PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM * Bangladesh - Death traps on roads
Over 5,500 buses violate traffic rules at will in city
Dhaka,Bangladesh -The Daily Star, by Shariful Islam -5 May 2008: -- Most of over 5,500 buses and minibuses running on city routes frequently violate traffic rules, contributing to traffic congestion and making it hazardous for passengers, pedestrians and other transport... These public vehicles stop almost anywhere to pick up or drop passengers, even while crossing a traffic signal or in the middle of a crossroads. A moment of chaos is immediately created as other vehicles behind impatiently honk to cross the signal before the red lights are on... This is an everyday scene in all the main bus stoppages including Mirpur-1 and 10, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar and Gulistan... Moreover, operators of these buses 'invent' new stoppages and thus add to traffic congestion. For instance, buses and minibuses frequently stop at a crossing between Karwan Bazar and Hotel Sonargaon... Police and BRTA officials say reckless driving by truck drivers at night, lack of valid licence, overloading, and poor knowledge of traffic rules are contributing to both road accidents and traffic congestion... They also suggest that the government set up modern equipment to instantly check fitness to bring the violators to book... The BRTA statistics until 2006 says 3,669 buses run on 96 routes in the city, while 1,097 other buses on 26 suburban routes. Besides, 1,591 human haulers are also operating on 47 routes in the metropolis... A latest World Bank study under Air Quality Monitoring Project says Dhaka has a bus, minibus and human hauler fleet of 5,527, which runs in a network of 200km... With 103 bus-minibus and 38 human hauler routes, the service in this small network is very intensive, the report says. Bus being the only mode of mass transit available in Dhaka carries about 1.9 million passengers every day... (Photo: STARBusses plying between Mirpur-1 and Mirpur-10 haphazardly park to drop passengers and take new ones obstructing traffic on the street yesterday)Labels: public transport systems
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