Volumes have been said and written about the traffic system of Dhaka city where more than 15 million people live. But the situation has remained unchanged. In fact, Dhaka's traffic is chaotic, unmanageable, irritating and, by all counts, anarchic. Owners and workers of all modes of transports, barring the private cars, give a damn to traffic rules and also to those who are supposed to enforce the same. The traffic department of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has set a unique example by manually controlling the traffic movement when the automated traffic signal lights at road intersections are at work. Commuters suffer because of poor quality transports, high fares, discourteous transport operators and roads clogged with vehicles from dawn to midnight.
In most countries, the state-operated bus services cater to the needs of the commuters in cities and towns. Here too there are state-owned buses. But their numbers being very limited, the privately-owned buses dominate the passenger transportation system. The incumbent government has tried to press more state-owned passenger buses into different routes of Dhaka city. But because of poor quality and inadequate maintenance by the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), a substantial number of new buses have gone out of order within a few months after their import either from China or India.
Since the private buses dominate the city's passenger transportation, their owners and workers call the shot in most matters. And support from powerful political quarters has made things easy for them. The latter dictate their terms to the government and the poor passengers, particularly in the case with fixation of fares. The drivers of passenger buses violate traffic rules with total impunity. The owners are enjoying freedom to operate passenger buses that are not road-worthy. The traffic sergeants are often seen examining the papers of private motor cars, pick-ups and auto-rickshaws. But they avoid taking actions against errant bus owners and drivers.
Buses are not the only vehicles causing discomfort to the city residents while they are on the streets. Auto-rickshaws and, in some cases, pedal rickshaws do also stir strong dissatisfaction among them by refusing to go to destinations of their choice and demanding exorbitant fares. Unlike many other major cities of even neighbouring countries, the aggrieved passengers cannot lodge complaint with the police or any other appropriate authority and seek justice. It is not that the transport operators and the traffic police are entirely responsible for the current state of transportation system of Dhaka. The commuters and pedestrians are no less to blame.
Many Dhakaites are often seen rushing to the middle of the road to board buses. Bus drivers, being completely oblivious of the traffic behind their vehicles, stop at the middle of the road either to pick or drop passengers. The traffic police do never take actions against such errant drivers. Besides, pedestrians in Dhaka city are prone to jaywalking. Despite the presence of foot over-bridge near the important road intersections and educational institutions, they on most occasions tend to jaywalk. This often leads to fatal accidents. Yet the people are not adequately aware of the danger of crossing roads this way.
The government has already built some flyovers and a few more are under construction. Besides, the implementation of some high-profile projects is now underway to help ease the city's traffic. In fact, flyovers are only temporary solutions. Some experts claim that flyovers would only help transfer of traffic congestion problem from one place to another. There is no denying that the road network of Dhaka city is inadequate to accommodate an ever-increasing traffic. But with better traffic management and proper enforcement of relevant laws and rules, the city's transportation system would have been better than what it is now, even without flyovers and high-profile transport sector projects.
Dhaka\\\'s anarchic transportation system
FE Team | Published: June 05, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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