The free streets of Dhaka: A dream, a delight and a disappearing act
Dhaka is slowing down
How bad is the traffic in Dhaka?
The answer lies on the roads immediately before and after the Maghrib prayers in the month of Ramadan.
As the entire city comes to a standstill to break their fast, the roads wear a deserted look. Stand on your balcony and you can barely hear the noise of the city. There remain only a few bird songs to enjoy, some errant horns and some air conditioners humming away.
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Aside from the relative silence, it's also the best time to travel.
The benefit isn't restricted to just how quick one can commute. There's also the reduced fares that come into play.
A trip from Eskaton Garden to Lalmatia in Mohammadpur, around five kilometres, takes around an hour-and-a-half on a regular day.
During the quiet iftar hours, the same journey will take around 20 minutes or less.
Where on regular days one would have to pray a CNG-run autorickshaw takes them as a passenger, during these iftar hours, it's almost a reversal. It's the rider who asks you where you want to go.
And the fare falls from Tk250-Tk300 to Tk150-Tk200.
While demand and supply come into play, it's also important to note that relatively free roads mean more income even at lesser fares.
At this point, it will only be prudent to emphasise that of course less people will mean less traffic.
This was, however, not the case yesterday.
As rain washed over the city, chaos returned to the streets. Not even iftar meant empty roads.
It just highlighted the point that regardless of the day or time, traffic is the bane of existence in Dhaka and the smallest issue can lead to a commute nightmare.
End of a long weekend? There will be traffic? Rain? There will be traffic? VIP movement? There will be traffic? It's a Wednesday? There will be traffic.
The matter of gridlocks is not only that it's an inconvenience. It's much more than that.
According to a 2022 report from the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), the economy lost Tk56,000 crore ($6.5 billion) in 2020 from traffic alone.
In a similar survey in 2018, Dhaka traffic wasted 5 million work hours and cost the economy Tk37,000 crore ($4.35 billion).
Those are alarming numbers for a country grappling with the oncoming challenges of a post Least Developed Country status graduation.
Dhaka's perverse tryst with traffic jams is not new.
In 2023, it was ranked first on the list of slowest cities in the world, by the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research. The research also said Mymensingh and Chattogram were the 9th and 12th slowest.
And Dhaka is slowing down.
In 2007, the average speed in Dhaka was 21 kilometres per hour.
Following an investment of an eye-watering Tk135,000 crore in various infrastructure megaprojects such as flyovers, metro rail and elevated expressway, Dhaka's speed fell to a meagre 4.8km in 2022.
This isn't to say the two are related. But it does underline the point that these development projects have done little to ease Dhaka's traffic woes.
Now, the person on the rickshaw will blame the car, the car driver will blame the motorcycles and then someone will blame the bus. It will go on like a vicious cycle.
What will be forgotten is the crux of the matter: a lack of discipline on the road and the failure to ensure any road rules are enforced.
This failure is squarely on the shoulders of the authorities.
How many times do we see traffic sergeants let buses park in the middle of the road? How many times do we see law enforcers turn a blind eye to infractions?
And in 2024, why do we still not have a central traffic management system?
The much-talked-about Road Transport Act came into effect in 2019.
Unveiling the act, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said, "Our main target is to bring discipline on roads…it's our challenge, and the Road Transport Act has been enacted to this end."
Three years later, he said all the successes including the metro rail and Padma bridge will not mean anything if we cannot maintain discipline on the roads, again admitting that discipline had not been restored to the roads.
Almost 14 years since he became the roads minister, discipline has still been lacking.
And it is the people who continue to pay the price.
Now, as iftar begins to set, a few brave commuters will quickly drain a glass of water, eat a date and then set off to spend time with friends or family, without feeling completely exhausted.
Thus, Ramadan will pass. The Eid holidays will come and go. The horror of traffic will make a return.
And no one in power will bat an eye.
