[sustran] Banning NMT (Rickshaw) on roads of Dhaka city

[Mohsin J. Sarker]

Hi there!

There is a news about banning rickshaw on roads of Dhaka city in the
following URL address.

http://www.nation-online.com/200010/31/n0103101.htm#BODY4

According to this news, Dhaka City Corporation have taken a strategy to
solve the traffic congestion problem by banning rickshaws on roads
gradually. Their main target is to make Dhaka city totally free of
rickshaws. In response to this news, I wrote my opinion on the main reasons
of traffic congestion in Dhaka city to the various newspapers of Bangladesh.
Interested readers are welcomed to read my opinion in below.

About banning rickshaw

I am a doctoral course student in Utsunomiya university of Japan. I came
here from Bangladesh. As I have been doing research on urban and
transportation planning emphasizing on non-motorized transport (walking,
cycling, rickshaw, etc) and mass transit, I have come to know various
transportation strategies that are practiced in various countries worldwide,
such as Japan, Europe, USA, and also in few Asian countries. Nowadays,
developed countries are facing various problems, like environmental,
financial, and social, due to the excessive usage of motorized private
transport. These countries have already realized the drawbacks of excessive
usage of automobile. As a result, they are now discouraging the usage of
automobile and encouraging the usage of non-motorized transport (NMT).
Instead of banning NMT on roads, they are providing facilities, such
exclusive lane for cycling and footpath for walking. In Portland, USA, there
are roads where automobile is banned. Only buses and NMT are allowed in
these roads. They got best transport city prize in USA.

My point is that developed countries are trying to promote NMT, because they
already realized the problems of excessive use of automobile. On the other
hand, developing countries are doing just opposite; they are discouraging
NMT and encouraging automobile. The governments of developing countries as
like Bangladesh blame NMT as one of the main reasons for traffic congestion.
But I think from my experience in Bangladesh that management is the main
problem of traffic congestion. Police in charge of traffic control
neglecting their duties; they are busy in collecting illegal money from
vendors for taking footpaths and even some portion of roads; They are also
collecting illegal money from bus drivers, rickshaw pullers and also from
the user of private vehicles for parking their buses, rickshaws and vehicles
in illegal places, for taking wrong right of way, for disobeying traffic
rules, for not having driving license, and also for not having fitness
certificate of vehicles. Let me give you an example. May be few months ago,
there was a severe traffic congestion in all roads of Dhaka city. Traffics
were clogged everywhere in city. Then, the mayor of Dhaka city requested
Bangladesh Army to handle this traffic congestion. After taking charge of
traffic control by Army, within one or two hours, all roads became free of
congestion. There was no congestion after that till the Army was in power of
traffic control. But just after going back to their barracks, again traffic
congestion occurred on roads of Dhaka city. Now I think the reader can
realize the main reasons of traffic congestion in Dhaka city.


Mohsin J. Sarker
Regional Planning
Utsunomiya University
Email: mohsin_jp at yahoo.com