Public transports offer little room for women commuters

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Rita Bhoumick
When the bus pulls up to a stop it is already filled with passengers, some of them standing on its door.
Fatema is one of about a dozen people who rush to the bus to try to get into it. They cannot because men are standing on the door. Another group of passengers struggle to get down making their way from the back seats.
There are shouts, screams and abuses hurled all around the noisy scene. Almost all the men can finally get in. Fatema, a garment worker, cannot. So she decides to walk to her factory under a blazing sun.
``The helper of the bus does not allow me in because I'm a woman. There is no seat for the ladies. Don't take in ladies," the helper says. Fatema can't always afford a journey by bus. Like thousands of other garment workers she usually walks to work. However, on days she needs to make up the lost time she decides to get into a bus.
``It's terrible for a woman to travel by a bus. There are only four or five seats reserved for women. During rush hour even men occupy those seats. We hear male passengers joking about women. Some even chides the helper or the driver for carrying female passengers. It is so embarrassing," says Fatema.
Fatema has spoken for women commuters in the capital city, where the number of female workers is growing, especially after the surge in garment factories.
Farida Sultana, principal of University Teachers' Training College, knows how troublesome a bus journey in Dhaka can be for a woman Speaking about the ordinary buses, which still account for the majority of these vehicles, she says men who occupy women's seats refuse to vacate those when a female passenger gets into the bus.
``The seats for the women are virtually on the engine. It's so hot and tormenting to sit beside an engine. Moreover, when a bus is attacked the front of it is normally targeted. The women become the first targets. They can't get out."
She says, ``There are helpers who misbehave with female passengers. In the name of helping women get into buses they normally inappropriately touch their bodies. Protests by the victims do not work. We need to keep 10 to 15 seats reserved for women on each bus and make sure that the helpers are disciplined."
Nari Uddyug Kendra, a women rights organisation, has recently conducted a survey among several hundred female commuters in Dhaka city. The survey on about 300 families has revealed: about 76 per cent of school girls reside close to schools and so walk; only 5 per cent of the working women spend on transportation. Many say they would use buses more often if the situation were not this bad.; 35 per cent of the women use rickshaws, while 39 per cent walk and four percent partly walk and partly ride rickshaws.
Says Mashuda Khatoon Shefali, Executive Director of Nari Uddyug Kendra, ``Not only the working women need pubic transportation. Even housewives come out and need good transportation system. Local buses don't take women. So many women are forced to use more expensive rickshaws and suffer financially."
She criticises the urban transport project being implemented with the help of the World Bank. She says, "This has been modeled after the Western system, not suitable for us and there has been little thought about women from lower middle class. That's why there is no solution to the commuting problems faced by the lower middle class people."
According to Dr. S.M. Salehuddin, technical director at BTRC, the state-run corporation has planned to bring into service more buses only for women. NGOs like NUK have been involved in the planning, he says.
He, however, says bus services for women have so far suffered in some routes because of shortage of buses. We have decided to introduce single-deck buses for women. BRTC has 626 buses running, and only a few of them are for women.
Says Ayesha Khanam, general secretary of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, "While making the national budget the government cares little about the transportation need of the working women. No allocation is made in this sector. We need to increase buses not only for women; for all commuters."
— NewsNetwork