Inclusive urban transport for vulnerable groups: the case of Dhaka city

Abstract

Public transport system in any city has immense importance for city dwellers particularly for vulnerable groups, such as women, physically challenged persons, senior citizens and low-income groups who have less access to a personal vehicle and rely completely on public transport. Unfortunately, we do not have safe public transport in Dhaka city in general and for vulnerable groups in particular. Dhaka is characterised by both motorised and non-motorised transport using the same roads, maladministration, conflict of jurisdictions and fragile coordination among various government authorities and agencies, which lead to unbearable and terrible traffic bottleneck and unpredictable delays. Nowadays, cities are at the heart of economic growth and centre of all modernizations and empowerment and are the key to accomplish the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Thus the transport system of Dhaka has to be a multi-modal, well-articulated and equipped with the best features that can be inclusive and complement one another.