Dhaka metro sees spike in passengers amid protest-choked city roads
Many were even found sitting on the floors, waiting to get a chance to even queue up for the ticket
The Dhaka Metro Rail is seeing a spike in passengers as the capital's roads remain choked with traffic owing to protests and blockades in Shahbag, Hotel InterContinenal and Kakrail intersections.
With most of the roads blocked, commuters who normally use buses, cars, motorcycles or auto-rickshaws have also begun turning to the metro.
Huge lines could be seen in front of the ticket counters and on the platforms.
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Many were even found sitting on the floors, waiting to get a chance to even queue up for the ticket.
Tousif Abrar, a resident of Uttara, said he heard the passenger density at the station was sparse so decided to take it instead of his car.
"But when I went there around 1:00pm, I saw very long lines. More people were coming in," he said.
For passengers from Shabag – the centre of one of the protests – and Kawran Bazar, the wait lines were even higher.
"I can usually get a ticket within five minutes, but today I had to wait for over 20 minutes. There's a lot of people here," he said.
For metro, morning indeed did not show the day.
Sifatullah Toha, a job holder, said, "When I started off in the morning from the Mirpur-12 station, I saw there were more passengers than usual. But there weren't any long delays."
Zarin Tasnim, another commuter from Mirpur-12, found a different scene altogether when she boarded the metro around 10:00am.
"I would say there were even less people than usual at that time."
