Long-distance travel across Bangladesh has almost come to a halt as the BNP and its allies enforce one blockade after another to mount pressure on the government to step down, causing problems for both bus owners and workers as well as travellers.
This correspondent visited the Mohakhali bus terminal on Monday morning to see enraged staff members, drivers and other workers staging a protest march, demanding that inter-district bus movement be ensured.
The protesters said they could work only on two days a week when there were pauses in between the blockades.
There were hardly any passengers, and when they dispatched buses they were being set ablaze, they added.
Shafiq, a driver with Imad Paribaha, said he could take out his bus only once last week. “I do not get any money if I do not drive my bus. How long will I have to survive on loans?”
Passengers were leaving the terminal without tickets as all counters were closed due to the protest.
One of them, Ahsan, had come to the terminal to buy tickets for a bus to go to Mymensingh but was now going to the one in Malibagh after finding all the counters shuttered. “My wife's brother died in a car accident, so I want to go to Mymensingh as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, the usually bustling bus terminal in Gabtoli looked desolate. The counters here were open, but employees said buses were not leaving the terminal due to a shortage of passengers.
Some sat tight looking for buses at the passenger sheds. Sabuj, who had just returned from Singapore hours earlier, said he was trying to catch a bus to go to his hometown, Natore, but no buses were operating on the route because of the passenger shortage caused by the blockade.
“I landed in Dhaka from Singapore at 8:30am. Some cars were asking for Tk8,000-Tk9,000 to take me from the airport to Natore. It will only cost me Tk2,000-Tk3,000 if take a bus. I somehow managed to come to the Gabtoli bus terminal only to see that bus services were suspended.”
Jewel Haider, manager at Hanif Enterprise, said 35 passengers were required to dispatch a bus to ensure the operation was profitable. “I cannot do that if there are only a couple of passengers who want to go to a certain destination.”
Another passenger, Borsha, a college student, complained that buses were overcharging passengers taking advantage of the situation.
Reaz, counter manager for Sheba Green Line, said only one bus had been deployed since the morning, compared to at least three on normal days.
A brick kiln worker, Rajgun, said he had been waiting for several hours since the morning for a bus to his home in Satkhira. “At first I was told that a bus would leave [for Satkhira] at 10am, then they asked me to wait for a couple more hours. Now I am being told that the bus would leave only if there are enough passengers.”
Swapan Chandra Das, manager of the Shyamoli Paribahan counter, said: "We are not operating any buses because there are hardly any passengers. It costs us a lot of money to send out a bus. We will not recoup the costs if we mobilize buses with only a handful of passengers on them.”
The capital saw fewer-than-usual public transport on its roads as well, leading to increased wait times for commuters.