Dhaka not pedestrian friendly

Dhaka is not a pedestrian-friendly capital city. None of the infrastructural facilities are appropriate for public use. And yet when it comes to transport policy, the government gives priority to pedestrians, as is the international norm.

Experts say that three methods must be followed to bring discipline to the urban communication system. These are: construction of infrastructure with engineering precision; use of the infrastructure and educating the people about the laws in this regard; and, lastly, application of the law.

Dhaka metropolitan police (DMP) has launched a drive against pedestrians without providing them with infrastructural facilities first or even educating them about the law.

Professor Shamsul Huq of the civil engineering department, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), told Prothom Alo, "This police drive is contrary to giving priority to pedestrians. This will have no long-term impact."

According to engineering and urban planning, the two norms for pedestrians to use roads are to specify time and place for crossing the road. The way to separate time is to have zebra crossings at the street corners and specify times for the people to cross the road.

Dhaka Urban Transport Plan (DUTP) project had placed indications below the traffic lights to specify the time for people to cross roads. When the sign with a red person lit up, it meant pedestrians were to wait, and green meant they could cross. The system is still there, but not in effect. The traffic flows according to the police's manual signals and the pedestrians simply slip through somehow.

Specifying places for pedestrian crossing entailed over-bridges and underpasses. Most of the over-bridges in Dhaka city are unfit for use. Many of them have been constructed at inappropriate spots.

Japan's international assistance agency JICA conducted a survey of Dhaka's transport system in 2010. It stated that over 20 million people commuted in Dhaka everyday. And 30% of the commute between 0 to 2.5km distances was on foot.

Milly Biswas, additional commissioner of DMP, told Prothom Alo, "This drive is basically a symbolic one, simply to create public awareness. This year 934 pedestrians have died in road accidents." She admits that there are limitations in the engineering and signal systems, saying that nine government agencies work with Dhaka's transport system. Regular meetings are held in this regard and recommendations are made at various forums.

Actor Ilyas Kanchan, chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai, said that along side this drive, there must also be awareness-raising programmes.

The law: The government has given "priority to pedestrians" in the national integrated multimodal transport policy of 2013.

The policy has directed that clearing of footpaths; construction of wide footpaths and pedestrian-friendly roads; ensuring maintenance and cleaning; slopes on footpaths for the people with special needs; protection for pedestrians to safely cross the streets; and, giving priority to pedestrians in the traffic signal light changes.

According to a 2011 study by Work for Better Bangladesh (WBB), 44% of Dhaka's roads don't even have footpaths. And 82% of the existing footpaths are in a deplorable state. A total of 31% of the pedestrians using these footpaths say they get hurt while walking.

Motor vehicle ordinance 1983 states that it is compulsory for all drivers to halt at the street crossing. The government has drawn up a draft to update the motor vehicle ordinance and here too it states that the drivers must halt at the street crossings. Pedestrians are to use zebra crossings, over-bridges and underpasses to cross the roads. It does not specify the penalty for violating these rules.

Professor Sarwar Jahan of BUET's urban and regional planning department, told Prothom Alo, "Vehicular movement must be controlled before pedestrians. A halt must be put to vehicles stopping anywhere to pick up and drop passengers and also parking at random." He said that if road crossing was pedestrian friendly, there would be need for force. The people would use the specified means of crossing the roads on their own accord. Many countries didn't have over-bridges, yet pedestrians were crossing the roads and there were much fewer accidents.

From Shahbagh to Saarc fountain: There are two over-bridges at the Shahbagh intersection of four roads. One is between the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and BIRDEM, and the other is near Shishu Park. The one between the medical university and BIRDEM is in regular use because it is appropriately placed where people need to cross the road. However, the one near Shishu Park is hardly ever used because most people cross the road in front of the museum. And the pedestrian signal at the Shahbagh traffic lights is out of order.

There is an over-bridge at the Bangla Motor intersection, but not at the Saarc fountain crossroads. The pedestrian signals at both intersections are out of order.

Steel fencing and metal sheets have blocked way for pedestrian crossing. A police box has been placed at the spot for road crossing, limiting the vision of the pedestrians and the drivers. Vehicles go along the zebra crossing. This happens in front of the foreign ministry too.

Ibnul Sayeed Rana, chairman of Nirapad Development Foundation, spoke to Prothom Alo after inspecting the condition of the footpaths and over-bridges along the road from Farmgate to Shahbagh. He said that the over bridge at Farmgate next to Ananda cinema hall had been closed for a long time. Stairs on the over-bridge next to the Daily Star centre were faulty. The over-bridge at Paribagh blocked the footpath. There were five open manholes on one side of the road from Farmgate to the Saarc fountain. One the other side, there were three garbage heaps, two places where the footpath was extremely narrow, and three places occupied by rickshaw-vans. Given these conditions, the police drive amounted to prohibiting pedestrians altogether.

It's all about the vehicles: The over-bridges at Jatrabari and Maghbazar were dismantled to make way for the Mayor Hanif flyover and the Mouchak-Maghbazar-Shaatrasta flyover. The Mouchak over-bridge will be dismantled too.

After the Kuril flyover was constructed, only the structure of two over-bridges was set up, with no bridge to walk over. So the people simply have to zigzag across the road through the maze of speeding cars. From January to October this year, 35 persons have died there, crossing the road and the railway line.

Professor Shamsul Huq has said, there is no scope of having any over-bridge at Jatrabari or Maghbazar anymore. In making things easy for vehicular movement, the government has overlooked the requirements of the pedestrians. Yet in both these places there had been "flower-shaped" over-bridges, facilitating pedestrians from all directions. Such over-bridges are very popular in cities with such dense population.