Action plan to contain city's traffic gridlocks
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Shahiduzzaman Khan
A recent study revealed that a staggering amount of Tk 200 billion is lost every year in traffic jams due to valuable time being lost in severe gridlocks on the streets of the capital city. Traffic jam was also seen responsible for taking away the people's 8.15 million working hours, 40 per cent of which are business hours. Tk 20 billion is lost due to 3.2 million business hours wasted in congestion, according to the study.
The findings of the study were released at a seminar conducted jointly by Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CMILT). The study, based on only loss of time of people, modes of vehicles, disclosed that both public transport operators and freight industry have to bear loss of Tk 20 billion each for losing trips daily and restriction on entry into the city during daytime. Quoting data from another study of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board, the findings said that against the speed capacity of 40 kilometres per hour (kph), motorised vehicles can run in the city on a speed of average 15 kph.
The cost that different modes of transport including buses, mini-buses, CNG three-wheelers and rickshaws bear for losing the required speed is estimated at Tk 12 billion a year. In fact, the real cost incurred from traffic jam is much higher as because people's productivity, quality of life, productivity of business, reduction in working life span and higher 'sick hours' of employees remain uncountable.
Indeed, traffic situation across the capital is deteriorating fast much to the plight of city residents. There appears to be no easy solution in the foreseeable future. The capital witnesses unprecedented congestion from morning on almost every working day in most parts of the city, causing untold sufferings to hundreds of commuters. It usually takes about two hours to travel a distance of only six kilometres during peak times.
An overwhelming number of recklessly driven public transports are contributing to the intense traffic jams and the lack of road safety. Successive governments had taken up a number of short-term plans like construction of overpasses and underpasses for vehicles, connecting roads, bypasses, and east-west roads, but none of those initiatives was implemented so far. As such, traffic congestion in the city is increasing beyond manageable proportions, providing no visible solution in the near future. 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 percent roads network against the international standard of 25 percent.
The incumbent government has taken up several projects but certainly it will take some time to implement those. The authorities are planning to implement short-term projects like construction of overpasses and underpasses for vehicles and linking roads, bypasses, and roads. But those also need a pretty long time to be completed. Ahead of Ramadan, the traffic department is reportedly taking preparations to ease traffic congestion.
Urban planners and communication experts have identified multi-dimensional causes behind traffic jams in Dhaka. These include rapid unplanned urbanisation, high population rate, high rate of increase of vehicles, plying of different speeding vehicles in a single surface, unauthorised parking, illegal occupation of roads, non-compliance with traffic rules, a lack of traffic rule enforcement, lack of coordination among different agencies and ministries for managing city traffic, reckless driving and frequent changes of policies. Even the existing footpaths, foot bridges and under passes are occupied by encroachers, beggars and hawkers. Moreover, these places are neither clean nor safe. Obviously the DCC is not doing its job of making sure that their pavements and foot bridges are useable. At the same time, the public must use these facilities instead of crossing busy roads risking of their lives and interrupting the traffic flow. The mindset of the public about abiding by traffic rules needs to be changed.
Over the years efforts have been made for the improvement of traffic management, unfortunately many of such initiatives went in vain. In spite of launching sychronised signal system, the traffic police are seen controlling traffic signal of busy intersections manually. In such system, if vehicle gets green signals at one point it indicates that it will get the same signal in every intersection. Such a synchronised system is hardly working. And it is really a challenging work, especially in a mega city like Dhaka where motorised vehicles of different speed and shapes and many non-motorised vehicles ply the same roads. Besides, the traffic police are giving passages to the VIPs interrupting the signals, which are creating huge traffic jam.
The past caretaker government approved a 20-year strategic transport plan (STP) in 2008 to establish an integrated environment friendly traffic management system for greater Dhaka. Addressing the existing problems, the plan includes both short-term and long-term policies to be taken. At the same time STP suggests the institutional capacity building of different agencies including RAJUK, DCC and BRTA. Unfortunately it's a common feature in Bangladesh that even the most well thought-out plans do not see the light of the day. The Prime Minister has already instructed the government agencies to take immediate steps to improve the situation.
While a growing urban culture has been adding increasing numbers of motor vehicles in the capital over the recent years, all successive governments failed to urgently execute city infrastructure projects on time. Too much traffic, reckless driving, and non-compliance with traffic rules are the main reasons behind increasing number of accidents. The capital city has only 7.0 per cent of its area for roads while the normal international standard is to have 25 per cent. On an average, one person is killed in accidents daily in the capital.
Urgent attention should also be given for effective control of the movement of buses in and around the metropolis. Bus stoppages do need to be moved away from all traffic intersections. There has to be an effective end to random stopping along busy streets blocking smooth passage of other vehicles, as well. At one stage, the previous government had banned running of vehicles over 20 years old that did have a positive impact on the overall state of traffic jam. But these vehicles returned to the streets only after a few months or so. The present government has also launched a drive to eliminate 20-year old vehicles from the streets. The drive is still continuing. But the trend suggests that it would also end in failure as well. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has taken this problem most casually. There is no doubt that such a problem is also contributing to severe traffic jam.
