Traffic woes
Photo: Wahid Adnan / driknews
Dhaka's traffic situation has taken nightmarish proportions. Dhaka's railway system is primarily designed to serve inter-city traffic. Why not use it by adding one or two extra lines to run fast track “intra-city” light metro rail, say every twenty minutes? This will be cheaper, faster, much greater in capacity, and much more environment friendly than any number of battered buses trying to do the same job. All we need is to create a few underpasses at the road intersections (or overhead railway bridges) to avoid rail-crossing jams. If we look at Kolkata, San Francisco or similar major towns, they sought out the same solution. We just have to do it in our own cheaper “non-glamorous” way as surface rail. If stuck in a traffic nightmare, the middle and lower income groups have no choice but to endure it. But the upper-middle and upper class would simply buy more private cars to overcome it, adding more to the woes. This group must be facilitated by having air-conditioned and efficient buses that would discourage them from using private cars every time therefore, 'Premium' and 'Nirapad' type buses that used to do a good job before, must be brought back. For the general mass, Dhaka's buses run on a system of “number of trips”, which encourages speedy reckless driving so that more trips can be made in a day. Based on traffic volume, say more during office hours and less during rest of the day, buses should be allowed fixed designated time windows to operate, so that twenty buses, for example, at one time won't clog up the street. The left lane of every major artery must be clearly designated for buses, allowing absolutely no private cars or other slow moving vehicles in there, allowing buses to run in a continuous, unhindered stream, not having to fight their way through private cars. Similarly, buses should be kept off the middle or centre lanes of the road designated for private vehicles. Road and footpath encroachment must be dealt with an iron fist recovering every inch for transit. If Dhaka's main arteries are brought back to their maximum efficiency of operation by manning law enforcing agencies, and implementing these few strategies, it is my belief we would be able to achieve what the Dhaka Cantonment has achieved a long time ago an example we hardly pay any attention to and continuously refuse to learn from.
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