http://www.ourtimebd.com/beta/2019/09/30/best-alternate-transport-for-dhaka-city/

Best alternate transport for Dhaka City

Published Time: September 30, 2019, 12:08 am

Updated Time: September 29, 2019 at 10:08 pm

M S Siddiqui writes for DOT

The famous ‘Theory of Relativity’ of Albert Einstein observed that all motions are relative

indeed on the basis of distances. A rocket is fast but an aeroplane is slow for travelling to

moon, A car is slow and an aeroplane is fast for travelling from Rajshahi from Dhaka. Those

who are commuting regularly between Mirpur and Motijheel are find rickshaw is slow but a

car is fine but a passenger travelling from Baily road to Paltan will find walking is slow buta

rickshaw is faster. Most trips in Dhaka are short in distance, usually one to five kilometres.

Whether a vehicle is considered slow or fast depends on trip distance. Considering the 70%

of trips are of short distance for travelling need, rickshaw cannot be termed as ‘slow moving

vehicles (UN ESCAP 1998). These trips are perfect of Rickshaws. Rickshaw is a very

common mode of transport throughout Bangladesh. But rickshaw may be creating partial

obstacle in moving other vehicles in the street.

One study of government ‘Road User Cost (RUC) 2016-17’ mentioned that the registration

information from BRTA, Bangladesh motorised vehicle fleet is increased to 29,84,000

vehicles in 2016-17 from 7,37,400 in 2004-05. Most of those vehicles are registered for

Dhaka city. The numbers of registered vehicle within both the private and public vehicles

category are increased many fold in 2016-17 than in 2004-05 except for Minibuses where the

number is actually reduced and for large buses the numbers are increased at a much slower

rate.

Many study observed that the daily loss of traffic congestion in Dhaka is more than Tk1000

crore. Some of the ‘experts’ blame that slow moving rickshaw is responsible for such loss.

Rickshaw considered to be outdated mode of transport for a populous and fast growing

metropolitan area, comprised about 53.3 percent of total vehicles.

Rickshaws have become a major headache for city planners. In contrast, The Dhaka

Integrated Transport Study (DITS), a government survey funded by the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP), found that rickshaw fare is almost double in comparison

to bus fare for the same distance. But some19.2 percent passengers use rickshaws as their

favourite mode of transportation while only 9.5 percent travel by buses.” Rickshaws provide

safe, comfortable, convenient door-to-door transport, which buses do not. In terms of fare, the

perceived alternative to rickshaws, therefore, is not buses but rather taxis and CNG baby

taxis, both of which are far more expensive than rickshaws.

As a result, major share of road space remains occupied by the small capacity vehicles

particularly non-motorised vehicles (70%). Rickshaws are safe, environmentally friendly and

do not rely on fossil fuels. Outside Dhaka, good numbers of Rickshaws are now operated by

electricity charged Batteries which has increased the operating cost slightly, but offered great

ease to the rickshaw drivers and offered much higher speed than the non-motorised versions.

The government is currently formulating the second Detailed Area Plan, which will outline

the development of the city and its surrounding areas for the time period of 2016-2035. Four

private companies have prepared the Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035 in 2013 with financial

support of ADB. The study is to prepare a revised and updated strategic plan for Dhaka

Metropolitan Region for the period of 2016-2035, considering the shifting of underlying

philosophies of spatial planning, current situation and future vision of the Dhaka

Metropolitan Region (DMR). The report find that manually operated rickshaw is a prominent

mode of transport for Dhaka city. There are about 5,00,000rickshaws (license or without

license) in Dhaka City contributing 37% of the total trips, and providing jobs to about a

million people (in two working shifts). However, only about 85,000 rickshaws are licensed

by the city government.

Many cities, namely Jakarta, Manila, Delhi, Dhaka, etc. have tried to restrain rickshaws on

the grounds of either reducing congestion (smooth flow of motorized traffic) or enhancing the

city image by eliminating traditional modes from the entire city or from certain roads.

Indonesia has banned rickshaws (locally known as becak) from Jakarta during the 1980s.

Manila banned fuel free transport (FFT) initially in the 1950s but some FFT re-emerged in

the 1990s. Bangkok banned FFT in 1960 and Karachi in 1962. Jakarta and New Delhi

followed suit and banned FFT during the 1980s. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi also curbed

FFT movements in certain major roads in the 1990s.

The high growth of motorcycles and motorised three-wheelers contributed to unbearable

congestion and air pollution in the cities that banned FFT. The alarming rates of growth of

motorised two or three wheelers have become a cause of serious concerns for the authorities

of almost all FFT-free cities of Asia. Banning FFT from main arterials severs continuity of

large numbers of short trips, which results in a significant increase in journey times, expense,

and sufferings to common people.

An alternate transport should always deal with cases of trade-offs between total benefits and

costs. However the treatment of FFT in traditional transport appraisal methods has long been

a one-sided affair with complete bias towards motorised transports. Generally the rickshaw

trips are for short distance. So, instead of restricting rickshaws, if planned properly they may

be able to provide feeder services to the regular public transport. Recently City Corporation

has restricted rickshaw in three major road in Dhaka City for gradually phase out of rickshaw

from Dhaka city within 2 years.

But the experience of banning rickshaw is not encouraging in any country. Since the numbers

of short trips are very high, restrictions on FFT on major arterials would split numerous short

origin –destination, thereby severely hampering person-mobility.A Study on the Impact of

Mirpur Demonstration Corridor Project (Gabtoli-Russell Square) by Human Development

Research Centre (HDRC) observed that banning FFT carries other costs, including higher

travel costs for passengers. The evaluation of the Gabtoli-Russell Square FFT ban on Mirpur

road found an average increase in travel costs of at least 10%, as well as serious economic

deprivation of the rickshaw pullers and their families (HDRC 2004).

The recent experiences are not different, Europe and parts of Canada and America, as well as

other parts of the world, intensive efforts are in force to increase the non-motorised modal

share and decrease the motorised modal share. Unfortunately Dhaka city corporation and law

enforcing agencies insist on acting contrary to world trends against FFT that favour

efficiency, pollution reduction, and sustainability, and instead are making policies that will

only worsen congestion and the suffering of our population. It the goal is to improve public

transport, or more broadly people’s ability to move about in the city, why not develop

alternate mass-transport system and then ban slow moving vehicle.

It is interesting that private cars are in fact the least efficient users of road space and

rickshaws require far less space per passenger, and the carrying capacity of roads will

actually be increased if multiple modes are allowed to operate, preferably separated for safety

and convenience.

All the metropolitan cities contemplate to transport 50 percent of commuters with

underground or overhead mass rapid transport system. The authorities of Dhaka should focus

on quick completion of on going mass rapid transport system. The strategic plan of 2016-35

should revise and implement to improve the road and parking plan suitable a mage city of

Dhaka. This is not only issue of livelihood of rickshaw pullers but also alternate transport of

middle-class city dwellers.

The writer is a Legal Economist