Building A Map For The Insane Public Transit Of Bangladesh

Dhaka’s buses are often unmarked, and very people know where they go. A new project is sending riders on them with GPS devices in the hopes of making the city’s first transit map. Imagine a city of 18 million people, a place with few road markings and little signage, and a shambles of rickshaws, motorbikes, trucks, buses, and cars. Now imagine trying to take public transit without a map, and not knowing which company’s services go where. Many of us get pissed off getting around town, but Dhaka--Bangladesh’s capital--surely takes a gong for urban inconvenience. To do something about it, a Boston-based group of technologists has come up with a plan: Ask locals what might improve their city (normally, nobody asks), and develop a map that helps people get around (even long-time residents don’t know all the routes, they point out). By improving the bus expe...