‘DON’T JUST BLAME US’

Overworked and underpaid bus drivers say accidents not their fault

KHURSHID Alam says he pulls 17-hour shifts three days a week driving a private bus here, where tens of thousands of students held angry protests for over a week demanding an end to rash driving that killed two teenagers late last month.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government had moved swiftly to defuse the protests that were threatening to spiral, with an eye on general elections due by the end of the year. Yesterday, the cabinet approved raising the jail time for rash driving deaths to five years from three.

Overworked and underpaid drivers like Alam were often blamed for Bangladesh’s high traffic casualty — road accidents kill or injure at least five people an hour in the country— and the resentment against them had been aggravated by the deaths of the two students last Friday.

Most bus drivers do not get monthly salaries but earn commissions based on passengers picked, leading them to race each other for passengers.

The two students were killed when the driver of a bus speeding to pick up passengers ahead of other buses in a congested part of the capital here lost control and ploughed into the bus stop.

The crowded capital of 18 million had been paralysed by angry students since then, although the protests had tapered off.

“I start driving at 6am and continue up to 11pm,” said a bearded Alam, 45, as he got ready for a trip on his green and ash bus with a cracked windshield, in a city teeming with scuffed up buses and beaten-up, used cars.

Alam said he had reported the cracked windshield to the bus owner, but it was yet to be replaced.

He said he works for three days a week, making up to 1,200 taka (RM56) a day. A bus driver with the Delhi Transport Corporation in India earns three times that.

“If we get a monthly salary, then we can drive without any tension. We always have to keep thinking about our earnings,” Alam said.

As he stepped on the accelerator, a cycle-rickshaw with two passengers suddenly appeared in front, forcing him to hard-brake.

Many protesters demanded the government tighten transport regulations, including setting limits on the drivers’ work hours and providing a monthly salary.

But Abul Qasem, who owns the Tusher Transport Company here, said implementing those suggestions would mean higher fares.

The drivers said they wanted the government to install more traffic lights and build dedicated lanes for pedestrians, instead of putting all the blame on them.

“Everybody has a guardian to take care of their interests, but we don’t,” said bus driver Alam.