Commuters suffer big time due to transport shortage
People living in Dhaka, especially the office-goers, suffered immensely on Wednesday due to a lack of public transport as the government's directive to keep half the seats in buses vacant came into effect. In the morning, many passengers failed to get into buses which were half-full. Struggling to find any other way of reaching their destination, some commuters decided to walk all the way, while others demonstrated at the bus stations. This, along with the severe transport shortage, resulted in many buses carrying more passengers later in the day while still charging the 60 percent higher bus fare, which was only supposed to make up for the losses incurred by buses plying at half capacity.
All things combined, the government's directive didn't really help commuters, but made their situation worse. While buses ran at half capacity—charging commuters a 60 percent higher fare—most offices, companies and factories were operating at full capacity, which naturally meant that there weren't nearly enough transports available for the majority of people.
Although the intention behind the government's directive looked good on paper, the reason why it became such a disaster was because of the thoughtlessness with which it was given and the lack of proper execution. For the majority of people living in Dhaka, transportation, or the lack of it, is a major struggle to deal with on a daily basis. Given the already existing lack of public transport facilities, the government's decision to direct offices, companies and factories to start operating at half capacity right away and also direct buses to ply at half capacity starting at the same time was bound to fail from the get-go. Most workplaces would obviously need at least a day or two to figure out how to go back to operating with half the manpower, which meant buses also had to operate at more than 50 percent capacity.
This absence of understanding shows how detached the authorities have become from the common people, lacking any knowledge of their situation and the realities on the ground. Had the government directed offices and factories to prepare operating with less manpower earlier, most of the problems that arose could have been avoided. However, because the government was too busy with its own celebrations only a week ago, it decided to give all the directives all at once which made them impossible for effective execution.
Given the rapid rise in coronavirus infections, social distancing in public transports has to be maintained. However, that can only be achieved if there are enough public transports to cover for the buses operating at half the capacity, or once most workplaces go back to operating with half the manpower. The authorities must either increase the number of buses plying the streets, or wait a few more days before directing them to operate at half the capacity.
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