Nightmarish commuting in Dhaka

Atiqul Kabir Tuhin | Published: September 14, 2024 22:16:45

Commuting in Dhaka has always been a dreadful experience, but more recently it's become a living nightmare in terms of duration, expense, and energy loss. It's near to impossible to attend a scheduled meeting on time, unless you set out the day before. Commuters are often compelled to travel by filthy, run down, and overcrowded buses to and from their workplaces completely exhausted. It is a day-to-day horror experienced by every commuter in the city.
In recent weeks, the city's traffic congestion has significantly worsened, primarily due to the unrestricted movement of both pedal and battery-run auto rickshaws, along with easy-bikes, on main roads. Previously, these vehicles were prohibited from operating on major roads, but traffic police, for reasons best known to them, are now allowing them without restrictions. Particularly alarming is the sight of these vehicles on flyovers, where their presence not only slows down traffic, but also poses serious safety hazards.
Experts have long warned about the dangers of battery-run auto rickshaws. One may like to admire the inventiveness of people for improvising the manual rickshaws by adding a motor to them, but they are not built according to standard design. As a result, they lack balance and operationally hazard-prone. Their biggest risk factor is said to be the fact that they have brakes only on the front wheel. Moreover, some drivers think they're participating in a Formula One event or attempt to match the speed of CNGs or private cars, which make them more precarious and accident-prone than manual rickshaws.
Despite being banned over a decade ago, due to safety and high-energy consumption concerns, the number of these vehicles has continued to increase unabated in the city. Operating without valid licenses, the battery-generated rickshaws flood the streets, back streets, alleyways, and lanes of Dhaka. Similar problems are experienced elsewhere in the country. Policymakers appear to be unsure about how to address the ever-growing presence of auto-rickshaws and the problems they're causing to the city's public transport system.
Not only do the vehicles lack valid registration papers, but also there are no legal charging stations. This results in a proliferation of illegal charging outlets, widespread electricity theft, and rampant extortion and bribery to sustain the illicit operations. Small wonder that the number of battery-run rickshaws kept growing despite the ban due to bribery and extortion. Many also blamed the previous government for maintaining a formal ban on auto rickshaws, while allowing their numbers to multiply on the ground under the influence of extortionist rackets.
It's estimated that Dhaka city alone is now home to approximately 1.3 million battery-run vehicles. Nationally, estimates suggest that there are over four million, employing around six million people. It is important that safety concerns regarding these battery-run rickshaws are addressed as well as steps taken to legalise them. For now, main roads and highways must be made off-limits to the motorised rickshaws, and the main roads to rickshaws. Later, a comprehensive solution regarding their safety features and registration process should be drawn up. A third-party agent could be employed to oversee these technical specifications, as the BRTA alone may not have the capacity to regulate such a vast number of vehicles. There is no scope for remaining indifferent to the questionable service they offer and the chaos they cause.
While removing them from the roads and highways may not resolve Dhaka's horrendous traffic problems entirely, it will no doubt help at least to ease it.
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