City traffic plunges into anarchy
(Left) City buses stop on the road in Dewanhat area to take passengers, causing traffic congestion while, right, a city service bus runs with passengers hanging from its door-handle at Jamal Khan Road on Tuesday.
Anarchy prevails in the transport sector in the port city as the unruly drivers of public transports frequently defy traffic rules, causing intolerable tailback everyday. Traffic system remains almost collapsed as the initiatives taken by the traffic department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) for streamlining the traffic is going in vain. The drivers of city service buses, minibuses, human haulers and tempos are taking and dropping passengers from any point in the city at their whims though there are designated stoppages. Due to lack of proper monitoring by the authorities concerned, the drivers take excessive passengers to cram into the busses offering an uncomfortable journey to the commuters while the human haulers and tempos follow them in parking their vehicles. Earlier, the traffic department introduced counter-based service asking all the city service buses to drop and pick passengers from the designated stoppages while commuters were also asked to buy tickets in advance from counters before boarding the buses. Besides, illegal parking creates serious gridlocks at almost all the intersections including Bahodderhat, Muradpur, Sholoshahar, GEC, Dewanhat and Batamtali throughout the day. Beside this, the traffic department had also asked the CNG-run auto-rickshaws to install tariff meters to charge fare from the passengers. But, the drivers hardly maintain the rule keeping the passengers hostage to count additional fare. Sajjadul Karim, a trader and resident of Halishahar area, said they are to suffer due to lack of enforcement of counter-based services as the drivers of buses and minibuses ply the bus at their will. "The suffering increases during the peak hours when the buses got jam-packed with passengers making the journey irritating also," he said. Women passengers are the worst sufferers of the situation, Zinnat Ara said, adding that the days when the traffic department had forced the buses to maintain the counter-based services were the best for them. "We cannot fight for getting on the buses along with the male passengers while the CNG-run auto-rickshaws charge at least two times higher than the usual fare despite asking to run with tariff meters," Zinnat said. If the authorities could ensure counter-based service the passengers would give additional fare spontaneously, she added. Assistant Commissioner (AC) Wahidul Haque Chowdhury of CMP Traffic Department told The Daily Star that they are reorganising the automatic signal system in the city to reduce traffic congestion. He said the traffic department will soon crack down on the public transports that are not maintaining the counter-based system. "Our regular drives against the violators of traffic rules are going on," Wahidul said. Around 200 cases were filed everyday against the vehicles for defying the traffic rules, he said. He said they cannot check the traffic properly due to shortage of manpower. There are only 50 traffic sergeants and 250 constables to tackle huge number of vehicles at 52 points in the city in two shifts a day, he said. Two double-decker buses were introduced in the city on December 28 and the number will be raised gradually to lessen the transport crisis as well as the traffic congestion, he added. Sources in the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) in Chittagong said 850 buses and minibuses, 550 human haulers, 500 tempos and 12,000 CNG-run auto-rickshaws are plying the city roads. Only few buses of “Metro Special Service” in route no 10 (Patenga to Bohoddarhat Terminal) run with the counter-based service, said the sources.
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