When policymakers are looking for costly metro rail, mono rail, and elevated expressway projects to reduce traffic congestion in the country's capital city, a 25-year draft plan has stressed a bus-based solution to address the problem in the country's port city.
The Traffic and Transport Master Plan, prepared and published by the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) under its Chattogram Metropolitan Master Plan (2025-2050), identified that 'conventional bus systems' have the potential to provide a financially viable and effective solution for meeting Chattogram's transport demand through 2050. However, it linked the 'improved traffic management measures' and 'comprehensive reforms in public transport operations' to make the bus system effective and efficient.
The final draft of the plan, now open for public scrutiny to gather opinions before finalisation, pointed out that current ridership levels in Chattogram are insufficient to justify investment in mass rapid transit (MRT), popularly known as metro rail. It also mentioned that future travel demand is also unlikely to 'reach the minimum threshold required for MRT viability' by 2050.
Many have already raised the question of the assumptions that drive planners to avoid an MRT-based solution to address traffic congestion in the port city. Some experts, however, backed the proposed bus-based solution, arguing that the unplanned construction of three flyovers and an elevated expressway has already created physical barriers to the development of an efficient MRT line. The authorities have spent Tk 52 billion over the past 13 years to construct this physical infrastructure, yet traffic congestion has persisted.
According to the proposed plan, it will take Tk 30 billion to replace the existing ramshackle public buses with 700 new, modern buses, along with the construction of new bus terminals and related infrastructure. The plan also stressed bus route rationalisations and the eventual introduction of bus rapid transit (BRT) by constructing dedicated corridors in certain areas to improve bus movement. It also pointed out that constructing an MRT line would require at least Tk 250 billion, though it did not fully invalidate the MRT, as a feasibility study for metro rail is underway.
The proposed plan focuses on leveraging the existing communication infrastructure with low but efficient investment. This is definitely a bold proposal, given the country's obsession with high-spending physical and communication infrastructure. Of course, MRT is more efficient, especially when traffic is thick. That's why the metro rail in Dhaka is providing good service, although it is yet to be integrated with bus services. As at least two more metro rail lines are now under construction and three more are in the planning stage, the necessity of revamping the public bus system in Dhaka is still far away. Instead, there is now a proposal to construct a mono-rail in the capital city, which is not viable at all.
More than a decade ago, a joint study by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre and BRAC found that more space-efficient buses could provide greater transport capacity in Dhaka, making the mobility of millions of people faster. It argued that greater investment in bus systems and infrastructure would mitigate the need for so many space-intensive private automobiles, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws. In this connection, the study also suggested making some necessary adjustments to the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (STRP). The then government, however, paid no heed to this. Today, the city of Dhaka is more chaotic, with public buses being a nightmare for regular commuters. Fast-growing battery-powered rickshaws, coupled with motorcycles, have turned most of the city's roads and streets into a paralysed mess. Bus route rationalisation is nowhere.
The CDA's proposed plan to move ahead with the bus-based solution indicates that a more realistic approach to addressing traffic congestion can avoid excessive investment. Clean, green, and well-designed low-floor public buses can reduce reliance on private vehicles and para-transits such as three-wheelers and battery-run rickshaws. This will result in dispersal of congestion, a rise in mobility and a drop in road accidents. Let Chattogram set an example for other major cities to follow in implementing efficient public bus services.
