1. 09-08-2007 08:39

a pretty good idea this. i've worked in a few countries in africa too and i think many developing countries are not so good at identifying these types of hard-working groups that could go miles just with a helping hand. targeting different aspects of a specific group for improvement is much better than randomly building schools and roads. i wish you good luck with this. but what is the audience for this proposal? are you talking to the government there?

Guest

2. 11-08-2007 05:10

Thanks Kingtut. 
At the moment we are promoting the proposal through the media and certain key contacts, gaining feedback from these sources but of course we would be delighted to engage with BD transport policy makers.

Guest

3. 12-08-2007 10:43

Nationalization can be good or bad. Remember that BRTC which ran buses in Dhaka was nationalized and it became a hub of thugs who extorted others and could not be fired because they were unionized. Transportation in Bangladesh is one of the main areas in which chadabaji (extortion) and gang violence takes place. If these people are now become state employees something needs to be done to make sure that they dont use the job guarantee to start being gang leaders around their garages

Guest

4. 13-08-2007 10:12

This is a brilliant idea coming from a couple of people who seem to have invested some good energy and thought about poverty in Bangladesh. There's also a good discussion about all this going on in Drishtipat.org. It's worth a read

Guest

5. 21-08-2007 09:18

I think it's a great idea too. I think two problems you need to look out for. The token system can be a bit of a mess. Also for a rickshaw puller carrying all those tokens around. And then the garage-based development. Sometimes these things turn into centres of drugs and gambling etc. Education needs to be a key component of the garage. I also think philosophically the expectation should be that rickshaw pullers should not be confined into pulling rickshaws as their career but with education and skills they can do other things, like move to another department of the government. But these things can be worked out. I congratulate you for helping Bangladesh.

Guest

6. 25-08-2007 23:36

Timothy Sowula, Thomas Wipperman, other readers and posters in this forum: 
 
Welcome to Bangladesh and hope your stay in our country is a pleasant and interesting one. We appreciate your concern for the economy and well being of Bangladeshi people, I am truly touched with the initiative and effort you are taking to help our people with this formal proposal. I have downloaded and read the whole study. It is a wonderful study and report with a lot of good statistics. I would recommend all readers to read the whole thing. 
 
You have identified correctly that the Rickshaw pulling sector as one of the largest informal sector of our economy and your suggestion is to formalize it by getting the government involved in managing it. The problem with this approach is that since the beginning of Bangladesh in 1971, nationalization has shown to be a dismal performer. I will not even go into the performance of socialism and communism and their state run activities and their eventual failure. With the level of corruption in our society that has now become endemic, it is difficult to find efficient managers that will do proper management of operation of any size. Most often the managers at different level will utilize their position and power to make money and make life miserable for the people they are supposed to manage. The other problem is the dishonesty of workers, in this case the Rickshaw pullers, as soon as they become govt. employees, they will stop working hard and from the get-go, this govt. run Rickshaw pulling organization will become a burden to the state, like so many other nationalized sectors. So, in my opinion this is not the right approach as it will create a monster 2 million govt. employee organization that will be the mother of all nationalized industries and it will be a nightmare to get rid of. Look at the difficulty of getting rid of 15,000 employee jute mills and then think about a country wide 2 million employee white elephant that can truly bring the country to a standstill, even more than AL and BNP. It is true that there are many nationalized sectors in advanced countries, but these sectors were nationalized there, as you pointed out in your report at certain stages of socio-economic evolution in these countries (1933 in UK), Bangladesh has not yet reached those levels of human development. 
 
