Bangladesh’s Capital Plans to Ban Cycle Rickshaw

Rickshaws are still extremely popular in Bangladesh, often filling up the streets. (Flickr)

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, plans to have the city be “rickshaw-free,” the Economist reports. Rickshaws, also known as pedicabs, are an extremely popular form of transportation in Bangladesh.

The motivation behind the ban is traffic. According to the World Bank, the average traffic speed in Bangladesh fell in 2018 to 7 kilometers per hour. This traffic is both inconvenient and wasteful. The World Bank also estimated that 3.2 million working hours are lost every day due to traffic.

Mohammed Atiqul Islam, the mayor of northern Dhaka, argues that rickshaws, due to their small size, “create chaos.” This is because they are able to change lanes and make U-turns very quickly. Moreover, Alam points out that most rickshaws in Dhaka are illegal, as no new rickshaw licenses have been granted since 1986. The Economist reports that there are an estimated 520,000 to 920,000 rickshaws that are currently unlicensed in the city.

However, due to the fact that rickshaws are widely used, the ban proves to be a great inconvenience to many Bangladeshi citizens. The Economist reports Abdul Mubin, a rickshaw driver, as saying, “What am I supposed to do? I have mouths to feed.” This aligns with the sentiment of other drivers who, earlier in the year, went on strike.

Moreover, millions of people are worried about commuting. Dhaka has a population of around 18 million people but only has 8,000 public buses. Alam has claimed that buses will soon be centralized under one authority.

There are also plans for a metro system to be built in Dhaka.

However, the system won’t initially be able to compensate for all those needing a new form of transportation after the rickshaw ban is put into effect.