nostrils.
The highly unhygienic environment is due to the poor waste management, drainage system, sanitation and hygiene and other environmental hazards.
Vehicular noise pollution is an everyday occurrence at the terminals which lack basic amenities such as purified water containers.
Even though there is a WASA supply faucet near the toilet area, but the supply is not sufficient compared to the demand.
Gabtoli Terminal, Bangladesh's largest bus terminal, is under the jurisdiction of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
Build on a 22-acre plot of land, the terminal sees 1,500-1,600 buses travel from Gabtoli to 46 districts in the country's north and south-western regions, with a capacity of 800-900 vehicles for overnight stops.
At this terminal the wastewater is discharged directly to the low-lying area on the southern side.
Sayedabad, the second biggest terminal sprawling over a 10-acre area sees 300 buses commute daily to several districts and accommodates 200 buses for overnight parking
This terminal is the most haphazard one where hundreds of buses are parked chaotically on the always broken roads.
Finding the entry to the terminal is a puzzle for newcomers due to the solid and chemical waste littered over the area.
Waterlogging remains a constant trouble during rainy seasons ad the drains in the terminals are hardly cleaned or maintained.
Among the three bus terminals of Dhaka, the Mohakhali one over nine acres of land, is slightly better off. The two entry points have the capacity to cater to 600-700 daily trips to 60 different destinations and a capacity for 200-250 vehicles to stay for night.
However, even here there is no separate area for hazardous materials and oil management as every bus carries out routine repair in the open space of the terminal parking area.
Who to hold responsible?
Bus owners association and terminal leaders blame the city corporations for the state of the terminals.
"The Sayedabad bus terminal has been useless," said Mohammad Jalilur Rahman, vice-president of Dhaka Mohanogr Sarak Paribahan Shromik Union and Karjokori President of Sayedabad Bus Terminal Shromik Porichalona Committee.
"Our drainage system is in urgent need of repair,” he said, adding that people are unable to walk if it rains in that area.
Jillur said that they have notified the city corporation multiple times to no avail.
However, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners' Association Secretary-General, Khandaker Enayet Ullah, believes Mohakhali is safer than the other terminals.
"The external factors is DNCC's responsibility. We told them several times to develop the drainage system. Now it's up to them to figure out the rest,” he said.
DNCC Atiqul Islam said that he has already spoke to the terminal authorities regarding the developments.
Responding to drug addicts occupying passenger sheds, he said: “Is there any place where there aren’t drug addicts?”
The mayor said that the city authorities were trying their best to address the situation and the BOA has undertaken responsibility to keep the areas clean.