Transport system in Dhaka. Worst in the world at present?

[WarWolf]

Dhaka was known as the city of mosques a while years back. Now it's known "the city of traffic jams". Probably having the worst transport system in the region, Dhaka is getting worse each day. Lack of circular or under-ground railway gives no option for cheap, fast and convenient mass transport. Most of roads are very narrow and insufficient in numbers. No express way or lack of planned flyovers makes movement in dhaka by road a nightmare.

To me, the biggest nightmare is to be trapped in jam in front of the PM's office. you can stuck up there for hours and hours without any progress; specially during the evening.

Tilottoma Dhaka'r transport system er ei ki shonir dosha !!!!

[WarWolf]

Buses blocking roads




Rickshaws creating jam



Very Long jam in very narrow main roads


Where is the end of this pain?


Jam-even over flyover


Unplanned rail crossing in the city; another big reason for jam

[Ahmed_B]

It is pretty bad.. true that. But 'worst in the world' is a strong thing to say buddy. Dont you think?

[ammark]

Dui paaye haati. No complaints

Personally I think the traffic in BD has improved a lot... especially Dhanmondi - almost 'jamless' every time I've been there. Banani and Gulshan has gotten worse, but if you're willing to walk and take a rick through the emptier inner streets, then its no problem getting around.

Airport Road is extremely crowded with buses compared to when I left, and thats the annoying part. The flip side being there are more buses taking you from Ashulia/Tongi down to the city.

[WarWolf]

Originally Posted by Ahmed_B
It is pretty bad.. true that. But 'worst in the world' is a strong thing to say buddy. Dont you think?

Yep. You are correct. But Dhaka is a mega city. We may say that the traffic jam in dhaka is worst among the mega cities in the world.

[Rabz]

Dhaka's traffic is indeed one of the worst in the world, compared to its counterparts around the world.Dhaka is a megacity capital, infact, Dhaka is the fastest growing megacity in the world; a fact stated by World Bank.

The problem is not about the roads, but the management of its traffic.
I'd like to think the roads of Dhaka,except the Old town, is quite broad enough to accomodate its vehicles of all forms.

But the problem lies on its management.
If you have 3 different forms of vehicles on the road.

First, there is the ultra slow manually paddled Rickshaw driven by people who have very little knowledge of traffic laws.

On the next lane, you have the 2 stroke engine CNG auto rick-shaw.

Then you have the last one. The private cars and Bus.

It gets very hard to manage all these three forms in one road.
[ will elaborate later].

Lots of discussions going around about the construction of Subway, flyovers etc.

Im really hoping this govt will initiate, atleast, the work of subway in the city.

As far as i know, a 52 km long subway is under planning which the govt is interested to start construction by late 2008.

Lets see what happens.

[Special 1]

get the useless army and bdr our of dhaka. everythign will be fine.

I mean a person who wants to travel from mirpur to gulshan has to come all the way to rangs bhaban, and then go back to gulshan. Its just stupid.

Second thing is to give one bus company the rights to have busroutes in Dhaka rather than 25-30 that exist.

third get the bus stations and train stations out of Dhaka.

no need for subway and **** at this point. Its expensive and god knows what will happen during floods.

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by Special 1
no need for subway and **** at this point. Its expensive and god knows what will happen during floods.

From what i can understand, the only way we can even think of a viable transportation system in dhaka is to have a subway.

....and while on the the topic.....

coincidentally, news just in Channel i, just means while im writing as of now, ...
the subway is waiting for its final approval.
If approved, it will go ahead with the construction this coming june.

[Beamer]

Our lack of civic sense and indifferent attitude to traffic laws are a crucial factor as well. You can build all kinds of roads, highways, overpasses, flyovers, but nothing will change unless people change their mindset first.

[ammark]

Originally Posted by Beamer
Our lack of civic sense and indifferent attitude to traffic laws are a crucial factor as well. You can build all kinds of roads, highways, overpasses, flyovers, but nothing will change unless people change their mindset first.

As in NOT doing the following things??

