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Linking Young Minds Together
     Volume 1 Issue 5 | September 3, 2006 |


  
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Feature

Let's Catch the bus!

Afsana Pervin

Unbelievable but true! There are only thirty-two buses available for the nearly thirty thousand students of Dhaka University (DU)! Although Dhaka University authorities raise transport fare almost every year, there has been no effort to develop the service or increase the number of buses in the fleet. The result is obviously the suffering of the students.

With the passage of time, the number of DU students has increased from a couple of thousands to nearly thirty thousand. Students commute from faraway places like Tongi, Pallabi, Keraniganj, Demra, Narayanganj and so on. However, they can hardly reach in time to attend their morning classes because of the rush in public transports. Thus they must depend on the DU bus service. Yet the university authorities could not increase the number of buses to cope with the growing demands. According to some sources not a single bus has been added to the fleet within the last seven years.

As a result, students of this university have to travel with great risks, often swinging from the handles of public buses. Female students suffer even more because of the scarcity of seats. Sometimes a number of buses are rendered inoperative due to mechanical failure, adding to the suffering of the students.

Despite the acute shortage of transportation, Dhaka University buses still ply on fourteen major routes in the city and its outskirts. The destination of the bus services are- Mirpur, Rampura, Mohammadpur, Bashabo, Shantinagar, Uttara, Banani, Mugdapara, Narayanganj and Joydevpur.

Currently, there are only thirty-two buses in the fleet, of which the University owns only sixteen. The rest are hired from other sources. These buses make 133 to 135 trips every day.

A considerable sum of money has been allocated for the transport sector of Dhaka University in the fiscal year of 2006-2007, but it is not known how this money is being spent for the service. “We have to struggle to board the buses and to get a seat we have to get in at least half an hour before the bus starts, “ said a student, urging the authorities concerned to add more buses to the fleet to meet with the increasing demands.

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