Amid the alarming trend of sexual violence against women in the country's public transport sector, a private commercial bus service dedicated only to female passengers will be launched in Dhaka today, bringing some relief to women who use public transport in the capital city.
Dolonchapa bus service, a joint venture of the Rangs Group and Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV), has been especially designed to protect women from sexual harassment while travelling on public transport, Rangs officials told the Dhaka Tribune.
The inauguration ceremony is scheduled to take place at Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Agargaon, where Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader will be present as the chief guest.
The non-AC bus service will be available from tomorrow from 7am to 8pm. Initially, one bus will operate on the Motijheel-Mirpur 12 route. On June 15, another bus will be available on the Azimpur-Mirpur ECB route.
“Within the next two months, 10 more buses will be deployed in the city. We have permission from the government to run a total of 30 buses on these two routes. The fleet will be expanded throughout the city based on the commuters' response and demand,” said Shamita Tabassum, Rangs Group official who is involved in the Dolonchapa project.
She further said each bus will have 34 seats, with two seats dedicated to passengers with disabilities. Each bus will be equipped with CCTV cameras.
“Men will not be allowed to use Dolonchapa buses,” said Tajrin Jahan, another Rangs official involved with the project. “The drivers will be male, but the conductors will be female. A bus will not be allowed to make more than four round trips per day.”
The project was inspired by the urge to create a safe space for women who use public transport in Dhaka, said Sohana Rouf Chowdhury, managing director of Rangs Motors Ltd.
“Public transport has always been a pain in Dhaka city. Thanks to the news media, we have been kept abreast of the problems that commuters in the city face. This is more so for women who not only face the pressures of commute but also harassment on a regular basis. It was about time that we, being in the commercial vehicle business, did something that could alleviate some of the pain,” she said.
A sigh of relief
The spate of sexual violence against women – ranging from harassment to rape – that has occurred in the recent years paints a horrible picture of what women face when using public transport.
A large number of women in Dhaka – around 21% of the female population in the city, who make around half of the total population – use public transport.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) currently operates 17 single and double-decker buses on 13 routes across Dhaka only for women, but they are nearly not enough to cater to the large volume of female commuters who travel via public buses every day.
A report by Brac released in November 2017 said around 94% of women who commute on public transport have suffered sexual harassment in verbal, physical or other forms.
Another study by ActionAid Bangladesh, released in February 2018, said women are regularly harassed by service providers and general public at bus stoppages via teasing, lewd behaviour and inappropriate touch – the common forms of sexual harassment.
In this situation, introducing this bus service brings relief to female commuters, said Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh.
“This is also an insult to the men living in the city and the country,” she further said. “This means men don't know how to respect women; otherwise, why would women need their own bus service?”
Farah urged the bus service authorities to deploy all of their 30 buses as soon as possible.
She also stressed the importance of ensuring safer environment for women in every public transport system, and called upon the Rangs Group to be the pioneer in making that happen.
