Move to cut unplanned bus routes in Dhaka
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Munima Sultana
The government has launched a bus route rationalisation study for the city last month in an effort to cut congestion and make maximum use of the city's narrow road network, officials said Monday. A Spanish consulting firm, Advance Logistic Group, has been appointed to conduct the study with development lender World Bank financing the entire budget of Tk60 million. Officials said the study aimed at reducing the number of "unnecessary bus routes" in the capital in a way that it does not affect the present flow of traffic or commuting during the busy hours. Some 6,000 buses operate in the city's 152 routes, designed and allocated by a joint team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). But experts said most of these routes have been designed without proper study and allocated on whims, leading to financial losses by bus operators and congestion in Dhaka's key roads and crossings. Officials of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board said the study by Spanish consultants would help restructure the city bus routes and develop a model so that bus operators can maximise profit by running fewer buses for higher number of commuters. Shamsul Haque, a transport expert and a professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said irrational and whimsical bus routes have worsened Dhaka's traffic jam in recent years.
The government has launched a bus route rationalisation study for the city last month in an effort to cut congestion and make maximum use of the city's narrow road network, officials said Monday. A Spanish consulting firm, Advance Logistic Group, has been appointed to conduct the study with development lender World Bank financing the entire budget of Tk60 million. Officials said the study aimed at reducing the number of "unnecessary bus routes" in the capital in a way that it does not affect the present flow of traffic or commuting during the busy hours. Some 6,000 buses operate in the city's 152 routes, designed and allocated by a joint team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). But experts said most of these routes have been designed without proper study and allocated on whims, leading to financial losses by bus operators and congestion in Dhaka's key roads and crossings. Officials of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board said the study by Spanish consultants would help restructure the city bus routes and develop a model so that bus operators can maximise profit by running fewer buses for higher number of commuters. Shamsul Haque, a transport expert and a professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said irrational and whimsical bus routes have worsened Dhaka's traffic jam in recent years.