Let the system work

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Shahiduzzaman Khan
The same old scenario has surfaced again. Traffic movement is now back to its usual mess after post-Ramadan break for a few days. Severe gridlocks at most of the strategic points of the capital are again paralysing life, adversely affecting the economic activities in particular.
With the reopening of all educational institutions after a long Ramadan vacation, congestion on the streets worsened further. Narrow roads in front of the schools are getting clogged before beginning and the end of the school timings. Added to this, long queues at the CNG filling stations are creating unprecedented congestions in the city.
The government, according to reports published in the media this week, is likely to continue six-hour suspension on the operations of CNG filling stations for a prolonged period in order to ensure gas to the fertilizer factories that remained inoperative for long, due to supply constraints of the natural gas. While CNG filling stations are failing to meet the growing demands of the ever-increasing number of customers, city's petrol pumps are also witnessing a huge rush of vehicles, that are being forced to buy oil after failing to get natural gas.
The city traffic is simply unnerving. For lack or complete absence of discipline, loading and offloading passengers by jam-packed buses, minibuses and tempos, in the middle of the roads are a common feature. At some places, the automated traffic lights are out of order while, at others, where these still work, neither the traffic policemen nor the drivers pay any heed. Pedestrians, on the other hand, follow their own rules. Whether there is any zebra crossing or footbridge or not, most of them make their way through the speeding cars, trucks, buses etc.
Nearly 0.4 million rickshaws that ply on the city roads are often seen as the biggest contributor to the traffic gridlock. There have been calls for banning these altogether, and efforts have already been taken to restrict rickshaw movements from certain thoroughfares.
But the hard reality remains that the rickshaws serve some very important purposes. For those associated with this sector, it is a source of income and for those belonging to the lower-income group it is an affordable mode of transport, besides its hardly any contribution to air pollution. Instead of making sustainable plans and policies on how to streamline the city's overall traffic, the authorities appear more enthusiastic about throwing the unlicensed rickshaws off the roads.
For planning and management of traffic and maintenance of roads and highways, a number of country's organisations are involved. Besides the communications ministry, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkhya (RAJUK), Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) etc., are some of the major stakeholders in the development and transportation activities of the city. Despite their otherwise strong robust presence, the city's traffic system presents a deplorable look. Instead of giving concerted efforts to improving the overall communication, transport and traffic situation, such organisations suffer from mismanagement and irregularities of many sorts and work with zero coordination among them.
Traffic rules are being blatantly violated, automated signals at many points are not working and the traffic police are again seen giving manual signals in the capital city. The traffic police and sergeants are even reluctant to take action against lane violators, illegal parking and obstruction of vehicular movement. The authorities failed to install the required number of automated signals at many points. Nobody knows what the close-circuit television sets installed at vital intersections of the roads are doing in locating lane-violators.
The special drive to get rid of old and dilapidated vehicles, launched recently, ended in a utter failure. Media reported seizure of a small number of old and unfit transports following the very short-lived drive. Yet more surprisingly, the drive allegedly helped a section of unscrupulous members of the law enforcing agencies to receive speed money. It was even alleged that on-duty policemen were more interested in filing cases and collecting fine than improving the situation.
The city's traffic management had registered a slight improvement immediately after introduction of lane system on major roads in the capital and re-launching of light signals, phasing out manual control late last year. Yet of late, the same old situation has returned, with reckless driving continuing everywhere on the city roads. The number of motorised vehicles in the capital increased significantly in recent years. Official statistics show over 0.2 million buses, trucks, and cars now ply the city roads, while about 20,000 vehicles on an average add to the number every year. The Dhaka city has only seven per cent roads network against the international standard of 25 per cent.
Since the time factor is of utmost importance, the present government wants to build the elevated expressways first, then go for underground railway. In case of metro rail, it would take at least two years to complete all the initial procedures. The cabinet approved an elevated expressway project recently. More such projects are also reportedly underway.
But some urgent measures need to be taken to bring sanity on the roads and it has been long overdue. The existing city roads need to be made wider and new roads constructed so that commuters may have three to four alternate roads to reach destinations in any given direction. Better and integrated traffic control system -- good road signs, easily visible and properly timed traffic signals, creating more one way streets etc -- needs to be put in place immediately. Traffic regulations should be strictly enforced by deploying well-trained and closely supervised traffic police.
To make a system work, it requires collective willingness and the habit of following the rules and regulations. It doesn't matter how much fund the government provides and how modern system and equipment it introduces. Yet things will continue to be in a deplorable state, if the commuters and the authorities remain reluctant to make it work. szkhan@dhaka.net