Dhaka's Traffic Fix: How Smarter Buses Can Beat Gridlock
"Unlocking Dhaka's potential: Why prioritizing public transport is key to easing traffic congestion and boosting economic growth."
Dhaka, one of the world's fastest-growing megacities, faces an immense challenge: crippling traffic congestion. Over the past few decades, its metropolitan population has exploded, soaring from 3 million in 1971 to around 18 million today. This rapid growth has placed immense strain on the city's infrastructure, leading to traffic jams that can last for hours.
The situation is projected to worsen. Over a twenty-year time-span beginning from 2015, Dhaka's population is expected to jump by another 50%, reaching a milestone of 26 million in 2035. Without significant changes, the already strained transport system risks complete gridlock, threatening the city's economic vitality and the well-being of its residents.
But what if there was a better way forward? A new study suggests that prioritizing public transport, particularly buses, could be the key to unlocking Dhaka's traffic woes. This approach promises not only to ease congestion but also to stimulate economic growth and improve the quality of life for millions.
Dhaka: A Global Congestion Epicenter
Dhaka is consistently identified as one of the most congested cities in the world, with spatiotemporal traffic data confirming the severity of the problem across the capital's road network. The city's traffic conditions are tracked by real-time monitoring systems and have drawn sustained attention from researchers, urban planners, and international observers. Dhaka's traffic situation has become a defining challenge for the city's residents and economy, placing it at the forefront of global urban congestion discussions.
Infrastructure Gaps and Coordination Failures
Dhaka's road network covers only about 7.5 percent of the city's total area, far below the 25 percent minimum considered standard for a city of its size. Implementing automated or data-driven traffic management systems requires foundational infrastructure—sensors, cameras, communication networks, and real-time data processing capacity—that Dhaka currently lacks. Multiple agencies share responsibility for Dhaka's transport system, but they suffer from weak coordination, limited funding, inconsistent regulation, and poor enforcement. These systemic shortcomings have degraded public transport quality and encouraged disorderly use of limited road space.
Dhaka's Notorious Traffic Reputation
Dhaka's traffic jams have long been described as stifling and seemingly eternal, earning the city a notorious reputation among residents and visitors alike. The experience of navigating Dhaka's streets is characterized by unpredictability and chaos, with the city's congestion challenges having been documented and discussed for years. This longstanding reputation has made Dhaka traffic a subject of journalistic curiosity and a cautionary example in urban mobility discussions across South Asia.
The High Cost of Congestion
Dhaka's traffic congestion isn't just an inconvenience; it's a significant economic drain. The average traffic speed in Dhaka is a snail-paced 6.4 kph. If vehicle growth continues unchecked, this could plummet to a mere 4.7 kph by 2035 – slower than walking speed.
- Too many cars on the roads.
- Inadequate public transport.
- Poor urban planning.
- Economic losses due to delays.
Plummeting Speeds and Soaring Economic Costs
Dhaka's average traffic speed dropped dramatically from 21 kilometers per hour in 2007 to just 4.8 kilometers per hour in 2022, making it one of the slowest-moving cities on the planet. Research by the Accident Research Institute at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology found that Dhaka's traffic congestion wastes approximately 5 million work hours and costs the economy around Tk 37,000 crore annually. These findings underscore the enormous financial toll gridlock imposes on Bangladesh's capital. Government leaders have begun reviewing progress on measures aimed at easing congestion and modernizing the city's traffic management system.
Why Single-Solution Approaches Fall Short
A Japan International Cooperation Agency study concluded that massive investment in metro rail infrastructure alone cannot significantly ease Dhaka's chronic traffic congestion, even though MRT Line-6 has had some measurable impact. Dhaka's fundamental problem remains an acute shortage of road space—only about 7 percent of the city is covered by roads, compared to roughly 30 percent in cities like Paris and Barcelona. The city's existing public transport options, including buses and rickshaws, are frequently overcrowded, unreliable, and slow, failing to provide an effective alternative to private vehicles. These constraints suggest that no single infrastructure project can resolve Dhaka's gridlock without broader systemic reform.
Dhaka vs. Peer Cities: A Density Problem
Dhaka's population has ballooned from approximately 3 million in 1971 to around 18 million today, making it one of the fastest-growing megacities in the world. This unprecedented growth has resulted in a city that is more densely inhabited than Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai, or any other major global city. Comparative traffic data between Dhaka and regional peers like Kolkata highlights the severity of Dhaka's congestion relative to other South Asian urban centers. The sheer density of Dhaka's population, combined with limited road infrastructure, creates conditions that distinguish its traffic crisis from those of comparable cities.
A Call for Change
Robert Gallagher's analysis provides a compelling case for prioritizing public transport in Dhaka. By embracing a bus-centric approach, Dhaka can alleviate traffic congestion, boost its economy, and create a more livable city for its residents. The path forward requires a shift in priorities, strategic investments, and a commitment to creating a sustainable and efficient transport system that serves the needs of all.
Expert Input and Escalating Warnings
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has convened expert consultations, meeting with a group led by BUET engineer Shamsul Haque, to seek opinions on revamping Dhaka's traffic system. Air quality data provides an indirect measure of traffic's impact: during Eid holidays when roads are relatively empty, Dhaka's air quality index improved dramatically, dropping to a rank of 11 compared to its usual position among the world's top three most polluted cities. Experts have warned that if corrective measures are not swiftly implemented, traffic chaos in Dhaka will continue to escalate, making urban life increasingly unbearable for millions of residents.
Decentralization and Seasonal Pressures
Planning Minister MA Mannan has suggested that administrative decentralization could be a viable option for reducing Dhaka's persistent traffic congestion, acknowledging that the current situation is dire. Dhaka's monsoon season compounds the problem annually, with worsening waterlogging, poor drainage, and rapid urbanization making commutes significantly harder during heavy rains. The government has held high-level meetings on modernizing the city's traffic management system, signaling growing political attention to the crisis. However, resolving the problem will require sustained support from all stakeholders, including local authorities, transport operators, and commuters themselves.
A System That Fails Its Workers
Surveys of Dhaka's working population reveal deep dissatisfaction with the current traffic system, with a majority of respondents disagreeing or strongly disagreeing that the system functions adequately. The daily traffic crisis results in massive losses of human hours and imported transport fuel, compounding frustration among commuters including students who are stranded for hours on the roads. Prime Minister directives have been issued to overhaul Dhaka's traffic management, but implementation challenges persist across multiple levels of governance. The gap between policy announcements and on-the-ground results remains a central obstacle to meaningful improvement.
Enforcement Challenges and the Commuter Experience
Traffic enforcement in Dhaka is heavily fine-driven, with sergeants filing an average of more than 100,000 cases per month and collecting approximately Tk 40 million in fines during the first ten months of the year. Despite this high volume of enforcement activity, the sheer scale of violations suggests that fines alone have not been sufficient to discipline driving behavior on Dhaka's streets. Researchers have proposed cost-effective infrastructure solutions such as short-span overpass and underpass systems at key intersections to relieve bottlenecks. The human toll—stranded commuters, wasted hours, and mounting frustration—remains the most visible and urgent dimension of Dhaka's traffic crisis.