Here I will talk briefly about why there are so many Rickshaw pullers. Essentially these people are landless peasants who are not being able to eke out a living in the country-side, so they flock to the city to find some source of income and survival. Rickshaw pulling is the most easily available employment as the investment for a Rickshaw is small (Tk. 4000-6000 for a brand new Rickshaw and Tk. 2000-3000 for a used one) and many Mohajons (owners) rent them out daily to trusted drivers. As many in this thread pointed out that people could walk instead of using the Rickshaw, although some people are lazy, sometimes there are practical reasons, such as time utilization (Rickshaw trip is quicker than walking), carrying load such as grocery from bazaar, etc. So it is not surprising that a sector such as Rickshaw pulling is thriving in all parts of the world where human labor is too cheap and also Rickshaws can be made extremely cheaply. I doubt if you can find a smaller investment/employment in any other productive sector of economy anywhere in the world. Please note that Rickshaws and Pedicabs used in the West cost $2,000-10,000, depending on power assist and other advanced features, this is because higher incomes by the operators create high level of return on investment and can justify these higher amount of investments. 
 
There are two aspects to look at the viability of the Rickshaw sector. The first is the environmental aspect. Global warming, greenhouse gases, melting glaciers and resulting floods, melting polar ice and rising sea levels are serious issues for us, it is affecting us now as we speak, though most people in Bangladesh are clueless about it and think it is noise made by fashionable environmental nut cases. It is an irony that our unlucky country and people have contributed the least or not at all in this green house gas phenomenon but are already seriously affected by it and the future is scary. Some say that the rising sea level will displace 20-30 million people in the low lying areas, as the land will become unfit for agriculture or habitation. The deforestation in Tibet and Himalayan foot hills and the melting glaciers in Himalayan and Tibetan plateau will continue to create flood like the ones we have just seen. So, despite some peoples reservations about the practicality of such an approach, we can make a responsible choice and move in the right direction and be environmentally responsible. Instead of choosing status conscious cars, we can choose to utilize more efficient and less polluting human powered vehicles as labor in Bangladesh as one of the poorest country is cheaply available. For large scale and long distance movements of goods and people, railway, buses, trucks, cars and their appropriate infrastructures such as roads, railways and bridges as we have now in all countries will continue to play a role. But in the future, these vehicles can be made more efficient and less polluting with more advanced technology such as fuel cells, pluggable electric vehicles etc. Communities can be redesigned so people can either commute short distance and live close to their work-place to reduce commute related pollutions. Also, urban sprawls could be controlled and more efficient use of land could be made by encouraging widely spaced high rise buildings like they are doing in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong for both office and residential use. Just like todays densely populated Dhaka, in these densely packed future cities there will be need for cycles, Rickshaws, auto-rickshaws perhaps with varying levels of battery power assist to address the need for short distance travel. This is the second aspect of the viability of Rickshaw pulling in Bangladesh - its a practical pollution free long term solution for short distance travel, not just in Bangladesh, but in all densely populated cities of the future. 
 
So, I am really sold on the idea of Rickshaw and its uses in Bangladesh and else where in appropriate circumstances but not on the idea of creating a monster nationalized sector to manage this sector. Also I support the ban of Rickshaw use in the main arterial roads of Dhaka, as these slow moving Rickshaws were clogging up these roads and creating unnecessary traffic jams. With less than a year in the country, you have probably not seen what it was like before the Rickshaws were banned from these main roads. Consider this similar to the ban of slow-moving bicycles from the freeways where all vehicles are maintaining certain minimum speed. World Bank’s recommendations that you quote frequently, are not respected by many, not just in Bangladesh but in other places of the world. 
 
As I have mentioned in my previous post, I support govt. or NGO help in the following areas: 
 
- the most important step would be to increase ownership of Rickshaws by the pullers. Subsidized no-interest loans could be made available to the pullers so that they can buy their own Rickshaw and pay off their loan in daily installments, instead of paying rent to Mahajons. But we must accept the reality that some significant percentage perhaps the majority will not become owner operators 
- the second most important step would be to provide loans to create co-operative garages, where 30-50 owner operators could be keep their Rickshaws at night and also it will house repair-station, community run baby-sitting and school for the children and adults among other community based activities 
- setting up of research and development center to introduce more efficient design of rickshaws and auto-rickshaws and help their indigenous manufacturing 
- setting up of Training Centers to provide training in driving technique and safety 
 
Rickshaw is not the only sector that needs attention, auto-rickshaw is a similar sector that needs similar help, although their economic situation is slightly better. But if you did not know, many Rickshaw pullers dream is to become auto-rickshaw puller and many do achieve this dream and are able to get out of poverty and educate their children. 
 
