Pink buses thin on popular Dhaka routes, schedules unknown to many women

For Sabrina, a student at the Government Graphic Arts Institute, the pink buses introduced in Dhaka two months ago offer a welcome option for women commuters.

Yet she has not managed to board one because none ply the routes she regularly travels.

“I have not come across the service anywhere I go. If it ran on my route, I would prioritise it,” the student, who identified herself with a single name, told bdnews24.com.

Habiba Surovi, a resident of Mirpur’s Kazipara, said many women do not know which routes the buses serve or when they leave. She called for better publicity, more buses and more routes.

The government put 10 pink buses on 10 Dhaka routes on Aug 18. They started amid great enthusiasm, but a shortage of passengers is now being discussed.

Women say the handful of buses, leaving fixed routes at fixed times, are beyond the reach of most, so many see no point waiting for them.

The government has moved to add 100 more pink buses. Transport experts say that without a “bus route franchise” and order in public transport, new buses alone will fail as past efforts did.

At the Mohammadpur depot early in the morning, four or five women sat in a pink bus waiting for 8:40am. By departure, nearly every seat was taken, while other buses had already left with passengers.

“This bus is not always here, so I cannot fully depend on it,” said passenger Sanjida Jahan. “We have to take ordinary buses at other times, so nobody sits and waits for this one.”

Maksuda Sumi, another passenger, said the bus sets off fairly empty but fills up within a couple of stops.

A third passenger said people blame women for not using the bus, but the first question should be whether it runs when and where they need it.

Baishakhi Karmakar, who works at a private firm, told bdnews24.com that crowded ordinary buses are unbearable on her daily commute, while the pink bus has almost none of that discomfort.

Mazeda Begum said she can usually find a seat and the air is less stifling, but she cannot always wait for the bus.

Nargis Khandaker said no pink bus runs from her home to her office, and changing buses adds time and cost.

Nishat Jahan Nupur of Mirpur said she did not know a pink bus goes to Motijheel and will now take it.

She recalled liking a female-friendly bus called “Aparajita” with a woman conductor while at Dhaka University, and finds a woman driver “truly wonderful”.

Md Rahenul Islam, director (administration and operations) of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), said pink buses leave every depot between 7am and 8:40am, always on time.

They are due back between 4pm and 5pm, but jams sometimes push this past 7pm.

The BRTC began a trial women-only service in 1998, and a formal women’s bus service was inaugurated on Oct 25, 2001.

Of 12 planned buses, only four or five reached the road. A 2009 revival never took off, and four private “Dolonchapa” buses launched in 2018 shut in October 2022.

Shamima Khatun, a passenger at the Mohammadpur bus stand, feared the service may stop again.

“Women-only buses were launched before too. After some time, they were no longer seen. There is a lot of publicity at the start this time as well. But whether the buses will still be on the road six months from now is what we have to see,” she said.

A fellow passenger said more buses are needed, as women need separate buses.

A parliamentary standing committee on the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry discussed adding buses on Sept 27, with a plan to add 100 more quickly.

BRTC Director Rahenul said a feasibility study through the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) is assessing demand, with no final result yet.

BRTC has drawn up plans to make the service sustainable, he said, but running women-only buses is a “challenge”.

“If a bus has 50 male passengers, there are five to seven women. Even combining the passengers of 10 buses, it is hard to fill one,” Rahenul said.

He could not say whether the service will close, but proper planning, targets and implementation could sustain it. He suggested monthly-fare buses for women sales staff at malls such as Bashundhara City and Jamuna Future Park and for women in Motijheel’s banks and corporate offices. These cannot start yet because BRTC’s buses fall short of expectations.

“If air-conditioned buses, comfortable seats and fixed schedules can be ensured, these women will certainly come.”

Such efforts must become a social movement, he said. Electric buses would cut reliance on private cars and transport costs, and spare mothers waiting in cars for school pick-ups.

Of 200 electric buses to come, 100 will serve women and 100 Dhaka’s city service, possibly from around February or March 2027. A tender process is under way.

Omar Faruk Mehedi, manager of the Mirpur depot, said a new service gets few passengers at first, though numbers are slowly rising. Trust and familiarity among women matter too, and he hopes more will ride once electric buses join.

“We are now slowly moving towards profit,” he said.

One pink bus runs from Mohammadpur. Md Sumon Mia, accounts assistant (grade-1) at the depot, told bdnews24.com it runs at a loss, as income does not cover operating costs. Daily costs come to about Tk 6,000 for two drivers and two conductors.

The bus stays off the road on Fridays and Saturdays for lack of working women passengers, yet permanent staff must still be paid on the government scale.

Other buses, carrying men, women and children, make a profit.

Transport experts say the government should weigh why past women’s bus services failed before buying new ones.

Transport expert Md Shamsul Hoque said new buses are being bought without considering that history, which those responsible for continuity at BRTC should know. A new project risks failure and damage to the government’s image.

The priority should be order on Dhaka’s buses, he said, and that needs no big investment. A “bus route franchise” could have specific companies run buses on specific corridors.

BRTC does not take losses seriously because it gets subsidies, and little attention goes to whether the public gets service, he added.

“Otherwise, putting new buses of new colours on the road will not be sustainable, as past experience shows. Keeping them running by force will waste money from the state treasury.”

Pilots in Hatirjheel and Gulshan ran buses on specific corridors through policy support alone, Shamsul said.

The government could divide Dhaka’s passengers by route among several companies and present the model internationally to attract investment.

According to him, Hatirjheel drivers are salaried and do not compete for passengers. On other Dhaka buses, the driver pays the owner a fixed daily sum, up to Tk 8,000, and keeps the rest with the helper, so they compete to grab passengers.

“Without understanding the difference between these two business structures, the chaos of public transport cannot be resolved,” the expert added.