River towns draw a new map for passenger terminals

A cluster of municipalities along the Padma have circulated a joint note: passenger terminals should look like stations, not accidents. The list is short. Shade. A printed ticket. A board that tells the truth about the next launch.

Traders say the present landings work until they do not — after dark, in rain, or when a private operator changes the hour without a sign. Families travelling with children measure the wait in hours they cannot plan.

Engineers asked to cost the plan speak of pontoons, lights and a modest office, not a monument. The argument is maintenance. A beautiful shed that nobody sweeps is still a shed.

If the map holds, the first pilots will be towns that already have a daily launch and a committee willing to publish a timetable on paper and on a phone number that someone answers.