Lastly, I detect a certain cynical attempt to stratify and divide our societies into segments and classifications and pit one against the other - while there are classes within our society in Bangladesh like any other country, there is also social mobility, it is not as rigid as some other countries with similar socio-economic situation, and like some countries we did not need the hammer of communism to flatten out our society. It is still functioning as an organic whole and the cohesion is getting better with time. 
 
Bangladesh is an unfortunate product of the partition, our leadership is clueless and still in the process of formation. We are trying to make the best of what we inherited, due to bad decisions of our past leaders and what was handed down to us by our history. While we appreciate and welcome your effort to help us with the internal management of the country, we would also appreciate your help in the following areas: 
 
- helping to get duty free access of garments and other products in the US and EU as an LDC and have this provision finalized in WTO 
- help to market our agricultural and other products in India and other countries where non-tariff barriers are used against WTO principles 
- help to get fair share of water from India and China for all upstream rivers and help in an integrated regional water management effort between SAARC, ASEAN and China that share water from the Himalaya and Tibetan plateau 
- help to reduce global warming, which is the single biggest macro threat for our country as this will displace 20-30% of our population and increase flood in the short term and eventually when the glaciers are gone or reduce significantly, the rivers will run dry or become seasonal rain water river. India and China will try to take as much as they can from the Himalaya and Tibetan pateau glacial water in this future environment of water scarcity 
- help to stop Indian propaganda to label Bangladesh as a terrorist infested failed state similar to Pakistan, Afghanistan or Somalia 
 
The above will help us improve our economy and create more employment for the people in many other sectors such as organic export oriented agri-business and other industry such as garments, shoes, pharmaceuticals, Information Technology, Back Office outsourcing etc. These may not be your area of interest, but I point these out, because these problems are staring us into our face, if you look at the overall big picture of Bangladesh. The Rickshaw puller is an identifiable large minority, but they are not much different than the vast majority of semi employed, marginally employed or unemployed land less peasant majority of Bangladesh who need a way out of their bleak situation. And the way out is to find and increase market share for our goods, services and man-power in the global market place.

Guest

7. 29-08-2007 06:39

Oh God, do you have to listen to Khilji's sermon here as well?

Guest

8. 29-08-2007 10:20

I think there are some good ideas by Khilji of more efficient design and increasing ownership. But why do we always have to bring in the painful history of Bangladesh etc etc... (laugh)

Guest

9. 29-08-2007 20:18

Siraj, all you have to do is before you read a post look at the name of the writer at the bottom, so you do not waste your time. The least you could do is make an argument for or against some point, instead it is a put down. I presented my argument against Tom and Tim's nationalization proposal and asked their help on other more pressing problems Bangladesh is facing in the future, what points have you made so far? Do something a little more productive with your time and the precious little internet data packets, instead of wasting them on personal attacks.

Guest

10. 25-11-2008 09:04

Most trips in Dhaka are short in distance, usually one to five kilometres. These trips are perfect for rickshaws. Rickshaws are a cheap and popular mode of transport over short distances. Rickshaws are safe, environmentally friendly and do not rely on fossil fuels. Rickshaws support a significant portion of the population, not only the pullers, but also their families in the villages, the mechanics who fix the rickshaws, as well as street hawkers who sell foods. From the raw materials to the finished product the rickshaw employs people in some 38 different professions. Action needs to be taken to support the rickshaw instead of further banning it in Dhaka. The combined profits of all rickshaws exceed that of all other passenger transport modes.  
 
