Public Transport Crisis in Dhaka City, Bangladesh: failure of appropriate government policy responsi

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Public Transport Crisis in Dhaka City,
Bangladesh failure of appropriate government
policy responsible for congestion and air
pollution!

• M. Shafiq-Ur Rahman
• Assistant Professor, Urban Regional Planning
• Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh
• and
• Chairman, SusTrans Bangladesh
• Email shafiq_urp_at_yahoo.com

SusTrans Bangladesh
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Transport in Dhaka City

• Area 2,000 sq. k.m.
• Population 12 million (2004)
• 24 million by 2021
• Least motorized of the world!
• 30 MVs/1000 population
• 325,000 MVs
• Automobile usage 8 population
• Only 2547 bus!
• No Bicycle!!!
• Walking
• Rickshaw

SusTrans Bangladesh
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Public Transport Crisis
Anxious passengers waiting for bus, struggling to
get in, overcrowded bus.
SusTrans Bangladesh
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Public Transport Crisis
Congestion, Poor management, Inefficient road
use, Mixed traffic, Air pollution
SusTrans Bangladesh
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Number of Vehicles
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Modal Share
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Modal Share
Rickshaw is considerably cheaper than taxi and
baby-taxi, but significantly expensive than tempo
and bus.
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Motorized Vehicle Growth

• Increasing Motorized Vehicles.
• Annual growth rate over 10.

SusTrans Bangladesh
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Number of Motorized Vehicles
Public Transport
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What is growing most ???
SusTrans Bangladesh
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Air Pollution in Dhaka City

• Air pollution in Bangladesh kills about 15,000
  people, loss 200-800 million each year (about
  0.7- 3 of GNP).
• Dhaka is one of the most polluted cities of the
  world.
• Lead concentration in 1996 (Khaliquzzaman, et.
  al, 1997)
• Dhaka 463 µg/m3 Mexico City 383 µg/m3
  Mumbai,India 360 µg/m3.

• Average weekly concentration at Farmgate
  Commercial Area in 1998 (DoE,2000)
• PM 2459 µg/m3
• NOx 61 µg/m3
• SO2 121 µg/m3.
• Highest concentration at Tejgoan Industrial
  Area in 1990s (Rahman,et.al,1999 Khuda,2001)
• PM 630 µg/m3
• SO2 64-142 µg/m3
• NOx 58.9 µg/m3.
• Except NOx all others exceed the standard limit.

Air Quality in Selected Locations of Dhaka
Source DoE, 2005.
SusTrans Bangladesh
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Ambient Air Quality Standards
Bangladesh Standards in 1997.
Dhaka Standards (microgram/m3).

Source DoE, 2005.
1 Bangladesh National Standard is 120µg/m3. 2
National monuments, hospitals, educational
institutions. 3 Not to be exceeded more than
once per year. 4 Annual average value will be
lt 50 microgram/cubic meter. 5 Average will be
lt 150 microgram/cubic meter for a day each
year. 6 Maximum average for every 1 hr each
year will be lt 0.12ppm.

Source GoB, 2005.
SusTrans Bangladesh
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Transport and Air Pollution

• MVs are the chief mobile source of air pollution
  in urban areas.
• Everyday 1000 MT pollutants pumped into Dhakas
  air, of which
• 70 comes from transport (BCL,2005).
• Transport sector exhausts about
• 55 of SO2, 70 of NO2, 60 of CO
• emissions in Dhaka City (CPD,2004).
• High vehicular emissions
• Diesel-powered engines
• Two-stroke engines
• High content of lead (0.84 gm/litre) in gasoline
• High sulphur concentration in petroleum
• fuel (blend of gasoline lubricating oil)
• Old mechanically defective vehicles
• Overall poor traffic management.
• Automobile exhausts about 50-90 of
• lead emissions in Dhaka (Khuda,2001).
• BPC supplies sulphur free petrol but
• diesel containing 1 sulphur per litre
• whilst international standard is only
  0.2.

Pollutants Emitted from Vehicles.
Source Jaigirdar, 1998.
SusTrans Bangladesh
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Transport Policy

• Long term vision for sustainability of transport
  is absent.
• NMT is seen as hindering motorized traffic flows.

Policy for Rich !!??
Banned Rickshaw, No alternative for mass
people, 25 NMT users compelled to walk,
Increased travel time cost, Bus speed reduced
3.8km/hr, Traffic volume (PCE) reduced, Rich
people enjoy the benefits.
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Transport Policy

• Enforcement is completely absent.
• Clause 150 of Motor Transport Act, 1983.
• Government has not yet initiated for any
  restriction of baby-taxi or private cars.
• A complete absence of road use charge, parking
  charge, and congestion charge.
• Two-stroke baby-taxis have been banned in 1
  January 2003 and replaced them by CNG operated
  4-stroke baby-taxis.

• Lost the opportunity to improve the environment
  and affordable public transport service, and
  reduce congestion simultaneously.

v
Is possible to satisfy the travel demand ??
Desirable?
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Policy Recommendations

• Much of the pollution and congestion could be
  reduced through
• Develop mass public transport, promote walking,
  cycling, NMT.
• Restrict car use, and introduce road use
  charging.
• Efficient traffic management.
• Strict enforcement of regulations, immediate
  screen-out of unfit vehicles, and complete ban on
  two-stroke engine.
• Monitoring to detect faulty vehicles penalize
  the violators.
• Use lead or sulphur free CLEAN fuel. Conversion
  of petrol-engine to CNG-engine could reduce 80
  smoke and emissions.
• Install Catalytic Converters to reduce vehicle
  emissions.
• Polluter must pay for the social cost and that
  money should be earmarked for air pollution
  reduction.
• Media campaign to increase peoples awareness and
  participation.
• Meaningful coordination among related agencies
  departments.
• Develop secondary cities to reduce population
  growth, economic concentration, and travel
  pressure in Dhaka.

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Thank You !
SusTrans Bangladesh