The government needs to consider enhancing the road networking capacity of the city. All other measures are also called for immediate implementation, in order to effectively deal with the situation. Given the will, it is certainly not impossible to make a considerable difference to the currently prevailing acute state of traffic jam.
szkhan@dhka.net
A recent study revealed that a staggering amount of Tk 200 billion is lost every year in traffic jams due to valuable time being lost in severe gridlocks on the streets of the capital city. Traffic jam was also seen responsible for taking away the people's 8.15 million working hours, 40 per cent of which are business hours. Tk 20 billion is lost due to 3.2 million business hours wasted in congestion, according to the study.
The findings of the study were released at a seminar conducted jointly by Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CMILT). The study, based on only loss of time of people, modes of vehicles, disclosed that both public transport operators and freight industry have to bear loss of Tk 20 billion each for losing trips daily and restriction on entry into the city during daytime. Quoting data from another study of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board, the findings said that against the speed capacity of 40 kilometres per hour (kph), motorised vehicles can run in the city on a speed of average 15 kph.
The cost that different modes of transport including buses, mini-buses, CNG three-wheelers and rickshaws bear for losing the required speed is estimated at Tk 12 billion a year. In fact, the real cost incurred from traffic jam is much higher as because people's productivity, quality of life, productivity of business, reduction in working life span and higher 'sick hours' of employees remain uncountable.
Indeed, traffic situation across the capital is deteriorating fast much to the plight of city residents. There appears to be no easy solution in the foreseeable future. The capital witnesses unprecedented congestion from morning on almost every working day in most parts of the city, causing untold sufferings to hundreds of commuters. It usually takes about two hours to travel a distance of only six kilometres during peak times.
An overwhelming number of recklessly driven public transports are contributing to the intense traffic jams and the lack of road safety. Successive governments had taken up a number of short-term plans like construction of overpasses and underpasses for vehicles, connecting roads, bypasses, and east-west roads, but none of those initiatives was implemented so far. As such, traffic congestion in the city is increasing beyond manageable proportions, providing no visible solution in the near future. 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 percent roads network against the international standard of 25 percent.
The incumbent government has taken up several projects but certainly it will take some time to implement those. The authorities are planning to implement short-term projects like construction of overpasses and underpasses for vehicles and linking roads, bypasses, and roads. But those also need a pretty long time to be completed. Ahead of Ramadan, the traffic department is reportedly taking preparations to ease traffic congestion.
Urban planners and communication experts have identified multi-dimensional causes behind traffic jams in Dhaka. These include rapid unplanned urbanisation, high population rate, high rate of increase of vehicles, plying of different speeding vehicles in a single surface, unauthorised parking, illegal occupation of roads, non-compliance with traffic rules, a lack of traffic rule enforcement, lack of coordination among different agencies and ministries for managing city traffic, reckless driving and frequent changes of policies. Even the existing footpaths, foot bridges and under passes are occupied by encroachers, beggars and hawkers. Moreover, these places are neither clean nor safe. Obviously the DCC is not doing its job of making sure that their pavements and foot bridges are useable. At the same time, the public must use these facilities instead of crossing busy roads risking of their lives and interrupting the traffic flow. The mindset of the public about abiding by traffic rules needs to be changed.
Over the years efforts have been made for the improvement of traffic management, unfortunately many of such initiatives went in vain. In spite of launching sychronised signal system, the traffic police are seen controlling traffic signal of busy intersections manually. In such system, if vehicle gets green signals at one point it indicates that it will get the same signal in every intersection. Such a synchronised system is hardly working. And it is really a challenging work, especially in a mega city like Dhaka where motorised vehicles of different speed and shapes and many non-motorised vehicles ply the same roads. Besides, the traffic police are giving passages to the VIPs interrupting the signals, which are creating huge traffic jam.
The past caretaker government approved a 20-year strategic transport plan (STP) in 2008 to establish an integrated environment friendly traffic management system for greater Dhaka. Addressing the existing problems, the plan includes both short-term and long-term policies to be taken. At the same time STP suggests the institutional capacity building of different agencies including RAJUK, DCC and BRTA. Unfortunately it's a common feature in Bangladesh that even the most well thought-out plans do not see the light of the day. The Prime Minister has already instructed the government agencies to take immediate steps to improve the situation.
While a growing urban culture has been adding increasing numbers of motor vehicles in the capital over the recent years, all successive governments failed to urgently execute city infrastructure projects on time. Too much traffic, reckless driving, and non-compliance with traffic rules are the main reasons behind increasing number of accidents. The capital city has only 7.0 per cent of its area for roads while the normal international standard is to have 25 per cent. On an average, one person is killed in accidents daily in the capital.
Urgent attention should also be given for effective control of the movement of buses in and around the metropolis. Bus stoppages do need to be moved away from all traffic intersections. There has to be an effective end to random stopping along busy streets blocking smooth passage of other vehicles, as well. At one stage, the previous government had banned running of vehicles over 20 years old that did have a positive impact on the overall state of traffic jam. But these vehicles returned to the streets only after a few months or so. The present government has also launched a drive to eliminate 20-year old vehicles from the streets. The drive is still continuing. But the trend suggests that it would also end in failure as well. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has taken this problem most casually. There is no doubt that such a problem is also contributing to severe traffic jam.
The government needs to consider enhancing the road networking capacity of the city. All other measures are also called for immediate implementation, in order to effectively deal with the situation. Given the will, it is certainly not impossible to make a considerable difference to the currently prevailing acute state of traffic jam.
szkhan@dhka.net