Dhaka's maiden metro-rail service, which is expected to roll late next year or a little later, would bring about a massive change in the city's age-old mass- transportation systems.
Those wishing to take a train travel on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines are considering it to be very convenient for them-be it in terms of saving time or money.
But, private transport operators think that it is likely to be not too welcoming for them as they will very likely lose passengers and income.
Transport experts, however, believe that it would be a win-win situation for both passengers and existing service providers while the current traffic situation-seen by many as unseemly for a capital city-will improve a lot as an added advantage of the MRT.
The Financial Express found this picture in an investigation conducted through a news survey among the commuters and holding talks with relevant stakeholders like transport-service providers, transport experts and senior officials.
A section of operators and owners of buses, CNG auto-rickshaws and ridesharing services expressed fears that they would lose passengers from their daily trips after the launch of MRT-6 metro route.
They also appeared apprehensive of having an adverse impact on their daily earnings, mainly for losing long-route passengers who pay better than those on short trips.
Mostly the CNG drivers and bike and taxi operators who provide services under ridesharing arrangements say that the trips to and from Uttara and Pallabi from the central part of the city dominate their daily trips as they earn Tk 300, or more, from each of the trips.
Talking to a number of passengers who are working or living along the MRT-6 corridor from Uttara to Kamalapur, the FE correspondent came to learn that most people are waiting for the new kind of commute as they like to have comfortable journey as well as save the travel time significantly.
There is no denying of the fact, however, that they are fed-up with the hazards of construction works on the elevated MRT 6 for such a long time. Yet people working in the areas of Agargaon, Shewrapara and Kazipara said they would certainly take the metro-rail ride.
"Though my workplace is close to my home, I will certainly use the MRT if I go towards Uttara or Motijheel," said a salesgirl at a department store.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the state-owned MRT builder and operator, is working to set up total six MRTs on the city's different corridors by 2030 and has already announced the launch of the first 11.7-kilometre MRT 6 from Uttara Diabari to Agargaon at the end of December 2022.
The entire MRT 6 up to Kamalapur is expected to be completed by 2023.
However, the transport experts and leaders of transport owners and workers' associations ruled out the assumption of any major impact on the existing mass- transportation system after the arrival of the overhead train.
They argue that some passengers might shift to the MRT, but the share of services like auto-rickshaw and ridesharing is unlikely to witness a substantial cut in passengers as they provide door-to-door services.
"Even after the introduction of a full-fledged operation of all the six MRTs, the share of other mass-transportation systems will not be affected in a manner that can be a cause of concern," said an insider at the MRT-6 project.
The transport experts and sources among the MRT consultants said MRT is not a substitute for bus service. Instead, they add, it could be a cause of concern if the private car users do not shift to the metro.
The cars are the main reason for the city's traffic jam, they pointed out as regards the messy transport run in the megacity that couldn't be remedied despite recurrent rationalisation moves.
Professor of Civil Engineering at BUET Mohammad Shamsul Hoque thinks the demand for buses would not be reduced as the fares of buses in many cases would be less than that of the MRT travel.
"The other modes of transport are integrated with the MRT lines and those transports will be used to transit the MRT passengers from different stations to the passengers' desired destinations," says the transport expert, who occasionally suggests building up a multimodal transport system coupled with economic and income-generating hubs around the stations.
Prof Hoque also laid emphasis on starting immediately the process of integrating the existing bus services with the MRT stations.
Consultant on a committee of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) Humayun Rashid Khalifa says the integration of bus and MRT services will help share trips of both modes of transport as these are two important mass- transportation systems.
According to data from the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP), the share of buses was 47 per cent in the 29 million trips generated in the city in 2014. It would have been increased to 60 per cent had there been no MRT-development plan.
The share is expected to increase to 70 per cent after the developments in the transport sector, including metro rail.
The trips are expected to increase to 9.6 million in 2025 from 8.7 million of 2014 in the west zone which includes Mirpur and to 6.86 million trips in 2025 from 6.10 million trips in 2014 in the south zone which includes the old part of Dhaka.
The study shows that 29.82 million trips were generated in the city in 2014 which would increase to 42.70 million trips in 2025 and 51.17 million in 2035.
Car's share in the total trips was 9.0 per cent in 2014 which would increase by 11 per cent in 2025 if nothing is done, but may remain almost the same at 9 per cent if some measures are taken by 2025.
A senior government official, who uses a private car to go to the Planning Commission compound daily from Mirpur, said her chance to use the MRT is less for not getting a station close to her home though having a station next to her office.
Faisal Kabir, Manager of DM Watch at Agargaon, said he would use the MRT as it will certainly save his travel time and cost as he mostly uses CNG or Uber to come to his work from Bashabo in the city.
Businessman Harunur Rashid had talks to the FE correspondent at Paltan crossing after his office hours on this matter. He said he would avail the MRT to go to his home at Uttara although the station is far from his home.
A banker who goes to Uttara from Shantinagar sometimes in his own car or on CNG auto is, however, in doubt about using MRT on a regular basis.
Mahbubur Rahman, who operates a bus service from Pallabi to Motijheel with 32 buses daily, thinks there would be an initial impact on the number of passengers after the metro launch.
But, he said, if the number of private cars is reduced, the daily bus trips on the corridor would increase.
"The metro rail may bring changes in the existing bus services," he said. For example, he added, the bus owners would try to improve the services through rearranging the seats as well as increasing the number of trips with the bus-route franchise-a planned solution long held down for reasons which remained topics of media talk.
However, the transport experts laid importance on rationalisation of the services so that the buses cannot overlap one another.
Though the DTCA is working to phase out the redundancy in bus services through clustering the routes, it has yet to chalk out any plan on merging innumerable bus companies to help integrate the bus and MRT services.
