These humble words of potential boredom (be warned) are the product of a severely exhausted kid who chose the utterly wrong path on his way from Bashundhara Residential Area to Panthapath after his morning classes. No, he wasn't inside a car, complaining under the veil of air conditioning and sad faced selfies. Nor did he choose the bus as he was in a rush to reach office in time to fulfill his daily duties, but little did he know his choice of vehicle would make the same difference as Kanye West running for President (alas, who knows?). At the end of the day, when the road didn't budge, neither could he.
Excuse me, but allow a correction; these words are of pure anger. I have no one to blame but myself for the daily turmoil of traffic I face, that we all have to face, in fact. I was ignorant of the those providing wonderful sources to help us reach our destinations as quickly and as easily as possible, at times at the expense of more expenses; but in all essence, more comfortably.
I may be “meh-ed” for highlighting a matter which most of us are already aware of, but bear with me as I differentiate a vital change in perspective. Due to the conditions we live in, the need for these sources have finally reached the level of need, rather than want. We need traffic apps to survive, thinking of patients stuck in ambulances on the roads. We need taxi services to succeed, thinking of exam halls we need to reach in time. We need helpful social media traffic communities to live, thinking of others who may need a helping hand or may have no access to the former sources.
But let's think about ourselves now. Here are the most used jam-relieving sources we picked out of many. Find the ones which suit you best.
Food for thought: When everyone knows the the best roads to take, does that mean no one does?
This mobile app monitors and provides traffic updates of Dhaka city in real time, with the help of their core team and crowdsourced users on social media. As accurate and sharp-timed as it gets, their feed is continuously and consistently updated with a map display portraying the heat spots according to colour codes; green meaning "Low Traffic," orange meaning "Medium Traffic," and red meaning "High Traffic." Some areas are marked grey, meaning the traffic status in that area is unknown.
The app may still be in BETA version but has already exceeded expectations, with a constantly growing user and contributor base to cover more areas with accuracy in the future.
GO! Traffic Updates (by GObd.co)
The Facebook page for the aforementioned application, it is truly remarkable how time-oriented this page is. Posts are made at short intervals (just a few minutes) to keep the page users as efficiently updated as the app users. The areas are clearly mentioned on each post as well, hence it is not difficult at all (relating to users who aren't used to the Facebook search yet) to find the area concerning you in a short time, unless you're unlucky and Colombus'd a new road somewhere in Dhaka, which isn't all that surprising in itself. But the additional aid comes in the form to ask direct questions on the page as well as comment on the posts for extra info, which is replied to, by expected standards, surprisingly fast.
Have either of the two, and you'll be more sure on your way through hell.
An app serving essentially the same purpose as GO! Traffic, but with a sense of local humour added in. With a vibrant interface and collaborative nature, the app collects information from users who can colour code the routes they have taken to help other users choose their paths as well. Give-and-take really. You just need to touch the arrow button and a new window will pop up with six different colours to indicate the situation in that area. The dark green one which says “Purai Pinik!” means very low traffic, the bottle green which says “Chikon Moja” means little less clearer than the first one. Gradually, it gets worse to “Motamuti” (light green), “Hudai Pera” (light orange), “Jotil Jontrona” (dark orange) and the worse “Polti Mar” (Red), which means skip that road completely. It makes your way with a smile to make your day too.
Traffic Alert
A Facebook group with potential and grossing attention, Traffic Alert is a mixture of posts made by individuals (stuck or free) wherever to post for the rest. With more and more people adding in, the group has increased in accuracy with regard to time but has still held on to the flaw that no one may answer you in time or at all. Otherwise, highly affective on popular routes, this.
The new kid on the block with high expectations is this carpooling website, which is still a fresh concept. DhakaRides is a service with which you can share an air conditioned car ride to where you want to go in the city. All you have to do is reserve a seat at a specific time and the rest will be carried out by them. Ingenious service, but may still some to time for the concept to settle in. Still in their pilot phase, only the Dhanmondi to Bashundhara to Dhanmondi routes are available so far.
This one is a lifesaver, but like all good services, need some wallet weight to avail it. Just call the number (018-66667070) and ask for a cab, and the one nearest to you will come to you and call. Focusing on the good sides, the cars used are well maintained and properly secured with trusted drivers, on whom the control center always keeps a tab on. But the cons come in the form of buck. With Tk85 for the first 2km, Tk34 per subsequent km, Tk8.5 for every 2 minutes you wait and an extra Tk20 when booked by call (the meter starts ticking from the moment the taxi starts coming towards you), the final fare may be much higher than that of the average CNG going the same distance.
But when in need, you can't really complain.