The hustle at Farmgate

It is already one of the most crowded spots in the city on any given late afternoon of the year. Factor in the added rush of thousands of commuters to get home for iftar with family in the month of Ramadan and a massive blockage to the metaphorical artery of the city’s road transport system, Farmgate has become dire straits for the working class posted in the vicinity.

A couple of hundred metres from the office of this newspaper, two youths were seen last Thursday afternoon haplessly waiting for a bus at the intersection -- alongside a few hundred others -- with heavy bags on their shoulders.

As a bus approached, scores of people dashed towards it, almost like a mosh pit at a rock concert. But only the most agile few could get on the already jam-packed bus; Mosaddek Hossain and Milon Mia could not.

“This is the fifth bus I have failed to board in the last one hour,” said Mosaddek, a telecommunications technician who was trying to reach Uttara. 

“This is absolutely unbearable. Commuters like us have to suffer due to the insufficient public transport!” said Milon, adorning his reaction with profanities.

Buses are the begrudging choice of transport for the lower middle-income class, as affording CNG auto-rickshaws or ridesharing services are beyond their pay-cheques. But with the Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue narrowed greatly because of construction for metro rail and many buses diverted from the road to mitigate that, the number of buses has fallen, aggravating the crisis.

The worst sufferers of the lot are women, for whom it’s less of an option than their male counterparts to elbow others out or hang on to the door of a loaded bus with one hand, half of their body outside the vehicle.

However, auto-rickshaws are scarce and many women don’t consider bike rides safe.

“I have tried ridesharing bikes to go home after office hours. But I don’t feel completely safe. It is hard to get hold of CNGs, and even if I find one, the drivers charge ridiculous fares,” said Sharmina, who is a librarian at the nearby University of Asia Pacific.

Contacted, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Traffic West) Dr Manjur Morshed said the number of buses has decreased on the route as the thoroughfare has been narrowed due to the construction work for metro rail service.

Besides, diversions have been implemented to facilitate the work process, reducing the number of buses on the route, he said adding that gridlock elsewhere in the city also deters timely arrival of buses.

He also said they have instructed some bus operators to increase the number of buses on this route during rush hours, to ease up the inconvenience.

In a recent survey report, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity said 95 percent of passengers have been suffering in some form or the other in the month of Ramadan.

“There is no proper plan and statistics regarding the number of passengers and buses by the concerned authority,” Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, secretary general of the organisation, told The Daily Star.

“It is important to know which road requires more buses at what time of day, and how many passengers wait at a particular station. Such estimations will help authorities take proper steps,” he added.