Dhaka residents crowd metro trains for weekend joyrides

Although the crowds are comparatively sparse on weekdays, the picture is different on weekends when the trains are packed

The metro rail has been widely billed as a panacea for the seemingly unending traffic woes plaguing the city. While the service is yet to be fully operational, it has come to offer a welcome escape from Dhaka's traffic grid for many.

On weekends, the trains are full of passengers in contrast to the comparatively thin crowds on weekdays, according to officials.

Most of the travellers are accompanied by their children, friends or elderly parents, taking joyrides along the country's first urban rail network as a group activity.

Rokeya Akter Keya came to the Agargaon Station from Lalbagh in Old Dhaka with her husband and their six-year-old son.

The family usually visits places near Dhaka and travels outside the capital once a year. They have not taken a ride on the metro rail since it opened in December, and so they decided to experience the service for themselves.

“We’ll go to Uttara and spend some time there before returning home,” Keya said.

Nur, an IT engineer, was travelling to Pallabi from Agargaon by the metro rail with his wife Jolly and their daughter Jazba.

Jazba, who turns four in just 10 days, was excited at the chance of riding a metro train. But she was also cautious when the train began picking up speed and made sure her parents did not leave their seats and stood inside the compartment.

“I’m aboard a metro train!" Jazba exclaimed.

The passenger experience is much smoother on weekdays.

“The morning queue of passengers was long before we opened the main entrance. We arranged for the passengers to enter the station in three phases, which made them wait for around half an hour,” said a security staff member.

The Agargaon station is situated near Taltola, a residential area. Many residents ride the metro rail as a form of recreation.

One of them, Reshma, who works at a company in Shewrapara, said her cousins were eager for her to join them on a metro rail trip. “I couldn’t make time until today, so I came with all of them,” she said.

Station authorities said the service has also seen gradual improvements since its inception. Initially, the trains ran only until 12 pm and many passengers faced difficulties as they could not get a ride to return to Agargaon from Uttara, the northernmost station.

“Now, we’re closing the main entrance 10 minutes before 12 pm and not letting new passengers enter after that. The last train departs at 12 pm. But, if the passengers of the last train want to return to the station they started their journey at, a train is available for them at 12:15 pm," a station official said.

The authorities have also started refunding those who purchase tickets at the last minute and end up missing their train. Many passengers travel on MRT passes, the travel cards that can be topped up.