Modal choice behavior for rickshaw in Dhaka city

Abstract

Rickshaws - thc most common fonn of non-motorized transpon, dominate the urban transport system in Dhaka City. Despite their contributions to thc national economy and apparent advantages, they ure often considered as "backward" form of urban transport and Identified for the main cause of present traffic congestion problems because of their unorganized and uncontrolled mode of operation. There is a popular demand that the city's transIt system and physical facilities for the operation of motorized traffic (bus) have to be improved and especially rickshaw operation has to managed and controlled, Towards the development of a balanced transportation system thc role of rickshaw that it can play In urban life has to be defined, and suitable policies have to be fonnulatcd, For developing these management and control pohcles thIS study aims to understand the choice behavior in favor of rickshaw. This is an exploratory type of research. It analyzed the factors like travel cost, safety, !lmc saving ability, accessIbility of the mode, and comfort affecting the modal choice with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique and also analYl.edthe behavioral pattern of the trip-makcr's and their attitudes towards choice of available modcs. Among the five most important factors, cost was the stronj,'Cstdcdsive factor in mode eholce process, Safety came in the second most important factor. Time saving abihty, accessibility, and comfort came next according to thc importance ofthcir weights. It also showed that personal variables like age, sex, income, family size, and vehicle ownership were wen correlated and of all these, income had been the most prominent factor influencing the weights of AHP. The output ITomAHP showed that the most prcfcrrcd mode was bus WItha value of 0.358. Rickshaw, auto-nckshaw, and tempo came 10 the second, third, and fourth positions with a value of 0.226, 0.212, and 0.204, respectIvely. The Discriminant Analysis has been used to discriminate between the different types of mode choice behavior for the work trip in Dhaka City, especially the rickshaw and ItScompetitors. Five different types of model like rickshaw and auto-rickshaw, rickshaw and bus., rickshaw and tempo, rickshaw and car, rickshaw and walk have been developed. Most influencing variables of these modes were travel distance of the trip, travel cost, travcl time, trip-maker's monthly income, and waiting time to ride a particular mode. Travel distance for the trip was the single most dominating variable among an the models A policy tcstlng was carried out to predict the cfficicncy of the policy of controlhng rickshaw traffic in Dhaka City. In predicting modal shift for Dhaka City, policies, whIch are efficient in saving travel time and cost of the journey, were found to be more effective in attracting rickshaw users to its competitor modes, By reducing cost for auto-rickshaw's trips hy 25 percent will have a modal shift from rickshaw to auto-rickshaw by 11 perccnt Reducing in-vehicle time by 15 minutes there will be a user shift from rickshaw to bus about 9 pcrccnt. Introducing policies for morc number of bu,ws and by reducing their waiting time, many passengers would shIft from rickshaw to bus, Other than short distance trips people are not willmg to travel by rickshaw for long trips. However, the present existence of rickshaw alone cannot make a transport system sustainable. To make it better, rickshaws must be integrated with the other modes so that rickshaws can play their duc functional role.