Dhaka commuters flock to stations for country's first-ever metro ride
Hundreds of Dhaka residents, with all the enthusiasm in the world, started gathering in front of the stations in Uttara and Agargaon since early Thursday morning for the country's first-ever commercial metro ride.
People from all walks of life, defying the biting cold and foggy winter morning, started queuing up from 4am for the experience of the latest addition to Dhaka's public transport.
A half-kilometre-long queue was seen in front of the Agargaon Metro Rail Station for tickets hours before the metro trains started their journey with passengers at 8am.
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Some office-goers were seen in the long queues of people but most of the passengers came with their families just for the unique experience.
Speaking with The Business Standard, Shohel Rana, who is a service holder waiting at the Agaragaon metro station, said, "I came here with my wife, relatives and kids early morning for a metro ride.
"Before this, I took metro rides in Bangkok, China and Kolkata. But this time, I will board a metro train in my own country. I am very excited to be here on the first day of commercial operation. I brought my family here to experience everything together."
Echoing the same, Housewife Monira Parvin, who brought her children, said, "We have been here for an hour. The lines are slowly moving forward. Getting on board the metro rail on the first day is a matter of great delight."
Due to the onrush this morning, security officials were seen controlling the flow of people entering the stations as per orders of the authorities.
"We are low in staff to be able to control and serve this many people at once. That's why we're letting a handful of passengers enter the stations at a time," said one of the metro officials while seeking anonymity.
"My workplace in Uttara opens at 10am. Since it is supposed to take ten minutes to reach Uttara, I started from my home in Kafrul after 9am.
But now it's uncertain when I will be able to board the train, service holder Mir Mossrraf Hossein told TBS pointing at the long queue of metro rail passengers.
"I didn't realise that there would be such a crowd otherwise I would have started early," he added.
Another Uttara-bound office goer Ashraf Kabir said he is going to take a bus to his workplace after waiting for half an hour in the passenger queue for the metro rail.
"There was already a good number of people queued up when I reached Agargaon station at 8am.
"In the last 30 minutes, the line didn't move forward that much. My office starts at 9.30am so I have decided to take the bus today."
Some 30 shuttle buses of the state-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) have been kept ready at Agargaon station for the passengers coming from Uttara. The double-decker buses are scheduled to leave the station every 10 minutes.
BRTC Depot Manager Nur e Alarm, said, "The shuttle bus service has started its operation from sharp at 8am. The buses are leaving every 10 minutes no matter the number of passengers boarding them."
"Since the Metrorail will run till 12pm for the next few months, the shuttle service here will be available till 12.30pm.
"As there will be no more passengers coming here via metro rail from Uttara after 12pm, the appointed buses will have regular run from Mirpur-10," the BRTC manager added.
The metro trains will run from 8am-12pm every day from Uttara to Agargaon stations without any stoppage initially.
The trains will not stop at all stations in the beginning. In the beginning, the trains will carry some 200-250 passengers and later the number will be increased to 700-800.
Total 10 metro trains will run regularly on the Uttara-Agargaon-Uttara two will be on standby for any problems.
The metro rail project was taken up back in 2012.
A loan agreement in this regard was signed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) the following year.
