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

Mohsin J. Sarker t9802 at cc.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp
Wed Nov 1 15:56:48 JST 2000


There are many buses and para-transit (like jeepney, it is called Tampoo in
Bangladesh) running on the roads of Dhaka city already. But they are always
overcrowded in spite of availability of rickshaws on the same roads. I also
traveled by this bus and tampoo when I was in Dhaka. Often I hanged myself
outside the bus by griping the edge of window or gate of this bus. While
traveling in this way, often I thought that it was more enjoyable to die
under the tire of bus. However, nowadays various private companies have been
operating good bus services. But they are very few in number in respect of
demand.

In this situation, my point is that after calculating travel demand and
after providing other alternative transport modes to satisfy this demand,
rickshaw may be restricted(!) on certain roads. But in real field, without
providing alternative modes based on demand, rickshaw has been banned  by
Dhaka city corporation.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Howes" <howesap at saptco.com.sa>
To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 3:25 PM
Subject: [sustran] Re: Banning NMT (Rickshaw) on roads of Dhaka city


> For a debate among professionals, this one is rather lacking in facts. Now
I
> have no knowledge of Dhaka, but it seems to me that there are at least two
> alternative strategies (and I am assuming that basically NMT is a GOOD
> THING - although that depends on social and political issues, as well as
> transport strategy):
>
> 1. If the major roads are wide enough, establish separate lanes for NMT,
or
> buses, or both.
>
> 2. If they are not, it may be worth segregating traffic by road, rather
than
> by lane. Do the main roads have parallel routes (albeit perhaps on minor
> streets) that could be used for certain types of traffic - whether NMT,
> buses, or cars.
>
> But to progress the argument, you need information about capacities. What
> are the capacities of a single traffic lane, in persons per hour and in
> Dhaka conditions, for -
>
> 1. A lane exclusively occupied by NMT
>
> 2. A lane exclusively occupied by buses
>
> 3. A lane occupied by general traffic but excluding NMT
>
> 4. A lane occupied by general traffic includinhg NMT.
>
> (Of course, there are issues of whether free flow is achieved or not -
> problem with 1 and 2 is that unless vehicles stop, the capacity is
> worthless - and while busesmight only stop in bus bays, NMT will stop
> wherever they feel like it.)
>
> I am pretty sure that (2) will be the highest - and at normal Dhaka
traffic
> speeds, it may well be that (1) would be higher than (3), unless (3)
> includes a lot of buses.
>
> Then of course, it is no good providing capacity for cars unless there is
> somewhere to park them at their destination - otherwise you fill the
streets
> with cars parked, or circling looking for a parking space.
>
> I have to say though that the official policy in Dhaka reminds me of
Europe
> and North America in the 40s and 50s, busily getting rid of trams which
now
> they are bringing back. Not that I would like to be a rickshaw puller or
> rider - while it may be an ecologically sound form of transport, it is
> hardly something that a developed society would countenance.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mohsin J. Sarker" <t9802 at cc.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
> To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 8:21 AM
> Subject: [sustran] Re: Banning NMT (Rickshaw) on roads of Dhaka city
>
>
> > Dr. K Z Hoque
> > Rickshaws have been banned on the main roads, not on narrow roads. You
> know
> > that main roads of Dhaka city are wider enough to accommodate at least
> three
> > lanes in one way. Lets consider the road from cantonment gate (Old
> airport)
> > to Shahabag. This road has three lanes in one way (so far I remember.
Last
> I
> > went Bangladesh about three years ago). Now if we make one lane
exclusive
> > for NMT, then I think this exclusive one lane of NMT would carry more
> > persons in unit time than two lanes of motorized transport.
> >
> >
> > Mohsin J. Sarker
> > Regional Planning
> > Utsunomiya University
> > Email: mohsin_jp at yahoo.com
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Dr Kh Zahidul Hoque" <zahidul at hotmail.com>
> > To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 9:55 PM
> > Subject: [sustran] Re: Banning NMT (Rickshaw) on roads of Dhaka city
> >
> >
> > >
> > > >Dr Zahid wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Regarding exclusive
> > > > > lane for NMT, I thing Dhaka city is too congested to afford
> > > > > extra lane for
> > > > > NMT.
> > >
> > > Alok Jain Wrote:
> > > >
> > > >All the more reason to promote NMT. Densely built areas are
> particularly
> > > >adaptive to NMT. And I am surprised to see no mention of public
> transport
> > /
> > > >modal shift in any of the suggestions.
> > > >
> > > >Alok Jain
> > > >Hong Kong
> > >
> > > I am very much interested to know space constraints along the roads
are
> > > particularly adaptive to NMT. While the city roads are so narrow that
it
> > > cannot accommodate existing vehicles and hardly there is any spare
> > > land/space for an expansion or additional lane, how an exclusive lane
> for
> > > NMT could be justified?
> > >
> > > Public transport/modal shift will definitely come in for detail study.
> Of
> > > course, when you ban NMT on the major roads, there should be
sufficient
> > > public tarnsport to facilitate modal shift from those NMT.
> > >
> > > K Z Hoque
> > > Singapore
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> >
>
>
>



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