The average speed of walking is approximately 5kmph, and the average rate of road transport in Dhaka city is 6.8kmph, according to research by the Brac Institute of Governance and Finance in 2016. In 2022, traffic speed must be even closer to our walking speed.
Traffic jams are a nightmare for the residents of Dhaka. And the government has kept trying to save its citizens from this nightmare for many years by taking many initiatives like flyovers, crossings, water buses, and now, the Dhaka Metro Rail.
The authorities are hoping to open Dhaka Metro Rail for general people on December 16 of this year. Since the government is implementing the Dhaka Metro Rail, the question naturally arises as to whether this will completely solve the traffic congestion problem in Dhaka.
The road coverage present in Dhaka city is much less than this city needs to support its enormous traffic. In addition, this inadequate amount has also not been unitized properly because of excessive use of private transportation, which is responsible for the massive traffic jams.
According to research in 2017 by Democracy International, 6% of the population owns private vehicles, which occupy 76% of Dhaka roadways. On average, a private car contains two to three people, which almost takes the road space of a bus, which can carry at least a few dozen people.
The fact is that the metro isn’t going to solve the excessive pressure from private transport on Dhaka city’s traffic system -- unless authorities take some extra initiative.
Hence, the fate of solving the Dhaka traffic problem depends on reducing the excessive private vehicles. As elite and richer citizens of Dhaka own the majority of private transport, the authorities have to try to attract this elite class to use the metro rail instead of their private car.
This could reduce the traffic problem of Dhaka city by a lot.
There is a tendency to avoid public transport among our elite class. But we cannot call it the fault of the elite because our public transport has had a bad reputation for a long time. There are plenty of cases of sexual assault and lousy service connected with it.
So, suppose our elite class keeps thinking that the metro rail will provide the same type of service as other public transport. In that case, the elite class will keep using their private transport, and the metro will not have a mentionable impact on solving the traffic problem.
Unlike other public transportation systems, the metro rail is set to be the most sophisticated public transport system in the country. The authorities must convince the private transport users about the metro rail -- that it will ensure their safety, while providing a comfortable and timely transport, and live up to their expectations.
The government is spending a significant amount of money and time on the metro rail project. It is set to have a world-class architectural design for each station, air-conditioned modern train coach, and an automated e-ticketing system.
All of this will be a waste if we fail to attract the elite class towards metro rail from their private transport. Whether by advertisement campaigns, celebrity endorsements, or other marketing methods, the authorities need to bring those private transport users to the metro rail no matter what, if we want to free our roads from heavy traffic.
As mentioned before, 76% of the streets of Dhaka city have been taken over by private transport. If the metro rail can bring at least half of those private transport users to public transportation, we would be able to hope that the project will have successfully relieved Dhaka city from traffic jams.
S M Asif Mahmud is a freelance contributor.
