gta-154 Bangladesh, Rickshaws in Dhaka

Global Transport Atlas

GTA-154 Bangladesh, Rickshaws in Dhaka

Series 1 - Global TransportNotes

GTA-154 August 2012 Page 1

Bangladesh, Dacca,NMT, bicycles

This is a re-issue of a 2006document.

Sources:

Ziaur Rahman Litu (WBB Trust)

Debra Efroymson (Healthbridge)

Robert Bartlett (Ed.)

Rickshaws in Bangladesh -

an Invaluable Form of Transport and Employment

Rickshaws are virtually the only form of transport produced inBangladesh. They are inexpensive to make, require no fuel to operate,provide jobs to hundreds of thousands of the poor, and provide safe,inexpensive, and convenient door-to-door transport, particularlyvaluable to women, children, the elderly and the disabled.

Despite these advantages, government officials portray rickshaws asslow-moving vehicles that hamper the movement of other vehicles,contributing to traffic jams and air pollution despite being non-polluting. City government has banned rickshaws from several streetsof Dhaka, and plans to ban them from many more. Meanwhile, a recentgovernment report has shown that rickshaw travel in Dhaka can oftenbe faster than travel by bus.

Global Transport AtlasSeries 1 - Global Transport NotesGTA-154 : Bangladesh, Rickshaws in Dhaka


Government officials also call rickshaw pulling aninhumane profession, but rather than work atmodifying the rickshaw design, they instead suggestbanning them, despite the fact that unemploymentrates are already extremely high.

As air and noise pollution and the price of fuelcontinue to rise, there is a clear need for fuel-freetransport. Rickshaws play an invaluable role in thetransport system of Dhaka and all of Bangladesh,providing transport for people, moving largequantities of goods, and creating much-neededemployment for the most vulnerable groups.

The use of rickshaws may be frowned upon asbackward by some people in Bangladesh. This is incontrast to young entrepreneurs in many Europeancities, where rickshaws are being introduced for thetransport of both people and goods - examples canbe found in London, Hamburg, Paris and Milan.

Staff of WBB Trust have prepared a design for animproved rickshaw. Their aim was to provide amachine which was more comfortable for thepassenger; they plan to continue revising the designto make it easier for the puller as well. WBB wouldbe happy to provide interested persons with furtherdetails of their design - please contact the personand email address given on page 6 of this document.

Country Bangladesh

Date June 2006

Vehicle standard rickshaw

Length 2438 mm

Width 1168 mm

Speed 13.4 km/hr

Capacity normally 2 passengers butoften 3 or 4

Country Bangladesh

Date June 2006

Vehicle WBB rickshaw

Length 2338 mm

Width 1143 mm

Speed ~ 13.4 km/hr

Capacity

Notes

1. Speed measured by WBB Trust in a survey onDhaka streets in 2000.

2. Dimensions are basic vehicle dimensions - thedimensions of the “vehicle in use“ can be quitedifferent, as the examples show.

Rickshaws in Dacca - typical dimensions of standardand WBB rickshaws



Mobile shopping

Much fresh produce and various other products are soldthroughout Bangladesh off of rickshaw vans. This provides aconvenient service to people who do not need to travel to astore in order to do their daily shopping, and ensures aliving for the vendors.

Image 01

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RICKSHAWS IN DACCA / 1

Image 03

Image 04

Pepsi

Despite anti-rickshaw propaganda, even multinationalcompanies frequently make use of rickshaw vans to movetheir goods at a far lower price than would be possible usingmotorized transport. Even refrigerators and other bulky andheavy items are frequently transported at very low cost byrickshaws.

Construction goods

Rather than using trucks to move all objects, rickshaw vanstake a major share of transporting freight, even constructiongoods. With ever-rising prices of fuel, this helps reduce thecost to the consumer, though unfortunately with spreadingrickshaw bans, the ability to use such inexpensive transportis rapidly diminishing in Dhaka.

Moving house

Even in expensive neighbourhoods where most families owna car, rickshaw vans are still a preferred mode of movinghousehold goods including furniture, due to their easymanoeuvrability on small streets, low cost, and readyavailability.



School van

While upper class children now generally travel to school bycar, creating huge traffic jams throughout the city, otherchildren continue to travel in a more traditional and lessspace-consuming style, by rickshaw van. The children enjoythe company of their friends, and are far more a part of thestreet environment than if they were travelling by car.

Image 05

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Image 07

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Rickshaw street

Prior to the rickshaw ban on Mirpur Road (a major shoppingstreet in Dhaka), rickshaws were a main form of transportfor both people and goods. Following the ban, rickshaw andvan pullers’ income have dropped from 32-41%, and travelcosts have increased by 15%.

Produce transport

While many goods are moved by rickshaw van, much ismoved by the traditional rickshaw. Though pedaling therickshaw in the hot sun and through the difficult trafficconditions of Dhaka is unpleasant, rickshaw pullingrepresents an invaluable source of income for the poor anduneducated.

Standard rickshaw

The traditional Bangladeshi rickshaw has not changed itsdesign in decades. The design is difficult on the puller anduncomfortable for the passenger, as the seat is very narrowand often tilts slightly forward. Unfortunately far moreeffort is being spent on trying to ban rickshaws than onimproving their design.



