Commuters and pedestrians are unable to use most of the commuters stops in the capital, chiefly because of the lack of supervision and indifference on the part of the two city corporations.
People mostly seen at the existing stops include hawkers, vendors, small traders, drug addicts, floating sex workers and even patrol police. Some bus companies have also set up ticket booths at several stops.
Permanent stores have even been built by partly occupying several stops but the city corporations have taken no step to remove those. Only a handful of stops remain unoccupied and suitable for public use.
Thousands of commuters who take public transports in Dhaka are forced to stand on the streets and footpaths as both Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) have failed to free the commuter stops for public use, DSCC and DNCC sources said.
What aggravates the problem is the extremely insufficient number of stops and many have also been constructed in the wrong location, including places where buses do not stop. This compels commuters to brave sun and rain while waiting for transports under the open sky.
DSCC and DNCC sources said most of the stops were leased to individuals and companies for 25 years by the military government led by HM Ershad in 1989-90 and all the leases ran out in September this year.
Shamim Ahmed, a student of Tejgaon College, said the commuter stop in front of the college is occupied by a few traders.
“Besides, there is only one stop in Farmgate which is occupied a BRTC ticket counter, newspaper stand and fast food shops,” he added.
Jebunnesa Chowdhury, who lives in Purana Paltan, said she travels by bus to her workplace every day but the commuter stop in her area is occupied by a few book sellers.
“Commuters face trouble when it rains frequently during the monsoon and also in summer when you have the scorching heat,” she added.
Habibur Rahman, who has a newspaper stand at the commuter stop in Farmgate, said: “The space was leased to the Newspaper Hawkers’ Association by the former Dhaka Municipal Corporation for 99 years. The space I use has been leased from the association.”
Kader, who has a makeshift book stall at the commuter stop Purana Paltan, said he pays rent to the city corporation authority to use the space.
DNCC Chief Estate Officer Aminul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune a survey is being run to determine the condition of the commuter stops under the DNCC remit.
“We will decide what to do next once we receive the report. As leases have expired, all the lessees have to free up their spaces. Besides, the stops, both legally and illegally occupied, will also be freed up,” he said.
Khalid Ahmed, chief estate officer at the DSCC, said constructing new commuter stops or fixing the existing ones is the responsibility of the engineering department of the city corporation.
“Unlike the DNCC, we have no such plan to free up the occupied stops,” he added.
