Dhaka’s transport system suffers from a lack of foresight, not money”

Despite the good economic development of the country over the years, city experts believe that the capital still lacks a quality bus fleet to suit the better lifestyle of the people.

They say the city’s existing 8,000 buses are almost completely unfit to operate in a capital like Dhaka and should be replaced with high-quality, standard and comfortable buses. Buses in the capital had to meet acceptable standards. We need to provide high-quality and comfortable passenger-friendly bus services to reduce people’s reliance on private cars.

There were around 6,900 buses in Dhaka city in 2017. “Most of these buses are not suitable for operation in the city, only about 2,600 buses can be repaired and upgraded, the rest are completely unfit for operation in the city. This is the result of a government investigation, not my opinion.”

The late Mayor Annisul Huq has taken steps to purchase 3,000 modern and standard buses for Dhaka as part of a plan to phase out substandard buses. “After his death, the process was bogged down.

The government should provide tax-free facilities and soft loans to bus owners to buy high-quality buses to replace the existing ones. So if proper measures are taken, we will be able to replace substandard buses with high quality buses.”

City buses should be suitable for children, the elderly, the disabled and women. “The current fleet of buses is not accommodating to all passengers.”

The government should take measures to make better use of railways and waterways to make Dhaka a safe and mobile city and reduce pressure on roads.

This is not only because most of the buses in Dhaka are not suitable, but the drivers here are not qualified to drive the vehicles. Every resident of the capital deserves a better bus service in Dhaka than what is available. It is strange that in a big city like Dhaka there is fierce competition with more than 200 bus companies.

High-quality buses, skilled and disciplined drivers, better urban traffic management, and the introduction of bus line franchising and the modernization of bus terminals are key to improving bus service.

To eliminate the vicious competition for passenger cars, it is necessary to design bus routes connecting all possible areas, and to improve bus frequency and ticketing systems.

Existing buses in Dhaka cannot operate in the capital of a country that is becoming a middle-income country.

After the introduction of the franchise system, the government should formulate an effective plan to replace the existing bus fleet with a modern and standard bus fleet based on the advice of experts in the relevant fields.

Dhaka’s transport system is suffering from a lack of foresight, while Not the pain of funding,” There is an urgent need to improve bus traffic by introducing bus rapid transit (BRT) for bus-only lanes. Since Dhaka doesn’t have enough roads, politicians should encourage public transport instead of private cars on the streets. We need to control the use of private cars and increase the fleet of public transport buses and double-decker buses. This has proven to be a very effective measure in many cities such as London and Moscow.”