Long tailbacks amid curb on rickshaw movements
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Thursday, 17 March 2011
Shahiduzzaman Khan
Chaotic traffic is back on the city streets again. This time, gridlocks appear to originate from an indiscriminate ban on rickshaw movement in some areas. Ironically, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) did not serve notice, prior to slapping a ban on rickshaw movement. This has created confusion among the members of the public. According to reports, rickshaw movement has been banned on Paltan Police Box-Curzon Hall-Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) route. This has led to a severe gridlock at Gulistan point. The movement of people, belonging to lower-income group, to the DMCH by rickshaws is no more possible. Compressed natural gas (CNG)-run auto-rickshaws are rarely available. One has to walk a long way to the hospital or hire a taxi, the fare of which is too high. Due to restriction on rickshaw movement, fresh traffic mess is being witnessed at Paltan crossing, Segunbagicha, Gulistan and elsewhere in the city. Nearly 0.4 million rickshaws that ply on the city roads are otherwise considered the biggest contributor to the traffic gridlock. There have been repeated calls for banning these altogether, and efforts have already been taken to restrict movements of rickshaws from some thoroughfares. But the hard reality remains that the rickshaws serve some very useful purposes. For those involved in 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, it does in no way contribute 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 restricting its movement without considering its fallout effect. The beautification programme, undertaken on the eve of the ICC World Cup 2011, has otherwise given the capital city a new look, but the traffic system has not been modernized, in tandem with this. The same old manual traffic system is still being practised at some strategic points as automated signals are failing to work. Even synchronisation of the automated signals, where these are working, has not been done, causing much sufferings to the commuters. Illegal parking, violation of rules, lack of roads, and sudden rush of vehicles are among the key reasons behind the traffic tailback. Added to this, lack of transport infrastructure, poor traffic management, too little footpath and absence of separate lanes for buses are also blamed for the city's nagging traffic jam. According to a study, traffic congestion in the capital causes a loss of about $1.68 billion a year by eating up travel time and burning of excess fuel. It also causes environmental damage and road accidents. To reduce congestion and thus economic losses, public transport systems, especially buses services, need to be improved by allocating a separate lane for passenger bus in the capital. Presently, some 7,000 buses carry about 2.5 million commuters daily. But such buses often compete with each other, creating severe traffic management problems. The competition is fierce, as the number of bus owners is very high. A better public traffic system in Dhaka could have improved the situation significantly, if competition between bus operators would have been reduced by facilitating the merger of some bus companies. Meanwhile, long queues at the CNG-filling stations are creating heavy congestions in the city. The government is still enforcing four-hour suspension on the operations of CNG-filling stations in order to ensure some gas supply to the fertilizer factories that remained inoperative for long, due to its supply constraints. While CNG filling stations are failing to meet the growing demand of an ever-increasing number of customers, city's petrol pumps are also witnessing a rush of vehicles that are being forced to buy oil, after failing to get compressed natural gas. The special drive to get rid of old and dilapidated vehicles, launched ahead of the ICC World Cup 2011, ended in an utter failure. Media earlier reported seizure of a small number of old and unfit transports, following the short-lived drive. Yet more surprisingly, the drive allegedly helped a section of unscrupulous members of the law-enforcing agencies to receive speed money. 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 last year. But the same old situation is now back again, with reckless driving continuing on most city roads. The number of motorised vehicles in the capital increased markedly in recent years. Over 0.2 million buses, trucks, and cars now ply the city roads, while about 20,000 vehicles, on an average, are added to the existing fleet every year. The Dhaka city has only 7.0 per cent of its areas as roads network against the international standard of 25 per cent. A series of measures will need to be taken to bring sanity on the roads. Such measures are long overdue. The widening of existing city roads and construction of new roads merit here a priority attention to enable the commuters to 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, arrangements for more one-way streets etc - have also to be put in place immediately. Besides, strict enforcement of traffic regulations has to be ensured through deployment of well-trained and closely supervised traffic police. To make a system work, it requires collective efforts, besides active encouragement to all concerned to inculcate the habit of following the rules and regulations. It does not matter how much fund the government provides and how modern a system with updated equipment, is introduced. Things will continue to be in a messy state, as long as the commuters and the authorities remain do not mean business about making the same function properly. szkhan@dhaka.net
