Bus drivers are not the only ones responsible for accidents

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Bodies of Dhaka city buses testify to irregular and inadequate transport system that continues to wreak havoc and death, and pass unscathed

02 December 2021, 13:30

Last modification: December 02, 2021, 2:18 PM

In order to compete with other buses, drivers drive recklessly, disregarding road safety and, as a result, kill people on the road. Photo: Mumit M

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In order to compete with other buses, drivers drive recklessly, disregarding road safety and, as a result, kill people on the road. Photo: Mumit M

If you watch the buses ply the roads of the capital of Bangladesh, you will immediately notice the bodies of the buses – discolored, rusty, with scars and collision marks. Looks like it has been deprived of maintenance and fresh paint for a long time.

Most bus owners don’t care about the condition of the buses that thousands of people use on a daily basis. They have no intention of giving those battered bodies anything, not even a fresh coat of paint.

The reason behind these ugly bus bodies is simple. These buses compete fiercely and fight with other buses every day on city roads for passengers. And this ugliness is the result of this fierce competition.

“The root cause of this bloody competition is the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) regulatory authority. It is the BTRA whose officials, sitting in air-conditioned rooms, give new road permits to anyone who requests them.” said BUET’s civil engineering professor. Mr. Shamsul Hoque.

After getting a ride permit, a bus owner gives the bus to a driver for a set fee for the day. But the drivers are under pressure to earn money to pay the owner of the bus as well as to collect enough money for his help and his own income.

“When a bus driver goes to the bus station and hears that another driver has made three trips and has earned more than him by driving more aggressively on the road,” said Professor Hoque, transport expert , “So, he decides that he will also have to be aggressive. Because he will have to increase his income.

And behind it is the regulatory authority, BRTA, which has granted many bus owners permissions to travel on the same route, forcing the bus driver to lobby for income. It is the worst competition. And to compete with other buses, drivers drive recklessly, ignoring road safety; and as a result, killing people on the road.

It is the manifestation of the root cause. This is the result of granting route permits to several bus owners for a single route.

Ariful Islam Mithu TBS Sketch

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Ariful Islam Mithu TBS Sketch

In other countries, before giving a driving license, a background check is carried out. The regulator takes into account ridership and so on. “But in Bangladesh, if you have political or muscular power, it’s easy to get a road permit. It has become a business. Those who give road permits get richer,” Hoque added.

He said that there are 256 bus lines in Dhaka city; it is a huge number, everyone will be surprised to hear such a number.

After a study in 2005, five bus lines were recommended for the whole city of Dhaka. Later in 2013, after another study, the rationalization of the bus lines was proposed under five companies of different colors with five owners. However, nothing has been implemented.

Bus drivers drive long hours to increase income in a most damaging business model, but it seems none are here to solve these pressing issues. In addition, many of these drivers are unlicensed and / or are also minors to drive.

However, among us there is already an example of the ideal, opposite scenario. For example: Hatirjheel. Bus drivers are not so reckless on the Hatirjheel route and this is because there is only one bus operator here. The drivers of the Hatirjheel line are salaried.

“They’re not doing business. You won’t see any scratches on the bus plying the Hatirjheel route,” Hoque said. He added that the scientific and practical approach is that an operator will operate their buses in a single lane.

Bus owners will do business, not drivers. So, the root cause of the problem is, at least one of the root causes, it is those who have given ride permits to multiple bus operators, launching the reckless need for competition among drivers.

And the only solution is the introduction of the rationalization of the bus lines. “But the leaders of the transport industry don’t want that to happen. Because if it happens, then their influence will disappear, they will lose power. If there are only five companies, it will be easy for the government. to control them, but transport leaders seem to control the government, ”Hoque said.

The initiative to consolidate Dhaka city buses under one company called “Dhaka Nagar Paribahan” (Dhaka City Transport) has been postponed. Pilotage of the bus franchise system – with a total of 120 buses on the Ghatarchar-Kanchpur route – will start from December 26 instead of the previously announced date of December 1.

“It will not be successful because the government is meeting with the leaders of the transport sector. What the government will have to do is hear the ‘woes’ of the bus owners,” Hoque said.

Moreover, this pilot initiative is not a new experience. For the first time, in April 2009, an initiative of Franchising of bus lines was taken. A fleet of 100 buses under a single company was to go around Uttara to Azimpur with the commitment of better service. But the system did not last long.

“Because many other buses started to take the same routes, and when the bus company [with the route permit] complained to BRTA, the company got no solution, ”Hoque said.

Professor Hoque said the regulatory authority is far from science. As a result, the entire transport sector has spiraled out of control.

It has already been difficult for the government to impose discipline on the roads. You can manage a single bus owner very easily, but you can’t control 3,000 bus owners, at least not as effectively, he said. The transport sector is so influential that it can even prevent the government from implementing the law passed in parliament.

“The regulator has given birth to an unmanageable transport sector,” said Mr. Shamsul Hoque. “Now the beneficiaries act as an authority in the transport sector.”

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