We think a new ban on rickshaws will be put into force on some roads in Dhaka very soon. During the last Eid many roads were declared rickshaw free without public support or approval. Banning of rickshaws on major roads increases the transportation costs for commuters. Not only due to longer trips to avoid roads with bans in effect, but also due to actually having to take more expensive forms of transport such as CNG scooters or taxi. The environmental impact of banning rickshaws is obvious because it exchanges a non-motorized form of transport for a motorized form of transport, thus increasing the pollution and harming the environment. Ban on rickshaw harms the most vulnerable in society, mainly the sick, poor, women, children and the elderly; generally those who cannot afford or do not feel comfortable on other forms of public transport. Banning rickshaws also hurts small businesses that rely on them as a cheap and reliable form of transporting their goods. Rickshaws are ideal for urban settings because they can transport a relatively large number of passengers while taking up a small portion of the road. In 1998 the data showed that rickshaws took up 38% of road space while transporting 54% of passengers in Dhaka. The private cars, on the other hand, took up 34% of road space while only transporting 9% of the population (1998 DUTP). This data does not include the parking space on roads that cars take up in Dhaka. If included this would further raise the amount of space taken up by private cars. Every year the rickshaws save Tk 100 billion by not causing environmental damage.  
 
The governments made many efforts to reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka but with no success. Blaming rickshaws for traffic congestion and subsequently banning them from major roads has not had the desired effect. Traffic is still as bad now as it was before the rickshaws were banned on major roads. Rickshaws thus cannot be seen as the major cause of traffic congestion. Instead, one should look towards private cars and private car parking on roads as the major cause of traffic congestion. The space gained by banning rickshaws is often used for private car parking. The current trend in transport planning reduces the mobility of the majority for the convenience of the minority. Please take into consideration who is being hurt and who is being helped.  
 
For a better transport system in Dhaka we need to create a city-wide network of rickshaw lanes. If this is done Dhaka can reduce its fuel usage dramatically as well as its pollution.  
 
Syed Saiful Alam Shovan, Volunteer,  
Save The Environment Movement,  
58/1 Kalabagan, 1st lane 
Dhanmondi, Dhaka

Guest

11. 25-11-2008 09:28

Knowledge-based Transport Planning and Rickshaw Bans :  
 
