A necessary predicament

Mahmudur Rahman | Published: September 14, 2019 22:49:17

According to transport experts, the decision to allow 2.7 million motorcycles on the streets was a wrong idea given the nature of our roads. The Bridges and Roads Minister Obaidul Kader reportedly echoes the view but is in favour of regulating the vehicles rather than destroying the sector. One of the steps is to make it mandatory for driving licences before vehicle registration. The bad news is that outside Dhaka the registration numbers are up for reproach.
In a way it was a combination of unbridled CNG fares and the introduction of ride-sharing that unleashed the motorcycle revolution on the roads. Former Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith had toyed with the idea of bringing ride-sharing services and Uber under some form of regulation in order to collect tax in some form or the other. It was never proposed in budgets during his tenure and the matter died a natural death. In the meantime the numbers of motorcycles imported and even assembled in the country kept on rising.
As it now stands, these vehicles are adding to the already chaotic traffic system in the country with the cops outnumbered and ill equipped to take meaningful action against them. Buses refuse to use allocated bus stops and continue the mad race to out-speed each other and it is now motorcycles, especially ride sharers that utilise these demarcated spaces thereby providing another excuse for buses not to follow rules. Yet as the Dhaka Chaka bus system in Gulshan and on the Hatirjheel route has proved orderly, transport movement is possible given the will. That works opposite to the current system where buses are hired out on daily contracts. Even BRTC buses are reportedly plying on contract basis thereby endangering public safety.
There will come a time when the more sophisticated metro rail and other mass transport system will be pressed into service to provide the middle class hopefully affordable public transport reducing the dependence on buses that are usually in dilapidated state defying the logic of vehicle fitness. Motor bikes are increasingly being preferred by middle class office goers and a substitute for the now reduced number of legunas that used to rule the roost with uneducated and unlicensed drivers. There are accusations that contracted buses still operate with unlicensed drivers for all the efforts of the police to bring them to book. The bikers don't follow the rules as they weave through traffic, particularly at traffic signals where desperate police have had to resort to stringing ropes at the red lights to prevent violations. There aren't enough mobile police to chase or intercept these bikers when they do violate rules. Public awareness campaigns haven't had the impact they were to have had and the feeling is that exemplary punishment and heftier fines will possibly have greater effect. Till a workable solution is arrived at for overall decent traffic movement matters are likely to get worse before they improve. For now restrictions on the number of new vehicles be they cars or bikes hitting the streets may be a short-term answer.