Schedule failure throws passengers into pains

It came as a nagging pain for many getting caught in limbo as they could neither return to their residences nor see the transport booked for journey home after long await.          
Severe schedule failure caused such intolerable inconveniences as most transport vehicles---buses, trains and launches -- made delayed departure Saturday from the capital.
Transport operators admitted the problem. They said tailbacks on highways, excessive stoppages of trains and the overloading of passengers on launches resulted in schedule disruption.
People bound for their ancestral homes to celebrate the Eid-ul-Azha festival had to wait 2 to 7 hours to get into their respective transport on the day.
The delay added extra woes to the passengers, especially the old and children.
This year, the rush of travelers increased significantly as two major festivals--Eid-ul-Azha and Durja Puja-commence in a close sequence.
Durga Puja ended yesterday (Saturday) while Eid fiesta will be celebrated tomorrow (Monday). Official vacations for the festivals, combined with weekend, are from October 3 to 7.
Many buses and trains were found taking additional passengers on their rooftops on Saturday in what looked risky journey.  
Trains were swarming with people all over their body frames-inside coaches, on rooftops, doorsteps, engine cover, rear spaces and so.             
Md Zakir Hasan, official of a manpower-recruiting agency, was sitting over his bags at Nabil Paribahan counter in Majhar Road of Gabtoli at 12.30 pm. Talking to the FE he said the departure time of his bus for Nilphamari in far north was 9:15am.
"Whenever I ask the counter manager when our bus will leave, he delivers the same answer---just in a few minutes---," he said.
The scenes were almost same at the counters of Hanif Paribahan, SR Paribahan, Shyamoly Paribahan, Eagle Paribahan at College Gate, Shyamoli, Kalyanpur, Majhar Road and Gabtoli.
Nafis Ahmed, a private bank official, told the FE at SR Paribahan in Kalyanpur that he chose to go on October 4 to avoid huge crowds on October 2 and 3.
 "I'm waiting for the 9:30 bus of Rangpur and it is now 1:00pm," he said.
He lamented condition of his parents, wife and two-year-old daughter who were with him at the counter.
President of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association (BBTOA) Faruqe Talukder told the FE that they had witnessed nearly 55-kilometre tailback since Friday morning.
Ashulia to Chandra, Nabinagar to Chandra, Jamurki in Tangail to Bangabandhu Bridge----vehicles are stranded all over there.
He gave such agonizing account of the traffic situation at 3:00pm.
He said the buses of their fleet from the distant districts could not enter the city in time, which caused schedule breakdown.   
 "We are expecting that the road will become smooth from the evening," he said.
Gazipur's Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sanjit Kumar Roy said traffic was slow on the Dhaka-Tangail highway due to several accidents at Mirzapur and Narinda in Tangail and Kaddar Mor under Sirajganj on Friday night.
He said a 25-km-long jam was now (3:30 pm) created between Jamurki-Tangail to Bangabandhu Bridge at the gateway to North Bengal.
Meanwhile, it was found at Kamalapur Railway Station (KRS) that most of the intercity trains failed to maintain the schedule-running late by 3 to 7 hours.
Rangpur Express left the KRS at 3:00 pm against its scheduled time of 8:20am while Chittagong-bound Provati, Dinajpur-bound Drutojan, Rajshahi-bound Dhumketu, Nilphamari-bound Nilsagar Express and Sundarban Express bound for Khulna were 3 to 4 hours late.
The passengers were mostly seen looking frustrated as they were sitting on the platform for several hours to get into their trains.
Ariful Hoque Shawon, a schoolteacher, went to the platform with his family members at about 7:30am to catch the Rangpur Express, which was supposed to leave the terminal at 8:20 am.
 "But now it is 2:20pm and the train hasn't come yet. I don't actually know how long we have to wait for the train," he said.
The passengers were also seen moving desperately whenever a train came. And home-goers were seen on rooftop of almost every train.
When contacted, KRS manager Khairul Bashir admitted the schedule breakdown. He said technical fault delayed the trains.
He further said break in train journey at informal stoppages is also causing the breakdown of time schedules.
People's pressure in district level is forcing the train officials to make informal journey break.        
Huge holidaymakers for the coastal regions also witnessed schedule breakdown at launch terminals.
Most of the launches were one-and-a-half to three-hour late in leaving the Buriganga bank.
Admitting the matter, former vice-president of the Inland Water Transport Owners and Passenger Carriers' Association (association of the private launch owners) Shahabuddin Milon said people are now desperate to go home.
 "It is taking some extra time to fulfill the need," he said.
However, the journey from Azimpur to Gabtoli, Motijheel to Mahakhali, and Mirpur to Sadarghat was smooth on the day as the overcrowded city is gradually getting deserted.    
It came as a saving grace that at least gave the home-goers and commuters alike some sort of relief.
According to officials of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), Bangladesh Railway (BR), Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines, about 2.5 million people usually leave Dhaka per day ahead of Eid.
Of the total, about 2.32 million take road, 0.15 million waterway, 0.06 million and 7,500-8,000 air transport.

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