At present more than half of the country's total registered motorised vehicles are motorcycles, following a soaring growth in the number of bike during the last couple of years.
Officials said the number of unregistered motorbikes is, however, more than the registered ones.
According to the data of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the number of registered motorcycles in the country reached 1.11 million till May. It is more than half of the number of the total registered motorized vehicles.
When asked about motorcycle users' not coming to BRTA offices for registration, an official admitted the possibility in rural areas.
Some 2.02 million motorized vehicles have been registered with BRTA offices across the country, which include buses, trucks, auto-rickshaws, private cars, human haulers, ambulances, covered vans, minibuses and microbuses.
The officials said the growth of motorcycle has been visible with registering over 100,000 bikes each year from 2010 to 2012. BRTA registered 109,110 motorcycles in 2010, 114,616 in 2011, and 101,588 in 2012. The number slightly went down to 85,000 in 2013. In Dhaka city, the total number of motorcycles reached 311,071.
They said they expect continuation of the growth in the number of motorbikes this year also, as 35,133 bikes have already registered till May.
People are gradually moving towards using small vehicles like motorbikes amid severe gridlock in the city. However, experts apprehend that uncontrolled growth in the number of the vehicle is damaging the scope of developing a public transport system.
City dwellers alleged that motorbikers do not follow rules and create severe problems for other vehicles and pedestrians by driving on the wrong side and even on the footpaths.
"They show hardly any respect to any vehicle or person," said a woman while walking on a footpath at Dhanmondi.
She said scores of motorbikes invade the city's footpaths during school time due to severe gridlock in and around Dhanmondi area and obstruct pedestrians' movement.
Professor of BUET and a transport expert Shamsul Haq said the scope of developing an appropriate public or mass transport system in the city will decrease, if the number of small passenger vehicles increases abruptly.
He expressed concern at the uncontrolled growth in the number of motorbikes, saying it is like a tsunami for a populous city like Dhaka.
He also recommends a transport policy to set the number of vehicles needed for mega-cities.
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