[sustran] Re: government is planning to restrict the movement ofprivate cars in Dhaka to reduce nagging traffic jam.

[Kanthi Kannan]

Dear Syed

Greetings!!

It is indeed good that the politician has started thinking about traffic
jams and also realising that road widening/ building new flyovers is not a
solution.

In all parts of the subcontinent, the issues are very similar.

The question is what are the steps that need to be taken? And is the banning
of private cars a solution?

In Hyderabad, the government has got about 350 buses (and many more to come)
under the JnNURM scheme and the buses indeed are classy.

Then why is it that the traffic has gone from bad to worse and it shows no
signs of getting better?

The bus stops/ shelters are inaccessible and nobody really has a clue as to
which bus stops where and where it goes etc. By inaccessibility I mean that
the bus stops have a cess pool of water in front of them and of course
garbage strewn all over the place and of course men urinating in the open
and why do we forget the hanging wires? 

There is no point of giving a free ride to the physically challenged if we
do not provide the steps to ensure that they are able to reach the bus
station and also importantly the door of the bus is wide enough to
accommodate the wheel car.

There are hundreds of issues regarding the bus shelters and I think that all
of us in the sub continent are familiar with it. 

The important thing is that these have to be solved if we have to attract
people to use PT.

Another major issue is that some people will be more equal than others. And
the ministers etc will travel in style and many other big shots will get
passes to exempt them from the penalty.

What needs to be done?

A. Ensure that the government employees use PT/ non motorised transport at
least once a week to and fro from office. If the "Bade Log" use it then
definitely all the others will follow suit.

B. Examine the connectivity issue and other issues like over crowding,
punctuality among others (definitely not rocket science), and try to make it
possible for people to take PT.

I think that all of us converts have been saying for a loooooooooooooooong
time, the will to make a change is what is needed.

Thanks

Regards

Kanthi Kannan

THOSE WHO WALK CANNOT DECIDE AND THOSE WHO DECIDE DO NOT WALK









-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+kanthikannan=gmail.com at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+kanthikannan=gmail.com at list.jca.apc.org] On
Behalf Of Cornie Huizenga
Sent: 22 December 2010 07:30
To: Syed Saiful Alam
Cc: UTSG at jiscmail.ac.uk; Kanchan; cartcdc at yahoo.com; car free; Lloyd Wright;
carfree at lifesupportproductions.co.uk; NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com; Salil
Bijur; WorldTransport at yahoogroups.com; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Subject: [sustran] Re: government is planning to restrict the movement
ofprivate cars in Dhaka to reduce nagging traffic jam.

Dear Syed,

Thanks for sharing this with us. While I think that it is a good idea to
restrict the use of private cars and promote public transport I am somehow
lost when I read your email.

First of all, my guess is that well over 50% of cars will have less than 4
persons in it. That would mean that you would ban almost all private cars.
Second if such rules are applied as in the case of Jakarta it is only for
certain streets.  The success in Jakarta has been mixed I think.

More traditional approaches to reduce the use of cars would be: (a) make
driving more expensive through registration fees for private cars, higher
fuel prices (with subsidies if required for public transport), or (b) higher
parking rates in city center or banning of parking.

Enforcement will be an issue of what ever measure is put up and I would
argue that registration fees, fuel prices are more easily to enforce than
number of people in the cars.

At the same time if you restrict use of private cars you will need sound
alternatives. I am not certain whether buying 255 busses is really that
sound alternative.

Nevertheless, it is great that the honourable Minister is starting to
acknowledge that there is a problem and that he is not suggesting to build
more roads :-)

Cornie

On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 4:51 AM, Syed Saiful Alam
<shovan1209 at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
> Dear all Good news for all our activist that  The government
> of Bangladesh is planning to restrict the movement of private cars in
Dhaka
> to reduce nagging traffic jam.
> "Private cars with less than four or five passengers will not be allowed
to
> ply the city streets," finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told
> reporters at the secretariat on Tuesday.
>
> "We'll have to make public transport system more efficient for the
people,"
> he said.
>
> He said they had approved a proposal to buy 255 buses to make the public
> transport system more effective. "Public transport should be meant for
> public but now a few people are creating anarchy in the field."
>
> The minister said: "Traffic jam is the biggest allegation against the
> government.
>
> The cabinet committee on purchase has approved the proposal to buy 255
> Korean buses for BRTC under EDCF loan of Tk 2.12 billion.
>
> Thanks
> Syed Saiful alam
> shovan1209 at yahoo.com
> +8801552442814
> Are private cars the ideal transport? www.dhaka-rickshaw.blogspot.com
>
>
>
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-- 
Cornie Huizenga
Joint Convener
Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport
Mobile: +86 13901949332
cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org
www.slocat.net
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