There’s a reason why people flock to cities, despite all the traffic congestion and pollution: Cities offer opportunities, whether educational, vocational or therapeutic, that are not available in small towns and villages. When people arrive in the city, they accept the negatives in exchange for the benefits. But our grumbling is constant, and our ability to create positive change is much less so.

Affordable housing, appropriate infrastructure and services (sewerage, electricity, waste disposal, etc.), abundant open space and green space, availability of good jobs, education, healthcare, etc. There are many factors that make a city livable, including: While safe drinking water is vital, clean air is also vital; We need not only a decent home, but also the ability to sleep at night. The existence of quality schools, healthcare, and public spaces will be of limited use if we cannot access them safely and comfortably.

Too often, cities are destroyed before they have a chance to provide a decent living due to an overemphasis on mobility, especially the movement and storage of cars and other motor vehicles. When we design our cities according to the comfort and convenience of automobiles, it is almost impossible to provide people with the qualities we have mentioned above. Cars are too expensive, space-consuming, inefficient, polluting and dangerous to be a good companion for humans.

“Cars were an invention that would make our lives better,” one of my interns commented the other day. “If they make our lives worse, shouldn’t we rethink why we have them?”

In theory, cars are a fast way to move. In reality, as cars become more common, traffic congestion increases. The average traffic speed in Dhaka was 21 km/h in 2007 and will increase in 2022. only 4.8 km/h. This is just average walking speed. In comparison, a cyclist can easily reach a speed of 30 km/h.

Imagine that you are responsible for allocating road space for different users. On what basis will you allocate this? Would you give it to the elite, the most polluting vehicles, the most space-consuming, the most dangerous? Or would you try to ensure a fair distribution of trips per vehicle type, focusing on encouraging non-polluting trips and punishing those who pollute? Of course, efficient use of road space will influence your decision.

Looking at the cars piled up on the streets of Dhaka, it’s easy to believe that most trips are made by car. In fact, cars make up only a small minority, or about 11 percent of trips. And still the cars invade 70 percent of road area. Pedestrians are lucky to have a narrow footpath and cyclists have no infrastructure.

Traffic congestion caused by cars is not just a nuisance; carries real costs: loss 82 lakh working hours per day or equivalent to Tk 139 crore in the capital due to traffic.

Wish you had cleaner air to breathe? Air pollution is much higher on motorized streets than on non-motorized ones.

But still, Dhaka and other Bangladeshi cities are becoming increasingly congested, dirty, unsafe and unpleasant. Instead of imposing other proven restrictions, such as limiting the number of cars imported and charging more for parking, we actually encourage car ownership through loans, plenty of free or low-cost street parking, and the insistence that apartments and businesses provide extremely high prices. cost, free parking. The number of registered private cars by 2010 was around 2.2 lakh; By June 2020, rose above 3.7 lakhAccording to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) data. In the same period, there was an increase in motorcycles 7.5 lakh to around 30 lakh. How much longer can we endure this?

Authorities predict that car use will gradually increase and there will be an actual decline in walking trips. Allah bless!

All this seems inevitable. Cars give status; As incomes increase, car use will also increase. Buying a motorcycle for those who cannot afford a car causes similar problems. And our cities are becoming more crowded, dirty, noisy and shabby with each passing year. The cars take up an inordinate amount of space and stubbornly refuse to leave.

Yet modern cities such as Copenhagen, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore show that it is possible to control cars and restore livability to cities: less pollution, less noise, more parks and green spaces, better conditions for walking and cycling and therefore less congestion. Less space and fewer resources devoted to cars also makes it easier to provide all the other amenities people desire and need in cities.

Of course, as we celebrate World Cities Day, it is time to drastically restrict the use of private motor vehicles and make our cities more livable.

Debra Efroymson He is the managing director of the Welfare Institute in Bangladesh.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author.

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