Chaotic traffic is back on the city streets again. This time, gridlocks appear to originate from an indiscriminate ban on rickshaw movement in some areas. Ironically, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) did not serve notice, prior to slapping a ban on rickshaw movement. This has created confusion among the members of the public. According to reports, rickshaw movement has been banned on Paltan Police Box-Curzon Hall-Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) route. This has led to a severe gridlock at Gulistan point. The movement of people, belonging to lower-income group, to the DMCH by rickshaws is no more possible. Compressed natural gas (CNG)-run auto-rickshaws are rarely available. One has to walk a long way to the hospital or hire a taxi, the fare of which is too high. Due to restriction on rickshaw movement, fresh traffic mess is being witnessed at Paltan crossing, Segunbagicha, Gulistan and elsewhere in the city. Nearly 0.4 million rickshaws that ply on the city roads are otherwise considered the biggest contributor to the traffic gridlock. There have been repeated calls for banning these altogether, and efforts have already been taken to restrict movements of rickshaws from some thoroughfares. But the hard reality remains that the rickshaws serve some very useful purposes. For those involved in 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, it does in no way contribute 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 restricting its movement without considering its fallout effect. The beautification programme, undertaken on the eve of the ICC World Cup 2011, has otherwise given the capital city a new look, but the traffic system has not been modernized, in tandem with this. The same old manual traffic system is still being practised at some strategic points as automated signals are failing to work. Even synchronisation of the automated signals, where these are working, has not been done, causing much sufferings to the commuters. Illegal parking, violation of rules, lack of roads, and sudden rush of vehicles are among the key reasons behind the traffic tailback. Added to this, lack of transport infrastructure, poor traffic management, too little footpath and absence of separate lanes for buses are also blamed for the city's nagging traffic jam. According to a study, traffic congestion in the capital causes a loss of about $1.68 billion a year by eating up travel time and burning of excess fuel. It also causes environmental damage and road accidents. To reduce congestion and thus economic losses, public transport systems, especially buses services, need to be improved by allocating a separate lane for passenger bus in the capital. Presently, some 7,000 buses carry about 2.5 million commuters daily. But such buses often compete with each other, creating severe traffic management problems. The competition is fierce, as the number of bus owners is very high. A better public traffic system in Dhaka could have improved the situation significantly, if competition between bus operators would have been reduced by facilitating the merger of some bus companies. Meanwhile, long queues at the CNG-filling stations are creating heavy congestions in the city. The government is still enforcing four-hour suspension on the operations of CNG-filling stations in order to ensure some gas supply to the fertilizer factories that remained inoperative for long, due to its supply constraints. While CNG filling stations are failing to meet the growing demand of an ever-increasing number of customers, city's petrol pumps are also witnessing a rush of vehicles that are being forced to buy oil, after failing to get compressed natural gas. The special drive to get rid of old and dilapidated vehicles, launched ahead of the ICC World Cup 2011, ended in an utter failure. Media earlier reported seizure of a small number of old and unfit transports, following the short-lived drive. Yet more surprisingly, the drive allegedly helped a section of unscrupulous members of the law-enforcing agencies to receive speed money. 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 last year. But the same old situation is now back again, with reckless driving continuing on most city roads. The number of motorised vehicles in the capital increased markedly in recent years. Over 0.2 million buses, trucks, and cars now ply the city roads, while about 20,000 vehicles, on an average, are added to the existing fleet every year. The Dhaka city has only 7.0 per cent of its areas as roads network against the international standard of 25 per cent. A series of measures will need to be taken to bring sanity on the roads. Such measures are long overdue. The widening of existing city roads and construction of new roads merit here a priority attention to enable the commuters to 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, arrangements for more one-way streets etc - have also to be put in place immediately. Besides, strict enforcement of traffic regulations has to be ensured through deployment of well-trained and closely supervised traffic police. To make a system work, it requires collective efforts, besides active encouragement to all concerned to inculcate the habit of following the rules and regulations. It does not matter how much fund the government provides and how modern a system with updated equipment, is introduced. Things will continue to be in a messy state, as long as the commuters and the authorities remain do not mean business about making the same function properly. szkhan@dhaka.net