'No fear of harassment': Women enthused by safe travel on Dhaka Metro Rail

The country's first urban rail service opened with much fanfare on Thursday

Residents of Dhaka heaved a great sigh of relief after the country's first metro rail service, billed as a panacea for the city's perennial traffic woes, finally opened to the public. Women, in particular, were excited by the launch of the urban transportation system.

Most female commuters hope that their travels on the metro trains will be free from the malaise of sexual harassment that they encounter on other public transports.

Lata Mostafiz, a resident of Farmgate, used the metro rail to travel to Agargaon from Uttara North on Thursday.

Sharing her first impressions of the new transport system, Lata said, “Women face various forms of harassment on buses. I myself have been a victim of sexual harassment. But after riding the metro rail, it seems like we no longer have to harbour any fear of harassment."

Other women were similarly excited by the prospect of using the metro rail.

Shamima Sattar, a woman in her fifties, sat on a bench in a corner of the Uttara station with a glum look on her face as her daughter went to buy tickets.

“I feel a lot of pain in my legs. I find it hard to stand so I'm sitting down. The good thing here is that you can sit down if you feel unwell. We may be getting on in years but we also want to go out sometimes. I can't always do that because if I travel by bus, I'll be stuck in traffic for most of the journey."

Zuema Zaman, an eighth-grader, came to Agargaon with her parents and sister from Pirerbagh to explore the city on the metro rail. “I don't travel by bus or taxi. I just can't do it. But I feel like I can travel on the metro rail because everything here is well organised.”

Others were also impressed by the environment at the stations. High-schooler Maimuna Akhter, accompanied by her family, was taken aback by the cleanliness of the toilet at the Uttara North station.

"The washrooms at bus stands are unusable. We wouldn't dare go there even if we wanted to. But here, the toilet is clean. It would be great if it can be maintained."

But the slow pace at which tickets were dispensed put a damper on the overall experience for Maimuna. On the first day of the service, passengers waited in long queues to buy tickets from the station counters as the ticket vending machines were out of order.

Meanwhile, sexagenarian Aklima Begum came to the Agargaon station with her son to ride the metro rail before heading home to Gopalganj.

Aklima's son was keen to find out how the metro rail in Dhaka compared to that in Singapore. "I used the metro in Singapore while I was working there. There, you can tap in and out of the station with touchcards. I don't know what the system is like here. But we will be among the first passengers on the metro train so it feels really good," he said.

Jannati Ibnat Disha, a tenth-grader at Milestone College, anxiously clutched her mother's hand as they waited to get tickets at the Agargaon station around 9 am. She had an exam to attend at 10 am but the ticket vending machines were malfunctioning.

"I'd been waiting in line for a long time but we couldn't get the tickets. We told them [officials] about my exam and after much pleading, they let us through," she said.

"I thought I'd miss the exam because there's no way we could've reached Uttara by bus in such a short time. Now it seems like I can make it and that too in just a few minutes."