Condition of Bus Services of Dhaka City

3. Name ID
M21431111141
M21431111143
M21431111134
M21431111106

4. Condition of Bus Services
of Dhaka City

5. Dhaka is one of the fastest growing and highly dense cities of the
world. The city comprises of about 12 million people within its
1,529 sq km land area . The rapid spread of the city and growth of
its population over the past decade has led to a massive demand for
transportation. However, this increased demand for transportation
has not been matched by providing sufficient investment in
transport infrastructure, services and management . As a result,
traffic and transport condition of the city have seriously
deteriorated. Transport environment of the city could be
characterized by congestion and delays, inadequate traffic
management, high accident rates, increasing air pollution problems,
public transport crisis, and unaffordable and inaccessible public
transport for many people. Bus is the only mode of mass public
transit available in Dhaka City. However, bus service of the city is
in unsatisfactory condition due to lack of proper maintenance,
planning and management, and uncontrolled development.

6. Bus services available in Dhaka city could be
categorized in two groups:
 Counter bus service
 Local bus service

7. According to BRTA, up to March, 2008 there is 6488 number of
authorized buses in Dhaka City and many of these buses are
operated by individual owners. Drivers and crews in most
cases rent the buses on a daily or monthly basis. They then
operate the buses on their own revenue risk, requiring enough
passengers per day to repay the bus rental fees cover fuel cost,
basic maintenance cost and make a profit. As a result the
present bus industry of Dhaka city has not been developed as
a healthy one. Due to the poor condition of bus industry, there
is lack of coordinated control of these buses and no route
commitment resulting in time wasting, aggressive competition
on roads and waste of resources. Rough behavior of bus
crews, unsafe driving practice, dangerous boarding and
alighting by passengers in the middle of roads, nosing of
buses are the results of fragmentation in bus ownership.

8.  Lack of safety
 Unorganized ticket collection systems
 Irregularity in service
 Fitness of buses
 Shortage of law enforcing agencies

9. In Dhaka City, roads after construction has no regular
improvement measures to counteract the road delays
due to the poor road surface condition. Moreover, most
of the roads do not fulfill the geometrical criteria,
proper right of way and proper use of different
elements regarding road grades and sub grades.
Effective road width is reduced by presence of dustbin
and hawkers. In some places construction materials for
building purposes are placed on the roads. Due to the
above reasons natural movement of buses are
interrupted. In addition to that haphazard parking of
vehicles due to the deficiency of parking places,
inefficient width and use of footpaths restrict the free
movement of buses along the roads.

10. Mass Rapid Transit System
BRT Line 1
Uttara –Saidabad
BRT Line 2
Gabtoli –Saidabad
BRT Line 3
Uttara –Ramna-Sadarghat
MRT Line 4
Uttara- Saidabad
MRT Line 5
Gulshan 1-2, Mirpur-
Mohammadpur
MRT line 6
Mirpur- Saidabad

11. Total Length-110 km.
Already Completed:
 Sadarghat to Ashulia (30 km);
 Dredging: 17.44 lakh m3.
To be Completed:
 Ashulia to Kanchpur (40 km);
 Dredging: 34.73 lakh m3.
Sadarghat
Ashulia
Kanchpur

12. The public transport systems of the city failed to serve the
needs of mass people and also failed to maintain an
adequate level of service at prices affordable for the poor. It
was found that most of the respondents are very unsatisfied
with the waiting time as they have to wait for a longer time
for the bus. The number of high capacity buses and their
service level need to be increased to cope with the current
demand. Hence, transport facilities of the city should be
provided keeping in mind the population growth, economic
development, and future travel demand of the city.