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.

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Rickshaw considered to be outdated mode of transport for a populous and fast growing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

2. 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

3. 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