Traffic Jam of Dhaka: Causes and Solutions

How long does it take to go from Bangladesh Television to Motijheel or Shahbag? Or to the opposite direction, say, to Uttara via bashundhara-kuril-Bishwaroad? 4 or 5 years ago, the answer would be-- 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the traffic. But now, only God knows. Even if you are fortunate enough to thrust into a bus, it is quite impossible to reach motijheel before 1 hour and a half, and if the destination is Uttara, sometimes it would take almost 2 hours. And if you need to go to Ghazipur or Mirpur, you can easily take the whole day’s fuel with you, prepared to take a nap too, may be you will reach there by evening.

Now, who, or what are responsible? The reason is obviously “traffic congestion”. And the calculation of time given here only applies if you can get on board a bus or a taxi. The first question comes to any commuter is, shall I get a transport? There are many pompous names of the bus services like “sitting service”, “Direct” etc., but all in all they all are beyond capacity. The gentlemen can somehow manage to get into a bus after failing to catch the handle of 5 or 6 buses, but the condition of the ladies beggar’s description. Having seen the opportunity, the cng-drivers or rickshaw-pullers escalates the fare sky-high. There is no limit of fares, and the commuting people are agreed even with this unfair means, still they cannot get a transport.

What is the amount of loss because of this delay due to traffic jam? In a word, it is irreparable. A study conducted in 2010 by Roads and Highways Department of Bangladesh said that Traffic congestion in Dhaka eats up approximately 19,555 crore taka ($3 billion) every year (http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=147756) which includes travel time cost, cost of excess fuel burnt, revenue loss by passenger transport operators, environmental damage and cost of traffic accidents. The environmental pollution and physical damage deserves special attention, which can be observed if we