The Pink Bus Test

The government’s decision to introduce women-only pink buses in Dhaka is a welcome one.

The initiative, which will be operated entirely by women, is meant to make public transport safer and more comfortable for women commuters. Nine buses are initially planned across eight routes.

There is little doubt that such a service can make a difference.

For many women, boarding a crowded bus is not merely an inconvenience. It can mean having to remain alert throughout the journey, endure unwanted attention or physical contact, and calculate whether speaking up will create more trouble than remaining silent.

A dedicated service offers an immediate measure of relief. More importantly, it signals that women’s safety in public transport is a matter the government takes seriously.

But the pink buses must not inadvertently become an argument for keeping women away from every other bus.

A woman’s right to safety cannot depend on whether she has managed to catch a pink bus. She must remain equally entitled to board an ordinary city bus, at any hour and on any route, without being harassed.

The government must be careful that the existence of a women-only service does not gradually produce a pernicious idea: If a woman does not want to be harassed, she should simply take the women’s bus.

That would place the burden, once again, on women to avoid misconduct rather than on men to stop committing it.

The pink buses should therefore be understood as a protective measure, not a substitute for reforming public transport as a whole. The government now has an opportunity to address the culture that makes such a service necessary in the first place.

That requires more than slogans on buses. There should be a sustained public campaign telling men plainly that harassment is not harmless mischief, flirtation or an inevitable part of travelling in a crowded city. It is misconduct.

Men should also be encouraged to intervene when they see another passenger behaving improperly. The responsibility for making public spaces safe cannot rest exclusively with women, nor should every woman who faces harassment have to become her own defender.

There must also be a credible system for reporting and responding to sexual harassment on public transport. Drivers, conductors and transport workers should know what to do when a passenger reports misconduct, and passengers should have reason to believe that a complaint will lead to action.

Without accountability, even the most well-intentioned initiative risks becoming little more than a reassuring piece of infrastructure.

The government deserves credit for recognizing that women’s mobility is inseparable from women’s participation in work, education, and public life.

The stated purpose of the new service itself reflects this understanding: Safe mobility is a question not only of comfort, but of women’s economic and social participation.

But the measure will succeed only if it is accompanied by a broader change in how we think about public space.

A pink bus should be a place where a woman can travel without fear. An ordinary bus should be no different.

And perhaps the most meaningful measure of this initiative’s success will eventually be the point at which we no longer need it.

The real goal should not be a city where women have been given a safer corner of public transport. It should be a city where every bus is safe enough for every woman to board without having to think twice.