[sustran] government planning to restrict private cars in Dhaka to reduce traffic jam.

[eric britton]

Check and mate:

Our strong consensus here in the last couple of hours has really put the
finger on it. We have learned (at high cost)  that when you are dealing with
complex systems like transport in large cities, you can't depend on
piecemeal or mechanical solutions to sort out what are in fact complex
interactive organic problems.  Fix-it approaches like this  are doomed to
failure before we even get them out of the box. 

What can we do -- all of us here who have been working on and fretting about
these issues for years, and often with real results at the level of the
streets of the city -- -- to help local and national government do what is
needed to understand, develop and implement a real sustainability strategy
worthy of the name and the needs?  It does not have to be a huge complicated
deal and take all kinds of time. We don't have to publish pages of PhD
dissertations to help.  We have the experience, the knowledge, the tools and
the means to help.

So, where do we start?

Eric Britton

---

On Behalf Of Karthik Rao-Cavale
Sent: Wednesday, 22 December, 2010 12:40

"The new vehicles will have the doors on the wrong side of the vehicle for
the BRT system, and
thus will act as a wedge against a quality BRT in the future."

I wonder, are BRTs the ends or the means of sustainable urban transport? It
is true that "classical" BRT systems have median bus stops with dedicated
buses, but these are not necessarily most appropriate for cities in the
subcontinent. But transportation planners in the subcontinent cannot afford
to be bound by dogma. Preventing a city from increasing its bus fleet just
because that would not work in favour of implementing a "classical" BRTS
sounds just absurd to me.

In India, and I suspect that this is true of Dhaka also, streets are often
too narrow for dedicated bus lanes to be possible. And yet buses do need to
ply on these streets if everyone is to be within reasonable distance of a
bus stop. So you do need regular buses. And if one seat rides are to be
possible, you need the same buses plying on the regular roads to also run in
the BRT lanes, if they exist. There are two ways of making that possible.
One is to have doors on both sides in buses. The other is to have bus stops
on the curb side of the bus lane rather than the median.

I personally believe that the BRT should be fully integrated into the city's
bus system, in which case the only option short of a complete turnover of
the bus fleet is to have curbside bus stops. This was precisely what Delhi
BRT did, and I think it is a good design.

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Kanthi Kannan
Sent: Wednesday, 22 December, 2010 04:25.

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 overcrowding,
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


-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Cornie Huizenga
Sent: 22 December 2010 07:30
To: Syed Saiful Alam

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 whatever 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


-----Original Message-----
Behalf Of Lee Schipper
Sent: Wednesday, 22 December, 2010 07:24

Second Lloyd's concern. Informal carpools -- people who DO want to ride
from A to B and go with drivers who get special lane access with 2 or 3
in the car- are popular in the US. Would not at all e unusual for the
well to do to hire riders in Dhaka! Wish they would pay ME to ride in
San Francisco.

-----Original Message-----
On
Behalf Of Lloyd Wright
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 10:06 PM

As the other commentators have noted, restricting private motorised
vehicles in Dhaka would be a highly positive development.  


However, the proposed mechanism would be problematic.  By requiring a
minimum of four passengers in a vehicle, a new industry would emerge
where individuals would be employed to ride in the vehicles for the mere
sake of meeting the quota.  The emergence of such street jockeys in
Jakarta has largely undermined its 3-in-1 programme.  In many cases,
students abandon school to be employed in this manner.

With regard to the new buses, this plan could also be problematic.
While certainly Dhaka's fleet needs to be replaced, simply purchasing
new buses will likely act to further deter the move to a BRT system.
The new vehicles will have the doors on the wrong side of the vehicle
for the BRT system, and thus will act as a wedge against a quality BRT
in the future.  

And given that the buses will have a life in the Dhaka context of 15 to
20 years, the impact on the potential BRT system could be fatal.  Would
it not be better to use the proposed investment in a system that fully
addresses all the components of a quality public transport system (e.g.
walkable access to stations, quality and secure stations, dedicated
lanes for public transport, and vehicles that are compatible with a
quality system)?
Furthermore, by operating in mixed traffic under the current conditions,
the "new" buses will largely be "old" buses within a few years.

Best regards,

Lloyd 

-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+lwright=vivacities.org at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+lwright=vivacities.org at list.jca.apc.org]
On Behalf Of Jonathan Richmond
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 6:50

I also read the story in today's newspaper. Please note, however, that
any attempt to restrict car movement in Dhaka's central city will
require a consensus throughout government and complex legal and
administrative procedures.

Regarding the buses, I have been developing BRT and general bus
reorganization programmes here to try to radically improve service
levels. However, now that consultants have been selected for a major BRT
implementation study, the government has decided not to extend my
contract -- hence my recent note to some of you to ask if any of you
have ideas for my next assignment!

General bus purchases are necessary because Dhaka's bus fleet is in
almost unbelievably poor condition. In fact, nowhere in the world have I
seen buses that are quite so dilapidated. The buses are driven
dangerously and there is very little maintenance. So getting something
new is a start. 
However, work needs to be done to find ways to encourage the industry to
maintain its fleet in better condition. There are financial and
organizational constraints to accomplishing this, and they need to be
overcome.

Best regards,

                           --Jonathan

Jonathan Richmond
Public Transport Advisor
Dhaka Transport Coordination Board
Ministry of Communications
Government of Bangladesh
Nagar Bhaban, 13-14th Floor
Dhaka-1000

---

On Tue, 21 Dec 2010, Lee Schipper wrote:

 Good news indeed but just buses without dedicated lanes? Who can move
under those conditions?

 Lee Schipper
 Global Met Studies  UC Berkeley
 Precourt En Eff Center Stanford

---

 On Dec 21, 2010, at 17:37, "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