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Bus service for schools by Oct

DTCB plans to discourage cars for school runs, reduce traffic jams

ERSHAD KAMOL
The government is going to introduce exclusive bus services for school children by late October as part of its effort to ease terrible traffic jams that waste valuable time and energy of people living in Dhaka.
Following an inter-ministry meeting on traffic congestion held on August 20, the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board decided this.
"Our aim is to create easy public transportation for students and at the same time reduce traffic jams by 40 percent," SM Salehuddin, additional executive secretary of DTCB, told The Daily Star.
The DTCB has already come to an agreement with* Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Bangladesh Road
Transport Corporation and private bus operators to run 100 buses on major arteries of the capital for school children from 7:00am to 10:00am. These buses will again take the children home.
The idea is: the buses would drop the pupils £t intersections near their educational institutions. The pupils will then go to schools by rickshaws or on foot. Dhaka City Corporation and traffic police will control the movement of rickshaws at those places so that the intersections are not jammed.
Schools to which The Daily Star spoke to about this move appear to appreciate it as they think it will reduce traffic jams in front of popular institutions.
"It may improve the traffic jam situation," said acting Principal ofViqarunnisa Noon School and College Rokeya Akhtar
Begum.
However, parents seem to be more cautious. They are concerned about the safety of their children.
"I do not have any confidence in our public transport system. I shall send my daughter only when 1 am convinced that she would be safe. Till then I shall take my daughter to her school in Gulshan 1," said Aysha Haque, a resident of Old DOHS.
Urban planners are also not convinced that the guardians will accept such experimental bus services. "People do not like to use different types of vehicles when travelling from one place to another. This is why rickshaws and private cars are so popular as people can travel without changing vehicles," said Prof Mahbubun
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Nabi, a leading town planner ofthe country.
However, Salehuddin of the DTCB says that the authorities are trying to take these factors into account. "We have called a meeting inviting the representatives of the schools, BRTA, BRTC, private bus operators in order to make the plan effective," he said.
He added that the government would not force school goers to use public transport instead of private transport. The government intention at the moment is to create sufficientfacilities.
"We will also encourage BRTC and private operators to come to an agreement with schools to introduce dedicated bus services for particular schools. But parking of private vehicles on roads besides the schools will be strictly controlled by the police," headded.
BRTC has already offered a dedicated bus service for Viqarunnisa Noon School and College students from Mirpur.
Appreciating the move, Rokeya Akhtar Begum told The Daily Star, "The bus fare is reasonable. We will ask for introducing more such bus routes. I hope the guardians will accept the offer."
However, many schools are not aware of the plan.
Rita Chowdhury, administrator of Sunbeams School at
Dhanmondi told The Daily Star that it did not get any offer from government agencies. "However, it is definitely a good step to control traffic jams and take students to schools. We hope to cooperate with the government and make the service popular, if we get an offer from the govern ment," she said, adding, "We also struggle to manage traffic during school hours. We have to appoint manpower to control parking near the school."
Dhaka Metropolitan Police had requested the government to close schools during Ramadan considering the huge traffic jams that occur regularly at key intersections of Motijheel, Slddheswari, Kakrail, Dhanmondi, Asad Gate, Shyamoli, Gulshan, and Uttara.
"Hundreds of cars are parked on the road during school hours that make the road narrow and congested. Moreover, the number of vehicles that carry the students to schools is much higher than the capacity of the existing roads, which create gridlocks," the DMP joint commissioner (traffic) said.
There is no alternative to discouraging the use of private transport, especially to carry children to educational institutions located in residential areas during rush hours, the joint commissioner added.