Why more buses for this crammed city?

The Ministry of Planning has approved the procurement of 300 double-decker and 100 articulated buses under the Indian line of credit. It was discussed at a recent meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.
The news will most likely bring delight to the commuters in the capital. The buses will be procured obviously to alleviate their sufferings caused by the inadequate number of public transports.
The flip side: the realities prevailing in Dhaka offer a different picture that hardly warrants the launch of newer bus services as a solution to the ever-deteriorating traffic congestion in the city.
Owing to their exorbitant fares, pedalled rickshaws and auto-rickshaws are fast becoming off-limits to general passengers in the city. Taxicabs are seen on the roads fleetingly. The handful of them which operate in the city finally turns out to be a bitter experience for the fixed-income people. The cabs remain exclusive to the well-heeled class of society, foreigners and those in the urgent need of a speedy transport. As a corollary, the general people opt for buses, most of which are privately run. A few belong to the state-run BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Authority), but ply the roads upon being leased out to private operators. In spite of the ordeals undergone in the local private buses, passengers board them on almost all the routes in the city. The number of special express buses, locally called 'non-stop' or 'gate-lock' is not much. Their fares are also high. As a result, passengers have to go for local buses -- both private and state-run.  
The irony is the motorised vehicles, in general, hardly move on the Dhaka streets. The roads are chockablock with myriad types of transports. Thanks to the debilitating gridlocks and peak-hour tailbacks, few vehicles, be they motorised or manual, can take one to his or her destination on time.
Those who are sufficiently acquainted with Dhaka's chaotic traffic have long been blaming the rising number of vehicles for the snarls. The increase in the number of transports in the city has come to such a pass that they now spill over the roads, at times hitting pedestrians walking by the roadside.
Where will the passers-by go? The sidewalks are arrogantly occupied by hawkers and small shops, or encroached upon either by a camp office or the extended part of a concrete structure. Many experts stress drives by mobile courts to evict illegal occupants from footpaths. But it will only clear the sidewalks for the smooth movement of the pedestrians. Cutting down on traffic congestion requires a different approach to the problem without which adding new buses will only add to Dhaka's traffic mess.   
Seminars and symposia regularly single out the highly lop-sided ratio of vehicles and roads in the capital as the chief reason behind Dhaka's chronic traffic jam. A number of traffic management experts also square with the view. Given this fact, to what extent the procurement of more buses will help reduce Dhaka's gridlocks is anyone's guess.
A practical solution lies in in-city flyovers and the elevated expressway -- and also the metro rail within greater Dhaka. A major flyover is already in operation in the southern part of the capital. The commuters who travel on this flyover-route appreciate the benefits offered by it. The expressway and the metro rail, both in pipeline, will, in effect, bring about a radical cut in the obdurately intense traffic jams in the capital and the surrounding areas.
Amid Dhaka's galloping population, these modern communication devices might one day prove ineffective. Because increasing the road-length in this densely populated metropolis is a challenging job. It may involve protracted law suits, disputes and bureaucratic interventions. Keeping this in mind, the planning authorities need to chalk out plans on the expansion of Dhaka city to the north and the south.
Mere adding more buses to the existing fleet may serve the purpose cosmetically - and for the present only. In the long run, these plans will meet the fate of the others that seemed promising initially.  

shihabskr@ymail.com