Last week’s publication of the attractive new design for stations in the Dhaka Metro Rail project provides a hopeful harbinger of better public transport in the years ahead.
However, it does not alleviate the need to urgently improve the city’s bus services.
Congestion costs Dhaka’s economy over Tk200bn every year. The most cost-effective way available to reduce gridlock is to improve the quality and efficiency of bus services so that commuters are tempted out of cars, and journey times are speeded up for everyone overall.
One properly functioning bus route can easily remove 30 cars off the road. Increasing public transport use can not only speed up traffic flow, but also reduce the pollution generated by allowing an ever increasing number of private cars to dawdle in traffic jams.
Buses are the only means of transport available for most people. It is in everyone’s interest for the government and BRTC to put improving buses first. With space at a premium, bus services have to be prioritised ahead of the small minority of car owners.
This means introducing and enforcing public transport-only bus lanes on all major thoroughfares. It includes improving signage and bus stops to help make bus services more attractive and efficient.
Only by adopting such an integrated approach can efforts to improve the safety and reliability of buses, and to introduce new and more comfortable buses, make a real difference.
We cannot afford to neglect public transport any longer. Buses and improving public transport must come first, if we want to end the curse of traffic jams.
