The public transport in Dhaka, which mainly consists of city buses, are unsafe, shabby, over-crowded, and difficult to access by women, the elderly, and people with special needs. The buses do not cover many commonly traveled routes in the city. Harassment -- sexual or otherwise -- and pick-pocketing are regular incidents that occur in the buses. Many of the buses are unfit and operated by drivers who have very little knowledge of traffic rules and road safety.
The poor quality of the bus service is forcing people to depend on personal vehicles for their daily commute which is worsening the traffic congestion. To reduce the traffic congestion and improve the liveability of the city, it is essential to improve the city’s public transport service. Two measures can be taken to improve the quality of public transport in Dhaka.
Transit bus
Many of the city buses in Dhaka are all-seated coaches. Such types of buses provide more seating space than standing space, provide insufficient isle space, generally have one door and high floors, and do not have any standing facilities such as poles or over-head straps.
Due to this, it is common to see standing passengers of these buses cramping near the door to reduce hassle while getting off the bus. Due to the cramping and due to the high floors of these buses, accidents happen frequently while passengers get on or off. All-seated coaches are generally used to serve longer distance journeys.
City buses need to ensure that they can accommodate as many passengers as possible. They have to provide facilities to ensure that standing passengers are able to travel safely and passengers are able to safely and quickly move around the bus and get on and off the bus. All these criteria are met by transit buses.
Transit buses have spacious isles which increase the standing area. The spacious isle makes it easy for two passengers to stand alongside comfortably and to move around the bus conveniently. These buses are equipped with poles and overhead straps so that the standing passengers can hold on while the bus is moving.
These buses have at least two doors so that passengers are able to conveniently get on and off the bus. The two doors also ensure that the standing passengers are evenly distributed along the bus, utilising all the standing area, rather than cramping near the only door. The low floors of these buses make it easy to board and alight.
To provide a safe and comfortable journey, it is essential to phase out the all-seated coaches serving the city routes and provide air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned transit buses that are fit and well-maintained. The authorities should also take measures to ensure that the buses are operated by licensed drivers adhering to traffic rules and road safety. Taking these measures may encourage people who have access to personal vehicles to commute using the city buses.
Express service
None of the city buses in Dhaka provide express or non-stop service. This is why, for people travelling longer distances, commuting using the city buses is quite inconvenient, as it makes their commute quite long. Due to the lack of an express service, people commuting longer distances generally depend on personal vehicles.
Similar to Bangkok, an express service using microbuses can be provided. These services can be provided on longer routes, for example from Uttara to Motijheel, Azimpur to Gabtoli, Mirpur to Motijheel, Azimpur to Gulshan, etc. The service should only load and unload passengers at a few designated locations along its route.
To ensure a safe and comfortable journey, the service should operate with licensed drivers adhering to traffic rules and road safety, and not overload or take any standing passengers. They should also operate with well-maintained, clean vehicles. The express service may discourage people from commuting long distances on personal vehicles.
