Nagar Paribahan: Old wine in a new bottle

Once, Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, was such a coveted place to visit for anyone outside of Dhaka. It was a matter of prestige to visit the city. In the eighties, when a primary school friend said he had gone to Dhaka, he emanated his elation, so proud of travelling to Dhaka. At the time, it was beyond imagination that there would even come an opportunity to visit the city.

However, the opportunity became a reality in the nineties when I went to city to study. But gradually the image of this coveted city gradually faded as it rapidly grew in a haphazard and unplanned manner. Thousands of buildings sprouted up here and there. If anyone goes to the roof of a high-rise building and looks out, he will see a grey sky filled with dust and building after building sprawled out in an unwieldy manner.

Now after three decades, the capital city Dhaka lost its renown. No one wants to come here unless in an emergency. Whenever relatives come to Dhaka for any urgent purpose like medical treatment, employment or business, they want to leave Dhaka as soon as possible. They heave a sigh of relief once they pack their bags and say goodbye to the chaotic city called Dhaka.

While travelling by public transport from Asadgate to Karwan Bazar during the Covid period, may be around 2021 or 2022, an elderly was travelling in the same bus. He was going to meet his son in a residential hall of Dhaka University. I was chatting with him en route. The man, Humayun Kabir, was from Magura. He was lamenting, what a beautiful city Dhaka had been! During the seventies, Humayun would come to Dhaka for treatment of his asthma. He repeatedly recalled the tasty food of Dhaka back in the day. He said he came Badrudozza Chowdhury, a former president of Bangladesh and also former BNP leader, had cured him of his asthma. He was highly appreciative of Badrudozza Chowdhury.

The elderly man was frustrated by the traffic congestion. He kept saying it was taking more time to reach Dhaka University campus from Gabtoli than the time he had needed to reach Gabtali from Magura.   Humayun's concern quite simply echoed the findings of a study by the World Bank and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)'s Accident Research Institute (ARI).

Every day 8,200,000 working hours are wasted in Dhaka city due to traffic congestion. In financial terms this stands at around Tk 1.39 billion (Tk 139 crore) daily, according to ARI.

That would mean the annual losses would exceed Tk 500 billion (Tk 50,000 crore). In 2018, every day 5 million (50 lakh) working hours were lost to traffic. The financial losses in this regard were around Tk 370 billion (Tk 37,000 crore annually).

The organisations say that in 2007 the speed of vehicles on Dhaka streets was 21 km per hour. That has now slowed to 4.8km per hour. Dhaka's streets are steadily coming to a standstill.

Traffic congestion and anarchy in the city streets are nothing new. This gloomy picture has been persisting for long. Even in the busy areas near Mohammadpur bus stop, city buses including Projapoti, Shadeen buses, are halting in the middle of the road to pick up passengers. When such things occur, many other vehicles also have to halt behind the bus as it picks up passengers.

It was also seen that a bus stops, starts again, and then after moving for a few metres, stops again to pick up yet another passenger. What is most shocking is that city buses are always competing with each other, racing in a crazed manner with the high risk of accidents.

The drivers are playing with the lives of the passengers. For example, a bus does not allow another bus from same company to ovetake. The driver of the bus halts the bus in such a way to block the bus behind it. But the bus behind tries to cleverly overtakes its and sometimes even hits the front bus. Passengers shout out in anger and alarm, "Are you playing with our lives?" But who cares?

In the wake of such a chaotic situation of transport and traffic system in the capital, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) launched Dhaka Nagar Paribahan from Ghatarchar to Kanchpur with 50 buses on 26 December 2020.

On 13 October, the government also launched Nagar Paribahan in two more routes. The route No. 26 is from Ghatarchar to Kadamtali, via Mohammadpur ,  Jhikatala, Science Lab, New Market, Azimpur, Palashi More, Chankharpul, and Postagola.

Route 22 stretches from Ghatarchar of Keraniganj to the government staff quarters in Demra via Mohammadpur Town Hall, Asad Gate, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Kakrail, Fakirapul, Motijheel, Tikatuli, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, and Konapara.

Route 23 stretches from Ghatarchar to Chattogram Road via Asad Gate, Kalabagan, Science Lab, Shahbagh, Matsya Bhaban, National Press Club, Gulistan, Dainik Bangla, Kamalapur, Dhalpur, Jatrabari, Shanir Akhra, Rayerbagh, Matuail, and Signboard.

The Nagar Paribahan Service started its journey on trial basis on 26 December 2021 through the operation of bus service on the Ghatarchar-Kanchpur route. In the beginning these buses strictly followed the rules and stopped only at the designated stoppages. Besides, there was no scope for travelling without a ticket.

Passengers had been seen waiting with tickets at the bus stop. As this bus only would stop at the designated places and operated systematically, a large number of passengers across the route availed the Nagar Paribahan trip. It seemed city dwellers had breathed a sigh of relief when they travel by Nagar Paribahan.

With the passage of a few months, everything is gradually changing. Like buses of other Paribahan, buses of Nagar Paribahan have started shifting and returning to the chaotic situation.

Meanwhile, for the buses of Route 22, Hanif Paribahan was awarded the contract for operation of this route. There was no designated counter and they stopped selling tickets at the counters. Instead they now stop whenever and wherever they wish. They are also operating a limited number of buses. Passengers on this route who had initially heaved a sigh of relief, are now frustrated. A passenger who usually travelled from Basila to Karwan Bazar recently expressed frustration saying Nagar Paribahan operated by Hanif Paribahan has been finished. A man working for a private company said he does not wait for the Nagar Paribahan bus anymore.

Sometimes passengers in the buses angrily ask, "Have you turned into a 'local' bus?" But the drivers and assistants turn a deaf ear. They say they will stop anywhere and everywhere. They counter question, why should we incur losses?

Why is this chaotic situation? Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayor Fazle Noor Taposh, who launched this bus operation, perhaps can give the answer. The DSCC authorities awarded the contract to Hanif Paribahan. But the passengers say there is no monitoring system to ensure the discipline especially on these three routes. The drivers, assistants and all others are accustomed to previous chaotic system. They do not know, or care, how both passengers and the bus operators can benefit from a disciplined transport system. If the authorities really want to give relief to Dhaka commuters, they must review the current situation immediately. The scenario of other two routes are almost the same. Dear mayor, can you perceive the hardship of thousands of passengers?  If you can, please do something.

*Rabiul Islam is a journalist at Prothom Alo. He can be reached at [email protected]