Improved rickshaw

WBB strongly believes that both rickshaw design andrickshaw service should be improved, so that thisenvironmentally-friendly, job-generating form of convenientand low-cost transport can be maintained in Dhaka andthroughout the country. This design, with a wider seat andhigher hood, is far more comfortable for the passenger.

Image 09

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Elderly but hardly infirm

Defying gravity, people show their ingenuity in many waysin developing countries that would never be seen in themore safety-conscious developed world. For the elderlypassenger, this is the most inexpensive and easy way tomove his goods.

Trash collection

Rickshaws come in different styles, from the standardrickshaw with seat and hood, to the van, and others that arean open or closed box for transporting goods, schoolchildren, or trash. These trash vans supplement the trucksused by the city, easily manoeuvring through the narrowstreets of much of the city, and providing a source of incometo many low-income people, including children.

Goods transport

This is a common rickshaw design, a closed box that iscommonly used for moving such varied items as bread,biscuits, milk products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc.Often the brand name of the product or store is painted onthe van, so that the transport also serves as anadvertisement.



About the contributors

Ziaur Rahman Litu (Bangladesh)

[email protected]

Project Assistant for the Roads for People program ofWBB Trust (Work for a Better Bangladesh), Litu has beeninvolved in organizing demonstrations for people-focusedroad policies, conducting and writing up surveys onbicycle use in Dhaka, networking with members of theRoads for People alliance, contributing to WBBpublications on road policy issues, supporting logistics forseminars, workshops, and trainings, giving training onpromotion of cycling, and supporting a program to givechildren street space for cycling. Litu also serves as videoand still photographer.

Debra Efroymson, Regional Director,HealthBridge (Bangladesh)

[email protected]

Author and co-author of several publications on transportpolicy, speaker at international conferences and localworkshops, and consultant to the WBB Roads for Peopleprogram, Debra also supports people-oriented transportprojects and programs aimed at promoting ecocities inother countries. Debra speaks Spanish, French, Bengali,Vietnamese, and Nepali in addition to her native English.

Robert Bartlett

[email protected]

is an experienced transportation and urban developmentstudies engineer with over 25 years of professionalexperience. Current engineering work: includes technicalresearch in highway design standards and applications inareas such as urban planning and highway engineering.Interests include applied GIS.

This is a re-issue of a 2006 document.

About the organisations

WBB Trust

http://www.wbbtrust.org

WBB Trust (Work for a Better Bangladesh) is a non-profit,non-governmental organization which was founded in1998. Work for a Better Bangladesh is a slogan as well as aname, reflecting our belief that everyone can contribute tomaking a better Bangladesh.

The mission of WBB is to facilitate the passage andimplementation of policies to create an environment thatpromotes health and social interactions for all members ofsociety, and in which government provides qualityeducation, health care and other essential services to allfor free.

WBB envisions cities and communities in whichworkplaces, schools, shops and recreational facilities aremostly within walking distance, in which children can playoutdoors and walk to school safely, and in which outdoorpublic spaces are attractive and easily accessible for all.WBB envisions a policy environment that treats water asan essential resource to be protected, and which seeks toreduce pollution and to prioritize health over economicgrowth.

Healthbridge

http://www.healthbridge.ca

HealthBridge is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization that identifies, analyzes, andbridges gaps in public health, including gaps between:

Needs and technologies

Evidence and policies

Policies and practice

HealthBridge has been working since 1982 in Asia, Africaand the Americas. It is an agile and efficient organizationthat aims to improve the health of vulnerable populations,including those at risk of malnutrition, infectious disease(particularly malaria and HIV/AIDS), and emergingepidemics, such as obesity and tobacco-related disease.HealthBridge helps local partners develop and implementappropriate solutions, apply innovative and sustainablepractices, and promote effective policies.



GTA documents series

Global Transport Atlas is a project with two aims. One isto encourage people around the world to share examplesof how they actually use transport in their daily lives. Theother is to compare and improve the design of transportinfrastructure. There are the following GTA documentseries:

Series 1 - global transport notes

A collection of papers on transport infrastructure andvehicles from various countries, prepared by variousauthors and contributors. Typical size 2 to 3 pages.

Series 3 - discussion papers

Papers with arguments and ideas on different aspects ofmodern transport and transport infrastructure.

Series 7 - Dimensions of vehicles

Transport infrastructure has to be defined with an idea ofthe size and types of vehicle which will use it. This serieslooks into the dimensions of different types of vehicle atdifferent periods of time. Papers include technicaldiscussion notes and example dimensions. Typical size 20pages and more.

Cover notes and Disclaimer

This is a research document. The best efforts have beenmade to make sure the figures are correct. However noliability can be taken for any of the details, information oranalysis in this document.

The layout, look and feel of this document is copyright.

The photos are generally copyright of the WBB Trust.

This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copyof this license, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/

History and Change log

First version published 2006.

Version 111.02-b (August 2012) - this version and versionnumber, with modified layout and minor modifications tothe content.

Contact

We welcome comments on this paper, and also on newdevelopments in other countries in this field.

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://globaltransportatlas.weebly.com/index.html

Documents

gta-154 Bangladesh, Rickshaws in Dhaka