'Bangla Tesla' temporarily betrayed, but what about others who also break the rules?

In only February of this year, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid defended battery-run autorickshaws in Parliament.

"I call these four million three-wheelers the Tesla of Bangla. They are using their own creativity to build these. We are not stopping them," he said emphatically.

Three months later, a ban on battery-run auto rickshaws, a bane on many of the public roads, was greeted positively by Dhaka residents.

The irony thickened when motorcyclists chimed in talking about how unruly the battery-run rickshaws were.

It was a pot and kettle situation. Unfortunately, there are too many pots and too many kettles.

Amid the discussion, many others chimed in asking what such a drastic step without ensuring livelihoods for those affected.

As protests broke out across the city, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today ordered the ban to be scrapped.

The debate, however, has continued to fester.

It's an old idea: those on a rickshaw blame the CNG-run three-wheeler, those on a car blame the motorcyclists and so on. When one changes their mode of transport, their ire also turns to the vehicle they are not on.

The truth is, each vehicle shares the blame. And they all contribute to the fracas in their own way. 

But it is, as usual, the poorest who are the easiest to punish. Punching down cannot be a mantra. Identifying the solving problems individually is a better way to go about it.

Chaotic cars

In 2011, the High Court temporarily banned schools from being located inside the capital's Dhanmondi area.

While protecting the residential feature of the area was one of the key reasons, another was the traffic nightmare opening and closing hours of schools wreaked on the residential area.

Most schools just opted to move to different residential areas, where the restriction was not being enforced.

In time, these areas were lined with cars, often for up to five hours. Students would come in cars, the schools wouldn't have any parking, and the cars would just rest on both sides of the streets, clogging it up.

But schools weren't the only reason. Residential buildings also asked guests to park their cars outside, without specifying where that would be.

Then there were the super shops, whose entrances for delivery of goods would be located on narrow streets. One big pick-up truck parked there and another traffic disaster would ensure.

Some cars, till today, sport the most random stickers to dictate their authority. And it's these stickers that allow them a free pass to do as they please on the road.

How many of these cars are punished? Outside the Mohakhlai DOHs area, perhaps none.

A 2017 survey found that 76% of Dhaka roads are occupied by 6% of the population that owns private cars. Another 6-8% were occupied by public transport.

The number of private passenger cars in Bangladesh rose by about 82% in the 10 years since 2010.

Speaking at an event last year, Adil Muhammad Khan, executive director of the Institute for Planning and Development (IPD), said, "Due to the lack of quality public transport, people tend to buy private cars, increasing their number and use, and the congestion accordingly. In order to control private cars, and develop sustainable transport and communication systems, the number of private cars in urban areas should be specified."

Although specifying the number of private cars in an area can be quite the undertaking, quality public transport should be a faster method. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

The bus bandits

Go to any main thoroughfare in the traffic and you'll find one of the main reasons for the traffic is a bus. Buses pick up passengers from wherever they like.

They also park wherever they like. When they are hired for picnics, they get off the main roads and crowd up narrower lanes around the city.

Most buses are also owned by powerful people. And powerful in this case means politically connected.

The way buses break the laws, including the outright murder of people, you'd think they were above the law. And aside from the gate-locking system instituted by Dhaka North City Corporation, you'd be right to think they actually cannot be touched.

Then there are the trucks, which also enjoy a certain amount of immunity. When trucks descend on the streets in the late hours, traffic is expected. And it's not because of their volume, but rather their disregard for most traffic rules.

Terming Dhaka as the "most unplanned" megacity in the world, where most of the public buses are unfit, Adil Khan last year also recommended importing 3,000-4,000 buses to ease commuting.

Fixing the way buses run on the streets would go a long way to solving the traffic problem. But that's not a discussion we have ever properly had. 

Motorcycle menace

There are good cops and bad cops. Similarly, there are good motorcyclists and bad motorcyclists.

But it seems the visible majority are clearly the errant ones, who get on footpaths, even use the footover bridge, overtake other vehicles, use the wrong way and practice a bunch of other violations.

Motorcyclists, however, are also regularly screened by the police, to the point that many even complain of unending harassment on the city streets.

On June 27 last year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges banned the operation of motorcycles on the 6.15km Padma bridge. The government has set the maximum speed limit for motorcycles and trucks at 30 kilometres per hour (kmph) within cities and towns.

Unpoliced police

And now we come to the big one: the traffic police themselves. Whether it is a lack of manpower of proper training, traffic police often fail to enforce the rules they themselves set.

For a snapshot of this problem, just look at Panthapath. Cars are parked where they aren't supposed to be parked. Vehicles block lanes they aren't going to use just to get ahead of others. Many rickshaws go the wrong way.

And the traffic police are right there, seeing it all unfold. They either don't care or are helpless.

You will also always find a tow-truck parked in Panthapath. More often than that, that too is illegally parked.

Although traffic police are now more strict about fines than ever before, it still seems like a game of fishing. They can't catch all the fish in the sea, so getting a fine is like winning a lottery, but in reverse.

At the same time, the challenges faced by the traffic police must also be taken into account.

Low capacity roads, encroachment on footpaths, uncontrolled rickshaw movement, lack of skilled drivers and insufficient bus stops, picking up and dropping off passengers here and there, lack of traffic technical units and faulty traffic signals have all been cited as reasons for failure to bring discipline to roads.

Speaking to Dhaka Tribune last year, a police official said there should be 4,211 personnel in eight traffic zones in the capital, but there are currently 3,930 members.

Raining on the rickshaw parade

Jamal Mia, a battery-run rickshaw driver who lives in Mirpur-11 with his two children and wife, joined yesterday's protests by others in his profession.

Jamal had switched from a pedalled rickshaw after a decade due to age-related complications.

To buy a battery-run rickshaw, he even took a loan.

"I drive auto-rickshaws to support my family and pay weekly instalments. Besides, my two children are also studying. I could not sleep for the last two days. How will I manage my family? How will I pay the instalment?" he said Jamal.

"The government is oppressing the poor by stopping auto-rickshaws without providing alternative jobs," he added.

Over the years, despite Bangladesh's economic strides, the number of rickshaw pullers has only grown.

Rickshaw pullers have often resorted to paying bribes for licences and for day-to-day operations.

Many battery-run rickshaw pullers have also claimed that they operated their vehicles on the roads in collaboration with local political leaders and police.

It's always the usual suspects when it comes to flagrant violations of the law.

But who is punished? The ones we can punch down on.

Right or wrong, the decision to ban battery-run autorickshaws should have followed bringing to the book those who allowed this business to flourish as far as it did if it was such a concern.

So far, it was only the rickshaw-pullers themselves, who bought into yet another false dream peddled: that of the Tesla of Bangla, of self-sustenance and empowerment. 

Now we can only hope more concrete steps are taken.