BANNING RICKSHAWS: Rich Blaming Rickshaws for Traffic 
By Mahbubul Bari 
Dhaka, Bangladesh - The New Nation 
For several years, discussion of transport issues and problems in Dhaka has had a singular focus on the supposed contribution of cycle rickshaws to traffic congestion, and the need to facilitate movement of automobiles. In line with this analysis of the transport situation, various projects have been undertaken, focusing on banning rickshaws and rickshaw vans from major roads, and sometimes relegating them to narrow rickshaw lanes. The problem of car parking has been addressed mainly through insistence on provision of separate parking places by offices, shops and restaurants even by enacting law under the building code. It is a matter of deep regret that not a single transport policy decision was undertaken after conducting a proper scientific or knowledge-based analysis of the transport problems of the city. It has become a standard norm to take important policy decisions rather arbitrarily, whether it is rickshaw ban or Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for the city. 
The results of these various initiatives have been made clear through government-mandated studies, including the HDRC report on the rickshaw ban on Mirpur Road (HDRC 2004), and the DUTP after-study report (DUTP 2006). The results, almost astonishingly negative, would suggest that the basis for the policy decisions and transport plans are flawed. This would be less than surprising when considering the fact that important transport policy decisions were taken without employing any knowledge-based approach or scientific study.  
Moreover, despite the strong evidence of increased travel costs and traffic congestion, transport planning continues to focus on expanding the role of the automobile and reducing that of fuel-free transport. That pattern has been reflected by the further extension of the rickshaw bans on more city roads. In this connection, readers are requested to draw their attention to the following news item: 
“Traffic Division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police made Purana Paltan-Bijoynagar Road off-limits to rickshaws from Thursday. The decision was taken at a meeting on Wednesday. All the deputy commissioners of four traffic divisions were present at the meeting. M Sayedur Rahman, deputy commissioner (south) of traffic division, told New Age on Thursday that the authorities banned plying of non-motorised vehicles on the stretch between Purana Paltan and Bijoynagar to ease traffic congestion.” The New Age, Dhaka, Friday, October 19, 20073. 
This arbitrary decision making process as depicted in the news item draws attention to a number of disturbing questions as follows: Do the police have the authority to ban or restrict rickshaw movements? 
If yes, from whom do they get that authority?  
Do the police have similar authority to limit the movement of motorised vehicles when there is not sufficient road capacity for them, e.g. narrow lanes, which cannot accommodate cars without causing traffic jams?  
Probably not, it is therefore clear that such misguided policy actions are being pursued just to give absolute priority in the transport system of the city for a tiny minority of car owners, i.e. the so called elite section of the society.  
Do the police have requisite training to make proper transport decisions?  
If so, why dies Dhaka needs organisation like DTCB, when the police can do the job better?  
The rickshaw bans are being extended beyond Mirpur Road, but it seems unlikely that those bans were carried out by the police, rather than by a section of the powerful bureaucrats behind the scene. It may be mentioned here that after failure of the rickshaw ban in the demonstration project of the Mirpur Road, the World Bank has set the standard of extending further bans on the condition that: “Any future support from the World Bank would be possible only if it can be demonstrated that aggregate positive impacts of NMT-free conversion on transport users and transport providers outweigh the aggregate negative impact”. 
It is matter of deep regret that policies continue to give car owners absolute priority, while ignoring the fundamental principle of any transport project appraisal, that is, that net user benefits of any transport intervention must exceed net loss. 
Now, it may be appropriate to concentrate on, possibly, the most important argument in the news item, that is, “the authorities banned plying of non-motorised vehicles on the stretch between Purana Paltan and Bijoynagar to ease traffic congestion.” In the following paragraphs answer to this question and other related aspects of such transport policy interventions, will be analysed in the light of knowledge-based and participatory decision-making approach. 
Did the previous rickshaw ban in Dhaka City ease traffic congestion? 
The answer lies in the “After Project” report of the government mandated study of the Mirpur Road Demonstration project (DUTP 2006), where fuel free transport was banned.  
It might be appropriate to look into the issue considering a number of key congestion indices with respect to before and after scenarios of the Mirpur Road Demonstration project as follows: 
Average journey time per vehicle  
Average journey time per person  
Journey reliability  
Throughput (total number of vehicles per time interval that pass a point on the carriageway) 
Average Journey time per Vehicle 
The Table 1 shows the comparison of travel times of fuel dependent (motorised) vehicles between 2000 and 2005. Considering large variability of the travel time data, it is evident that there is no statistically significant difference of travel times of fuel dependent or motorised vehicles between pre and post rickshaw ban scenarios. This means that no travel time gain for fuel dependent vehicle was achieved due to rickshaw ban. 
