In recent times, Dhaka has become riddled with theft, robbery, and mugging, even in broad daylight, it has become especially dangerous for females who are students or professionals commuting long distances alone.
The tendencies to band together and commute with friends are a basic measure to ensure safety, but not everyone can find that luxury since most university friends have different schedules for classes and often they do not live in the same areas. In order to fill this vacuum, a student of East West University’s CSE department, Akhlak Hossain Jim, developed a web-application Echo to make it easier for students to know others’ schedules so that they can easily find a group to commute with without relying on random social media posts or personal contacts.
Akhlakh Hossain Jim shared, “I felt uneasy traveling alone, especially at night. The idea for Echo came from seeing this issue firsthand and wanting to create a secure way for students to find a verified travel companion without exposing their personal information to strangers.”
The main goal was to reduce the risks of traveling alone by connecting students with fellow EWU students who share similar schedules and routes, he added.
Key Features
The students can search by their thana or area such as Mirpur or Khilgaon and the preferred mode of transport.
“I added everything from rickshaws to Metro, students can search based on gender since some female students might not want to commute with unfamiliar males students even if they’re from the same varsity, “ Jim said.
Security
No one without an EWU email can access this application. This means that each user is verified and real. It makes the background tasks of the app easier because every student is accounted for as their identity is already verified by the university.
One of the biggest challenges was ensuring security and verification— said Jim adding, “I had to find a way to restrict access to only EWU students without exposing their personal details.”
User Response
The response has been overwhelmingly positive! Many students have said they feel safer knowing they have an option to find a verified travel partner. Some have even shared that they had previously stopped attending evening classes because they didn’t want to travel alone, and now they feel more confident.
One female student said, “This app is something I needed for a long time. Specifically, I liked the fact that there’s an option to search for female commuters only.”
Reaction of university administration
“I haven’t officially collaborated with the university yet, but I would love to get their support,” said the developer.
A partnership could help spread awareness and even integrate additional safety measures. If the university administration sees the value in Echo, they might help promote it or even integrate it into official student services.
Future applicability
“I don’t think the widespread nature of the app will make it feel safer, “ Jim explained.
Now, only EWU students can use it, which makes it more reliable to other students because they know that even though they might be interacting with strangers, they still share the common identity of being a East West University student. This is itself a sense of safety.
Jim added, “If the app expands to include other users, even from other universities, I do not think the same level of comfort will be available anymore.”
Jim also explained, “Honestly, I do not see any wide scale usability of the application, because the fact of a small user base is what really makes it trustworthy. I could see people maybe developing similar applications for their own circle or community. I have kept it open source specially for this reason.”
Overall, Akhlak’s invention, although encouraging and inspiring to others, is quite sad that young people themselves have to come up with solutions about things which were meant to be dealt with by the government. Safety and security are the basic right of citizens, and no amount of innovative small-scale solutions can be an adequate substitute for law and order.