Bus No. 6: The last remnant of a bygone era

No new buses were added to the route after 2016. Then came the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing Bus No. 6 to a standstill. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

As Dhaka now has 90 active bus routes, commuters no longer identify buses by route numbers as in the past. Instead, buses are identified by names as colourful as their appearances: Shikor, Itihash, Projapoti, Azmeri, Midline, Bihongo, Bosumati, Akash, Victor, and Alif. 

Yet amid all these buses, there is a lone ageing Bus No. 6, barely holding on after more than six decades of service. Only this one bus operates along the route, travelling between Kamalapur and Gulistan.

Most of the buses from its era have disappeared, including Bus No. 5, which ran from Azimpur to Abdullahpur, and Bus No. 4, which operated between Motijheel and Balughat.

In its heyday, Bus No. 6 ran from Pirjongi Mazar in Kamalapur to Gulshan. The route had two branches. 

The first ran from Kamalapur through Motijheel, Gulistan, GPO, Kakrail, Shantinagar, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Karwan Bazar, Farmgate, Jahangir Gate, Mohakhali, and Gulshan 1 to Gulshan 2. The second ran from Kamalapur through Gulistan, Kakrail, Moghbazar, Satrasta and Mohakhali to Gulshan 1 and then Natun Bazar.

These were known as the A and B routes, each stretching about 13 to 14 kilometres.

People would line up to get on

Md Peyaru Mia was born in 1953. He started working on Bus No. 6 in 1968. His maternal uncle was a supervisor on the bus. 

"For the first 10 to 15 days, I just came and went. Then my uncle got me a job on a bus run by Jilani Ustad. I was a helper at the rear door. You had to be experienced to work at the front door. You had to keep track of what was happening on both sides. The rear-door helper's job was to shout out the stops: 'Gulistan, Farmgate, Gulshaaaaan!'"

Peyaru Mia worked as a rear-door helper for three years before moving to the front door, later becoming a conductor and eventually a driver. Fourteen years passed through these different jobs.

Before the No. 6 bus stand was established in Kamalapur, the buses departed from Arambagh. After the railway station opened in 1968, the stand was moved to Kamalapur. Bus No. 6 became a primary means of transport for people coming into the city from far-flung areas.

"There were 80 buses then. Influential people such as Shahid Sahib and Khalek Sahib owned buses. Even actor Khosru had buses," Peyaru recalled.

"All the drivers were Maura [of Bihari ethnicity]. Bus No. 6 operated on a fixed timetable. A bus would leave every two minutes. As soon as a bus lined up, it would fill up immediately. There were separate lines for women and men. The nine seats in the front were reserved for women. The fare from Kamalapur to Gulshan was 12 annas. We would get 300 to 400 passengers on a single trip," he added.

Bus No. 6 was a large vehicle with 52 seats. There were three seats on one side and two on the other, making five seats in each row. During the 1960s and 1970s, the buses were made by Bedford. Superior buses came in the 1980s and continued to operate until the 1990s. They were later replaced by Tata, Hino and Ashok Leyland buses.

Each bus had five staff members: two helpers, two conductors and one driver. The conductors divided the seats between them and collected fares from their respective sections. 

A bell was the only means of communication between the driver and the rear-door helper. When the helper spotted a passenger waiting to board, he would pull the bell. He would also pull it after the passenger had boarded. Two rings meant the bus should move, while one ring meant it should stop.

Colour-coded tickets

The buses started running at 5am. Since it operated on a fixed timetable, drivers had to pay a fine if they failed to reach a stop at the scheduled time. In the 1960s and 1970s, Dhaka's roads were used by buses, rickshaws, private cars and baby taxis, but the number of vehicles was low.

Peyaru Mia dug into his memories. "There were traffic posts at Gulistan, Moghbazar, Farmgate and Mohakhali. There were no traffic jams. We made seven or eight trips a day. Passengers behaved politely. They would address us as 'Driver Sahib' and 'Conductor Sahib'. There were few vehicles, but there was heavy pressure from passengers. We did not even have time to eat. There was a restaurant called Tara Mia's Hotel in Gulistan. Its tehari was famous. We would take some, shove the food down our mouths and rush back to work."

The current chairman of No. 6 Motijheel-Banani Transport Company Private Limited, which is listed on the stock exchange, is Yusuf Khan Rony. He said the bus is 67 years old. 

However, Dhaka researcher Hashem Sufi believes Bus No. 6 started operating in 1965. Before that, there were few houses in Gulshan, most of them single-storey.

Hashem Sufi first rode Bus no 6 in 1972, probably while visiting a friend's house in Gulshan. He remembers the fare was Tk1.5. He clearly remembers the leather bag hanging from the conductor's shoulder. The conductor kept loose change in it.

