Dhaka city is overwhelmed by careless motorcyclists and uncontrolled rickshaw-pullers. It is also a city of street vendors. Many other parties can claim that the city belongs to them. Obviously, it is not a city of pedestrians who in their millions struggle daily while walking on streets and roads. Currently, at least 30 per cent of the total 42 million daily trips in Dhaka goes to the credit of walkers, and the number of daily pedestrians is some 12 million.
Nevertheless, the policymakers and city authorities are trying to ensure smooth flow of motorised vehicles by constructing flyovers and elevated expressways. They also have little time to address the problem of choked traffic in a well-planned approach. Thus, the road users' physical infrastructure does not favour pedestrians. That's why pedestrians are forced to grapple for space with motor vehicles on busy roads and streets. By doing so, they expose themselves to injury and death, as 71 per cent of the death in road accidents in Dhaka happens to pedestrians.
Conditions of the footpaths and walkways are terrible in the city. Except in a few places, footpaths are occupied by makeshift vendors and notorious motorcycle users. Heaping rubbishes on footpaths is also a typical scene. In many places, footpaths are either damaged or broken. Thus, walkers find them in trouble and opt for walking on roads and streets.
As illegal extraction of money from makeshift vendors of footpaths becomes a big business, keeping the walkways free for pedestrians becomes impossible. A section of leaders and activities of the political party in power, having nexus with a group of law-enforcement agency members, are there for rent-seeking. Apart from the footpaths, the vicious groups also back up vendors to occupy spaces on roads and streets in Dhaka. The illegal presence of street vendors creates regular congestion on the neighbourhood streets as motor vehicles cannot move smoothly. Pedestrians also face difficulty while walking on the streets. Office-goers, students, and workers are compelled to make their ways through the occupied footpaths and streets daily.
Many people in Dhaka walk to work as the distance is short. For them, the walking is not smooth for the undesirable hindrances created on footpaths and adjoining streets. Some also walk due to poor public transport, which is largely based on buses, and the condition of public buses in the city is terrible. Despite many commitments, the authorities still need to provide a decent public bus service. Commuters are compelled to use the dirty, congested and rickety buses. Usually, working women walk more than men, as their access to public buses is more challenging. They also do not have better access to individual vehicles like motorcycles.
A vernacular daily recently published a report saying that the allocation for developing a pedestrian-friendly infrastructure is less than one per cent of Dhaka's total funding of road and communication infrastructure. When the city introduces the metro rail, elevated expressway and bus rapid transit (BRT) system, it is pathetic to see that the city's walkers get marginalised. Without having pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, all these costly road communication systems will not yield the optimal outcomes in the long run.
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