Aligning public buses with metro rails

Within three months of full operation, the metro rail in Dhaka becomes highly popular among the regular commuters as the mass rapid transit brings a big comfort for them. On an average, some 250,000 commuters are using the metro rail daily and around 20 million people have already used the service in January. Thus the demand for the service is mounting day by day. The passenger pressure during peak hours, mornings and evenings to be precise, is so intense that they have to wait long for availing a train. To ease the pressure, the number of trips also increased in the second week of February coupled with reduction of the time gap in peak hours.
Nevertheless, metro rail has been facing some technical glitches that forced to halt the operation for more than an hour occasionally. The interference from kites and sky lanterns as well as power outages also forces the authorities to suspend the operation. The sudden halt of the operation causes sufferings to commuters. On February 17, its operation was suspended for over an hour and commuters had to wait at different stations and inside trains. After resumption of the operation, when passengers depart in their desired stations by tapping the metro pass, they were charged for overstay. It means, the metro authorities do not consider the possibility of disruption and adjust the overstay issue accordingly in the automated system.
The passengers' increased reliance on metro rail has decreased the number of passengers in public buses plying on Mirpur-Farmgate-Mothijhil route to some extent. Media reports showed that buses are getting fewer passengers mostly in off-peak hours. Thus the waiting time of these buses increased causing trouble to commuters who need to travel in different destinations.
It is now clear that public buses are not properly aligned with the metro rail to tap the optimal benefit of the mass rapid transit. In the highly populated Dhaka city, public buses still carry around 90 per cent of the regular commuters. Unfortunately, public buses in Dhaka have earned bad names for overcrowding, lack of comfort and security, unsafe driving practices, poor and dangerous boarding and alighting facilities, irregular service frequency and a lack of cleanliness. The physical conditions of most of the buses are terrible. Despite being unfit or semi-fit, the buses are on roads and there is no effective move to replace these with new ones. The bus routes are also not properly designed and the move to rationalise the routes has yet to be functional.
Thus, the operation of the public buses in Dhaka needs to be revamped to make the entire public transport system efficient. Extra pressure on the metro rail will not bring any better outcome in the long-run. Instead, it may reduce the efficiency of the metro rail. What is needed is replacement of the ramshackle buses with new ones immediately. The government may offer some financial support like easy loan for bus owners and operators in this regard.
Though the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has taken a plan to introduce new buses aligning with the metro rail, it is not sure when the plan will be realised and how effective it will be. The BRTC is crippled with inefficient management. Moreover, the operation of BRTC buses has been facing obstacles from the private operators. So, it is unlikely that they will cooperate with the state-run transport agency to carry out the plan. Against this backdrop, it is important to engage the private operators by offering some incentives.

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