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DHAKA'S PROPOSED RICKSHAW BANS
Roads for People has recently won a significant
victory in its fight for non-polluting, people- and
environmentally-friendly transport in Dhaka. While the World Bank
has pushed the Dhaka city government to ban rickshaws from several
roads, the Bank has now acknowledged that this process is not going
well, and should be stopped unless several conditions are met, including
creating parallel, non-motorized transport (NMT)-only routes, banning
streetside parking, and giving priority to buses, for instance through
bus-only lanes. Meanwhile, according to the Bank, if the net
impact on users is negative, then roads should not be made
rickshaw-free. The victory was made possible through the united
efforts of the Roads for People alliance in Dhaka, World Carfree
Network, and the US-based NGO Institute for Transportation Development &
Policy (ITDP).
In February 2005, Roads for People published the
report "Improving Dhaka's Traffic Situation: Lessons from Mirpur
Road" in English and Bengali. Roads for People is now fighting to
reverse the ban on Mirpur Road. For more information, read on.
On 17 December 2004, rickshaws were banned
on the stretch of Mirpur Road from
Russell Square to Azimpur. For more information, download this
paper on the issue.
 
Sections of Mirpur road from which rickshaws will be banned.
The move generated immense
local and international protest. Rickshaws are pollution-free,
provide needed employment to the poor and uneducated, offer door-to-door
transport (particularly useful for women, children, and the elderly),
and are extremely affordable in that they do not require the import of
expensive vehicles or fuel. The World Bank in its policy documents
emphasizes the importance of non-motorized transport and the need to
promote it, and thus appears to be violating its own publicized policies
with this move.
Meanwhile, the real problem on the road
is not the rickshaws, which provide needed transport to many people, but
the unchecked growth in private cars and the space they take for
parking. It is possible to park a car all day on the road in front
of a major market, New Market, for the equivalent of twelve cents US.
 
Parking of cars and taxis in front of New Market, thereby greatly
reducing the space available for other vehicles.
Car parking is a major problem
throughout the city, but is not addressed in the plans promoted by the
World Bank to reduce traffic problems--due to the political difficulty
of dealing with it. Just how big a problem and waste of resources
(money, space) is car parking in the US and elsewhere?
Read
more.
  
Non-motorized transport is already
banned on many roads, which face far worse traffic jams than those which
have not banned rickshaws.
 
In addition, pedestrian facilities are
essentially non-existent, with pedestrians expected to compete with
trash bins, parked cars, and other obstacles. Little or nothing is
being done to improve conditions for pedestrians, other than a few
high-cost, little-used pedestrian bridges.
  
Trash bins blocking pedestrians--and
likely to block future rickshaw lanes, as happened in the past with
unsuccessful rickshaw lanes, which were not kept clear from car parking,
rubbish disposal, and other misuse.
Roads for People has organized various
events to protest the ban, to educate journalists about the important
contribution of rickshaws, and to put forth a more positive solution to
Dhaka's transport problems, including cracking down on street parking by
cars, and segregating traffic on the main roads to allow both
non-motorized and motorized transport to move more freely.
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