Peyaru Mia said, "There were people who specialised in providing change. They would walk around carrying small change in jute bags. Conductors would exchange four-anna or eight-anna notes with them, and the money changers would receive a small commission. There were separate tickets for each stop. The tickets came in yellow, red or orange. There were 10 to 12 different types of tickets. The conductors were so experienced that they could pick out the correct ticket without even looking."

In its heyday, Bus No. 6 ran from Pirjongi Mazar in Kamalapur to Gulshan. Photo: Collected

'The best route, a bus for respectable people'

On the day Peyaru Mia became a driver, he bought sweets from Moron Chand's shop in Rothkhola and treated his colleagues. It was 1982. After becoming a driver, he started wearing a white shirt and lungi. He had four or five sets of shirts and lungis. When he was a helper, he wore half-sleeved shirts and English trousers.

When asked why he had never left Bus No. 6 for another bus, he said, "It was the best route, a bus for respectable people. There was money on this route, but there was also respect. The five of us earned Tk300 a day. People respected us when they heard we were staff of Bus No 6. Police officers could travel for free with a pass, while students paid half fare."

Hashem Sufi said, "The route of Bus No. 6 passed several educational institutions, including Tejgaon Science College, Notre Dame College and Titumir College, which made it very convenient for students. Since it also ran through Motijheel, the bus was a blessing for office employees and even public officials. That is why people treated its staff with respect."

Yusuf Khan Rony owns the last remaining bus on the route. When asked why he still keeps the bus running, he replied, "I have become attached to it. Otherwise, it does not even cover the cost of fuel. I have to bring money from home to pay the staff. Who would keep feeding this elephant?"

Rony joined the route in 1994. He entered the bus business largely out of determination. His home in Hasara village of Munshiganj was five kilometres from Srinagar College. Bus operators often refused to take students because of disputes over fares. Rony therefore decided that he would get into the bus business and offer special concessions to students.

In 1992, after completing his degree, he went to Gulistan one day to visit his cousin. His cousin was one of the leaders of the bus owners' association. At the time, the bus business was highly profitable. Earning Tk1,000 a day after covering all expenses was not unusual.

'Students were the main passengers'

Rony told his cousin about his desire to run a business on a bus route. A few days later, his cousin negotiated the purchase of a bus in Monohardi, Narsingdi. Rony bought the bus for Tk220,000. He changed its route and operated it from Gulistan through Postogola, Ikuria, Nimtala and Srinagar to Mawa.

Rony said, "The roof, bumper, everywhere was packed with passengers. Fuel, food and tyre costs were low. There was plenty of cash in the bus business. After 13 years in the business, I had eight buses. I also operated a long-distance bus called 'Parjotok' on the Khulna route. I stopped running it after it was involved in an accident.

"Finally, in 1994, I rented out one of my buses to Route No. 6  for Tk22,000 a month. Day by day, I became more familiar and closer to the route owners and staff. At one point, I pulled out of my other routes and started operating more buses on this route. There were 72 buses on the route at the time. Business was booming. Passengers would wait in line for Bus No. 6 to arrive! In 1994, the fare from Motijheel to Gulshan was Tk10. Students made up most of the passengers, and they would often get off without paying the fare."

Normally, each bus had 10 designated staff members, divided into two teams of five. One team worked one day and the other worked the next. There were also 30 to 40 spare staff members. They served as replacements when regular staff wanted to take a break during a trip or when someone fell ill.

In 1994, staff members were paid Tk200 for each round trip, with food allowance provided separately. Each round trip took two and a half hours. A bus could make four to five trips a day.

One blow after another

The first major blow came in 2001. That year, the government introduced a rule that buses more than 20 years old could no longer operate on the roads, a process known as being "modelled out". Sixty-two buses on Route no 6 were scrapped at once.

The route was still thriving, however, so in 2003–04, the owners introduced new buses, bringing the total to 102. Around 2010, some of the buses were again modelled out. By 2011, the number of buses had fallen to 65.

In 2016, the route suffered a blow from an entirely different direction. That year, a deadly terrorist attack took place at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan. In the aftermath, bus no 6 was barred from operating to Gulshan. It was given a new route through Pragati Sarani to Natun Bazar.

But the new route failed to attract passengers, and the owners became discouraged. After that, whenever a bus was modelled out, no replacement was brought in. As a result, the number of buses continued to decline.

Being modelled out meant a huge financial loss. The buses went straight to scrap dealers. Yusuf Khan said the scrap dealers bought the buses at the price of scrap metal and sold the glass, engine and wheels separately. "We sold a bus worth Tk30 lakh for just Tk2.45 lakh," he said.

Yet hope remains

No new buses were added to the route after 2016. Then came the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing Bus No. 6 to a standstill.

Bound by his attachment to the route, Yusuf Khan Rony has kept a single bus running. He is still hoping for better days. He is speaking to new owners while maintaining contact with the old ones.

"We are in talks with the authorities to restore the Gulshan route and adjust the fare in line with fuel prices. I hope No. 6 will become busy again," he said.