Potential of transit-oriented development in effectively managing urban vehicular growth

Abstract

Congestion is a common problem in urban areas of Bangladesh. Dhaka, the capital city faces multi-dimensional transportation crisis including inefficient intersections, poor road condition, shortening of width of roadway due to construction etc. The increasing vehicle fleet creates enormous pressure on the road way each year. An initiative is thus taken to find out the factors effecting this growth alongside its impact and future scenario. Transit-oriented Development has been suggested as a possible measure to mitigate the growth problem to some extent. It is observed that different economic and demographic factors affect the growth process. GDP per capita and population correlate better with the increasing vehicular population than other factors. Dhaka city is still far away from achieving vehicle ownership saturation value as observed in the research. A GDP per capita of almost 36 thousand US dollar indicates the saturation mark for both private passenger car and motorcycles. Adverse impact is observed due to the increasing vehicle population on different types of transportation parameters such as density, trip lengths, and travel time, speed etc. There is also significant impact on the city’s air quality based on the air quality related deaths, green house emission and PM2.5 emission. The city has grown unplanned with haphazard establishment of residential, commercial and educational institutes. These have resulted in long lengths of individual motorized trips, unorganized bus routes and other problems which have eventually given rise to vehicular growth. Transit-oriented development is definitely possible as seen by the analysis of desire lines, proposed transit routes and location of residential and commercial area or office spaces. However, it is suggested that the first and foremost criteria of TOD neighborhood establishment i.e., ensuring the use of public transport in large scale by common people should be ensured based on outcomes suggested in this research.