A harrowing day for commuters

People who had to commute within Dhaka on Saturday for urgent and unavoidable needs endured overwhelming misery as the city's public transport system practically ground to a halt surrounding high-voltage political rallies in the capital. 

Moreover, only a scant number of buses were seen in operation at inter-district bus terminals since on Saturday morning.

While BNP leaders alleged that the buses were stopped to prevent their party activists from reaching Dhaka, many bus drivers said they were asked to stay off the road in fear of attack.

The scarcity of public transport in the capital caused CNG-powered auto-rickshaws to charge exorbitant fares, greatly inconveniencing ordinary commuters. 

Public transportation was nearly halted in various areas, including Mohakhali, Satrasta, Moghbazar, and Tajuddin Road. 

Furthermore, there was a noticeable shortage of public transport along Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue towards Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Banglamotor and Shahbagh. 

Photo: TBS

Hundreds of buses of Ena Transport usually leave every day from the Mohakhali terminal for Mymensingh. An employee in charge of the Ena ticket counter at 5pm said that no bus had left since 10am on Saturday.

He mentioned, "We've been instructed to stop the service," but he declined to specify if the owner, government, or police had told them to stop bus operations.

Bus services had to be stopped when the BNP started vandalism, said Khandkar Enayet Ullah, general secretary of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association.

However, the transport leader said they will run buses today, defying BNP's hartal. 

His association in a statement said, "The transport owners and workers vehemently reject this anti-people strike."

Buses reserved for rallies

On the highways, light traffic was witnessed. This was due to the majority of buses being reserved for transporting rally goers, resulting in fewer buses on the roads than usual.

Harunor Rashid, a commuter heading to Dhaka, shared his frustration while waiting for a bus in the Hemayetpur Alamnagar housing area in the morning, stating, "My office is in Shyamoli, but I haven't seen a bus for an hour." 

He also noted that the few buses that did arrive were already overcrowded.

Arifa Haque, a passenger heading to Dhaka, expressed her frustration while waiting at Savar's Rajfulbaria bus stand around 7:30 in the morning, saying, "I've been standing here for half an hour, and there's no sign of a bus. I'll consider taking a Laguna if I can find one."

Public transport officials said most of the buses were reserved to transport rallygoers, so the number of buses on the road was less than on other days.

Sohail, the managing director of Savar Paribahan operating the Sadarghat route from Nandan Park in Ashulia, provided insights into the situation. 

He explained, "We usually have 140 to 150 buses running on this route every day, today, only 40 buses are in operation. The rest have been reserved for various rallies, resulting in a transport crisis on the road."

Sohail also highlighted that nearly two-thirds of the buses on this route were reserved for rallies, leading to a scarcity of buses on their regular routes.

Hiked fare

There were also complaints of fare hikes due to a transportation crisis. The traffic woes on the highway began on Friday night, and opportunistic transport operators took advantage of the situation by charging extra fares for trips to Dhaka.

Passengers expressed their frustration over the shortage of vehicles, noting that even when two public transport options were available, they were charging several times the usual fare.

Shahidul Islam, a student, standing perplexed in the Ashekpur bypass area on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway in the morning said, "I came here from Ghatail to go to Pabna. But now I see that there is a shortage of public transport. If I take the alternatives available, it will result in me paying double the fare,"

However, autorickshaw driver Abbas Ali said they were not hiking fares unreasonably but were adapting their routes due to the low traffic on the highway, ferrying passengers to Dhaka instead of their usual destinations.