Traffic, Climate Change, Rickshaws...

We use rickshaws as our major mode of transportation while we are here in Dhaka. For those that don't know, rickshaws are a carriage-seat attached to a bicycle that a man pulls you around on using only his own hard work, and it is hard work. Rickshaws not only carry around people but all sorts of goods too. The reasons we prefer using a rickshaw whenever possible are many. First, they are the most responsible means of travelling in environmental and economic terms. Environmentally, rickshaws use no fossil fuels and they create no emissions. Economically they provide work for a large portion of the poor men in Bangladesh and provide transportation to work for the majority of the population that cannot afford cars (or who don’t live near a bus line). If the people are the heart of Bangladesh then rickshaws are the pulse.

Why is this posted on our blog? Well, for one, rickshaws are immensely under-appreciated and poorly represented. All this talk of climate change has been going on internationally and Sheikh Hasina has been talk-talk-talking at the UN and with Obama and all over the place about the need for global initiatives to address climate change (because Bangladesh may well be underwater if the oceans get much higher at all!) and here in Dhaka there is a completely ludicrous restriction on rickshaws that bans them from main roads during the day. The traffic police are real assholes about it too- they will stick poles out at the spokes of rickshaws if they try to pass on the big roads and often even physically abuse the rickshaw-wallahs by hitting them on the back and shoulders as they pass. Meanwhile, private cars pass by happily spewing emissions and taking up more space to move fewer people and create more traffic. See, this is the most stupid thing about this policy- the cars are the problem here, not the rickshaws. Rickshaws take up less space on the road, are safer (except when hit by a car) and ought to be seen as the solution to traffic congestion, not as the problem. Somehow the rhetoric here has shifted into an argument that rickshaws cause traffic, which is absurd!

I propose that instead of banning rickshaws from the major roads during peak times, they ought to ban private cars. Private cars eat up fuel, belch out pollution, and are imported so they generate tax revenue but barely any jobs. Plus, for a private car to take the side roads means they would have to slow down, reducing risk to pedestrians, and it is a lot less work physically for a car than for a man to go the long way. The longer route might also encourage people to take a rickshaw instead of a private car, unlike the current policy which does the opposite and thereby increases pollution and traffic. I really liked the points made by an op-ed piece written for a newspaper here, so I want to re-print some of it here (it was written by an environmental volunteer so he has good facts and figures that illustrate my point):

“Most trips in Dhaka are short in distance, usually one to five kilometers. These trips are perfect of Rickshaws…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 them food. From the raw materials to the finished product the Rickshaw employs 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 out earn all other passenger transport modes (bus, rail, boats and airlines) combined…
…By banning rickshaws roads are clogged with increased private car use as well as increased parking by cars. 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 or Taxi, where in the past a Rickshaw would suffice. 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.
…Rickshaw bans harm the most vulnerable in society, mainly the sick, poor, women, children and the elderly; generally those who can not afford or do not feel comfortable on other forms of public transport. To ban 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.
… The government makes 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 affect. Traffic is still as bad now as it was before the Rickshaws were banned on major roads. Rickshaws thus can not 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…”

Now I’m not trying to paint rickshaw transportation with rose-colored glasses – sometimes rickshaw-wallahs can be a pain in the neck, haggling for more money, saying they’ll show up and not, being stubborn about the price, even when it is too high – but in general, the vast majority of rickshaw-wallahs we’ve encountered are hard-working, honest, and unpretentious (unlike a lot of “respectable” rich folks with an inferiority complex).

So as Sheikh Hasina goes on about climate change, and every classroom in Bangladesh goes over their climate change standard curriculum, I hope she’ll think about the ways that the current traffic alleviation policies contradict the goal of reducing climate change. I think everyone can think about how their own individual actions (and policy positions) may be adding up to bigger problems (or solutions) as well.

OK, I’m getting off the soap-box now…