Road crisis
Recently, the crisis that commuters face on the roads have risen to such an extent that even a standard trip from one place to another by any means of transport requires a war to be waged on anyone and everyone, anything and everything. I live in Bonosree, Rampura, and I travel daily to my workplace in Dhanmondi. Earlier, I would take an auto-rickshaw or taxi, and reach fairly on time. Nowadays, it's getting tougher to get any kind of transport. Not a single person (Auto-rickshaw or taxi) agrees to go the length, and even if they do, they ask for a sky-high price, which at most times, is way beyond reasonable. They give excuses like too much traffic jam, lack of enough gas, malfunctioning engine (whereas if any agreeable passenger with a more agreeable destination comes along, all of a sudden, the engine sings sweetly enough to work!). My personal favourite excuse, which keeps recurring, is when the drivers whine about not getting any other passenger from Dhanmondi. Is that believable? In a place like Dhanmondi, auto-rickshaw/taxi passengers are not available?! Incredulous!
Then, the conditions on the road are not, in any way, good, whichever route you choose to reach your destination. The recent influx of new cars, reconditioned auto-rickshaws, taxis and buses, the “banned before 9pm” trucks and the ever-present rickshaws on the roads clog up so much, it gets worse than how a seasonal-change fever clogs up our throats! I wish to know, that if it is not allowed for trucks to travel on the roads before 9pm, why is it they are visible at all times of the day, making life hell for the rest of the commuters? We see traffic police at every intersection and crossing, and several police patrols on car or bike. But what we don't see is the law being implemented, in this case, catching the law-breakers and levying on them a punishment which will make them think a hundred times before breaking the law again.
This is an honest plea from a fellow sufferer on the road, to all authorities concerned: Please make everyone follow traffic rules, and teach the violators a lesson they will never forget. Also, the owners of the companies running auto-rickshaws and taxis on the roads should follow up with their drivers and explain to them that there is no point in driving a auto-rickshaw/taxi if they wish to take only the passengers who wish to go to a destination they (the drivers) consider ideal. I have sometimes seen taxis spending the whole day in one spot, because they did not get any ideal passenger. Where is the sense in that? So please, everyone, we are all fellow humans, don't treat us like animals.
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