- driving with high beam on at night
- straddling both lanes, but staying entirely on one
- actually obeying traffic lights
- Turning onto another street by driving in the side of the oncoming traffic (wrong-way)
- turning right from the right side lane, leaving centre lane for going straight and not cutting them off from the leftmost lane just coz you want to go right.
- turning left from the left side lane, leaving centre lane for going straight and not cutting them off from the rightmost lane just coz you want to go left.
- Pedestrians deciding not to run all of a sudden when walking across the street at a uniform pace
- Rickshaws and CNGs not hogging up the inside (fast) lanes
- Buses actually going right by the pavement to load and unload passengers instead of stopping dead in the middle of the road, just because it requires a bit of time and effort to turn and get back onto the right lane!
- Driving in the wrong way, just because it lets you avoid the jam in front, or gets you to your destination earlier

Sorry to say, these rules are increasingly being ignored by the new breed of chauffeurs. The one time I cuss like crazy is while driving amidst such mofos.

[Parisa]

Originally Posted by Beamer
Our lack of civic sense and indifferent attitude to traffic laws are a crucial factor as well. You can build all kinds of roads, highways, overpasses, flyovers, but nothing will change unless people change their mindset first.

both helps beamer...both works side by side.....a well created road will be nothin without a sharp mind...

[Moshin]

doesnt dhaka have underground train stations like london???

[Moshin]

This is how an underground looks like...{{it underneath the ground}} with so many different lines and zones of where trains go...dont tell me bangladesh doesnt have 1? man if they had one of these, the transport system will be fixed!!!!

[Parisa]

what station is that? monument?

[Moshin]

i have no idea what station it is, just some random pic
nwayz parisa you must know ur from dhaka, are there any
underground stations there?

[Parisa]

Originally Posted by moshin_31
i have no idea what station it is, just some random pic
nwayz parisa you must know ur from dhaka, are there any
underground stations there?

there are train stations but as far as im concerned there aren't any UNDERGROUND station......

[Moshin]

well...if they did, the transport in the street will lower down,
much better for the enviroment, less polution in dhaka
by the way i dont think the people can handle it, too crowded
in dhaka, the trains might bust at some point, but they do need it!

[Parisa]

Originally Posted by moshin_31
well...if they did, the transport in the street will lower down,
much better for the enviroment, less polution in dhaka
by the way i dont think the people can handle it, too crowded
in dhaka, the trains might bust at some point, but they do need it!

its very expensive to make underground stations....they need money..and now most money is bein spent on Sidr cyclone victims.....

[Moshin]

oh yeah... well hopefully in the future (insha-allah)

[Parisa]

dhaka is one of the most developing cities in the world...its transport system is nowhere near one of the worst in the world....its similar to india and pakistan...

[Moshin]

just imagine in the future, the population density in bangladesh
will grow so high, this will then affect everything, the traffic will
certainly will grow with more transport than ever, more housing will
be needed and many more, i dont know how bangladesh will cope with it?

[Parisa]

Originally Posted by moshin_31
just imagine in the future, the population density in bangladesh
will grow so high, this will then affect everything, the traffic will
certainly will grow with more transport than ever, more housing will
be needed and many more, i dont know how bangladesh will cope with it?

true and its such as small country....allah will see it through if we all do small things each day to improve the standard of all the cities in bangladesh e.g.clean up the streets. but one advantage of a growing population is that our bangla language will be spreading too

[Arnab]

Originally Posted by ammark
Personally I think the traffic in BD has improved a lot... especially Dhanmondi - almost 'jamless' every time I've been there.

When did you visit Dhanmondi? 3 in the morning? Dhanmondi is not pliable in the morning and early afternoon because of schools. And in the evening, spontaneous jams are occuring more and more, sometimes even at 9 PM.

The CTG has taken aesthetically praiseworthy steps in decorating the road islands with trees, painting their curbs and giving them new fences. Unfortunately, the real problems remain unsolved.

A recent good move has been to patrol the streets at elephant road-er mor and force the pedestrians to use the overbridge. Pedestrians are also a good reason behind the breakage of normal traffic flow.

[Moshin]

Originally Posted by Parisa
true and its such as small country....allah will see it through if we all do small things each day to improve the standard of all the cities in bangladesh e.g.clean up the streets. but one advantage of a growing population is that our bangla language will be spreading too

spreading where exactly? india?

[Parisa]

Originally Posted by moshin_31
spreading where exactly? india?

it will be spreadin all over the world....bengali currently is one of the most spoken languages in the world....with an increasing population the language popularity will increase too...