The influence of the movement of cycle-rickshaws on traffic congestion. A study of heterogeneous traffic conditions in mega-city Dhaka, Bangladesh

Traffic congestion in Dhaka city is caused mainly because of poor land use and transportation planning, fragmented responsibilities between too many regulatory authorities, violation of traffic rules by vehicle drivers, too many non-registered non- motorised vehicles, inadequate traffic management resources, lack of mass public transportation system and uncontrollable growth of vehicle ownership (Ahmed, 2017). The results from this study show that cycle-rickshaw movement which is a non-motorised vehicle influence traffic congestion. In recent times, Dhaka has become the growth engine of Bangladesh as greater Dhaka generates one-fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and almost half of its formal employment (Wee, 2018). This attracts massive number of people to migrate to Dhaka city every year because of better socio-economic opportunities. Due to a lack of public transportation, cycle-rickshaws are a popular mode of transportation which for its mismanagement and lack of discipline has given rise to excessive traffic congestion. This study used the theory of heterogeneous traffic flow to derive the sub- variables of the independent variable. It is commonly observed that in developed countries, traffic movement is characterized by a strict lane discipline and single lane motion of vehicles with restricted movement along lanes. This type of movement is called homogenous traffic movement. On the other hand, in developing countries, heterogeneous traffic movement, also known as mixed traffic, on the contrary, is differentiated by the presence of a loose lane discipline and the use of the entire road space without any confinements for manoeuvring (Sharma, Arkatkar and Sarkar, 2011). Furthermore, the presence of wide ranging vehicle types moving in these traffic flow add further to the complexity of the flow (Sharma, Arkatkar and Sarkar, 2011). The area of the study is Dhaka where three prominent and heterogenous roads in Dhaka North, Dhaka South and Dhaka Central were chosen. The objective of the research was to address how non-motorised vehicles like cycle-rickshaws respond to heterogeneous conditions by explaining how cycle-rickshaws movement amongst vehicle types, non-lane discipline movement and traffic-rule violation influence traffic congestion in these three study areas. The type of the research is explanatory and the research strategy is survey. Survey data is further corroborated with interviews and secondary sources for triangulation purpose. Therefore, a mixed methodology is used in the research. Data from survey, interviews and secondary sources revealed that all the three sub-variables influenced traffic congestion in the all the study areas by reducing the average vehicular speed of motorised vehicles. However from statistical correlation tests it was found out the independent variables were only correlated with traffic congestion in Dhaka Central and South but not Dhaka North which with the support of secondary sources concluded that the higher socio-economic characteristics of Dhaka North than the other two areas, causes lower heterogeneousity in traffic flow in Dhaka North than Dhaka Central and South, therefore less levels of traffic congestion in Dhaka North than Dhaka Central and South.