The Table 2 demonstrates the comparison of travel times of buses between 2000 and 2005. Although there is no statistically significant difference of travel times for fuel dependent vehicles between pre and post FFT ban scenarios, the travel times for buses did undergo significant deterioration with a 26.1% increase of travel times. This means that bus congestion has increased significantly due to imposition of rickshaw ban in the Mirpur Road demonstration corridor.  
On balance average vehicle congestion in terms of journey time per vehicle has increased significantly due to the rickshaw ban.  
Average journey time per person : Bus travel has worsened following the FFT ban, with a 26.1% increase in travel time; passenger travels by bus has become slower than by rickshaw. Thus all the bus passengers (28.1% of total passengers)-both those who continue to travel by bus in pre- and post-project scenarios, and those who were forced to shift from rickshaws-have experienced significant increase in travel times. 
Impacts of the project on car passengers who have been riding a car both pre- and post-project are more or less neutral, as there is no significant difference in travel time.  
The passengers of motorised para-transit who continue to travel both in pre- and post-project scenarios are likely to suffer increase in average journey times. While there is no significant difference in travel times between scenarios, the times required to find a driver who would be willing to go for short trips have gone up substantially as per HDRC report (HDRC 2004) thereby increasing average travel times per person. 
Despite being subjected to a ban on Mirpur Road, rickshaws remain the most popular means of transport in the corridor, accounting for 30% of all trips. Rickshaw passengers have become net losers, being forced to take long detours using congested side roads, and thereby substantially increase their travel time. 
These evidences from the after project studies prove that congestion in terms of average journey time per person have increased significantly after rickshaw ban in the Mirpur Road demonstration corridor. 
Journey Reliability: Both DUTP after project study (DUTP 2006) and HDRC studies reported significant deterioration of waiting times for bus passengers. Again, as reported in the HDRC report, baby taxi operators are reluctant to take short trips, causing significant increases in waiting times for passengers. Similarly, finding suitable taxicabs at an affordable cost has become increasingly troublesome and time-consuming for short trips.  
It is therefore clearly evident that journey reliability of the Mirpur Road demonstration project deteriorated significantly due to imposition of rickshaw ban. This in turn represents increase of congestion. 
Throughput (total number of vehicles per time interval that pass a point on the carriageway) 
Although it might not be appropriate to compare throughputs between a FFT free road and a mixed vehicles road, it is obvious from the Table 3 that number of vehicles that pass at North of Dhanmodi R#2 of Mirpur Road, decreased significantly both in terms of absolute number of vehicles and passenger car equivalents due to rickshaw ban. This indicates the congestion in terms of throughput has increased significantly due to rickshaw ban in Mirpur Road.  
Again, although passenger carrying capacities of the whole network under investigation were found to increase on average by 30% due to a significant increase of bus services under a private sector-driven initiative, increase in passenger capacity for the demonstration project was only 15%. Again, a careful analysis of data reveals that nearly total elimination of FFT combined with a very high increase in bus service resulted in only a 15% increase in passenger capacity, whereas a small decrease in cars combined with only a modest increase in bus service resulted in a 27% increase in passenger capacity in a VIP road, which has been under FDT-only operation in the base case, indicating that as far as road capacity is concerned the problem is cars, not rickshaws. 
Whether car more efficient than rickshaws in terms of road space occupancy? 
Despite constant claims of the city officials that rickshaws are the main source of traffic jams, data indicate that rickshaws are far superior to cars as far as road space occupancy is concerned (see Table 4). In the base case i.e. before fuel free transport ban, rickshaws made up 69.8% of vehicles, yet utilised only 43.5% of road space to transport 59.4% of passengers (all trips). Cars made up only 6.4% of vehicles, yet occupied as much as 29.9% of the road space in the base case to transport far fewer passengers (5.5%) than by rickshaw. 
Despite being removed from the main roads, rickshaws are still the most popular mode of transport, serving 30% of the passengers, whereas cars serve only 8.5% of all trips (11% of vehicular trips) while requiring the greatest share of road space (54.2%). Although the modal share of cars in overall has gone up only 3.0%, they now claim about 25% more road space than prior to FFT ban. If one considers the additional parking space required for them, total road space required would be much higher. It is clear that a combination of fuel-free transit and public transit would be far superior to a fuel-dependent transport and public transit option. 
It may be mentioned here that despite 50% traffic growth of motorised vehicles during 2000 to 2005 period, the traffic in terms of PCE (passenger car equivalent) in Mirpur Road Demonstration corridor was lower in 2005 in comparison to that of 2000. However, despite having less number of traffic in 2005, the performance of the corridor was significantly worse under FFT free condition after the ban. 
It is therefore clearly evident from the data analysis of the DUTP after project study that congestion in terms of all major congestion indices has increased significantly due to imposition of fuel free transport ban in the Mirpur Road demonstration corridor. 
 
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=20907

Guest

12. 26-09-2009 11:54

www.dhaka-rickshaw.blogspot.com Dhaka Rickshaw 
www.dhaka-transport.blogspot.com Pro-people Transport Plan 
www.dhakanewspapers.blogspot.com All Newspapers on one click

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