Justifying the case study areas 1 Study areas

Initially in 2002 DCC had a plan to ban rickshaw movement in eleven major roads/corridors in the city (Efroymson & Bari, 2005; see map 6.1). It started the implementation of the plan by banning rickshaws from Russell Square (located within one study area - Shukrabad) to Gabtoli section of Mirpur road corridor (see Map 2.1 and Map 2.2). Afterwards DCC banned rickshaws in the whole Mirpur road and partially in several other corridors (HDRC, 2004; New Age, 2005a). Later on DCC retreated from implementing the whole plan due to popular uproar and other reasons (Bari and Efroymson, 2005b). But after DCC, now there is DMP who restricts rickshaw movement along and in the vicinity of some busy intersections. The research studied both the old ban and the new restriction areas.

A multistage spatial sampling has been followed to identify study areas. The stages included identification of (i) rickshaw banned/restricted roads or corridors, (ii) early banned and recently banned/restricted roads or corridors, (iii) presence/absence of restriction on rickshaws in the secondary/connecting roads and (iv) similar areas from new and old ban areas.

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Map 2.1: Study areas in the context of DCC area Map 2.2: Study areas in the context of neighbouring areas

Source: Dhaka City Corporation Source: Prepared from DAP, 2010

Shyamoli Shukrabad Bijoynogar Mirpur road (1st rickshaw banned road) Baily road Mouchak market New market Dhanmondi Kalabagan Raja Bazaar

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Map 2.3: Rickshaw banned road, road sections and intersections in the three study areas

Shyamoli Shukrabad Bijoynogar

Source: Prepared from DAP, 2010

Rickshaw restricted road section

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Three areas - Shyamoli, Shukrabad and Bijoynogar, in DCC area have been selected for the study (see Map 2.1 and Map 2.2). Out of 90 wards in DCC, Shyamoli is in ward 49, Shukrabad belongs to ward 28 and ward 29 and Bijoynogar is in ward 36. The first two areas are along the Mirpur road- the first corridor facing a rickshaw ban since 2002 (see also Map 2.3). The last one is a recent rickshaw restricted area. Users and locals informed during field survey that in Bijoynogar restrictions in different intersections started since early 2011. But restrictions were withdrawn in the next month after public and press uproar. Later on since the end of 2011 the restrictions were imposed again and so far have remained permanent in Bijoynogar. Map 2.3 shows that in Shyamoli and Shukrabad Mirpur road is totally restricted for rickshaws; besides there are a couple of rickshaw- restricted intersections in all the three study areas.

2.4.2 Why three study areas

The main reason to take three study areas is to understand if there is any variation in the mobility and or if problems created by the withdrawal of rickshaws are related to the length of the interventions. Apart from the difference in the duration of bans/ restrictions, the study areas also differ with respect to nature of bans/restrictions along the road: Shyamoli and Shukrabad experience ban along the entire major road corridor (Mirpur road) while Bijoynogar faces restriction on rickshaw movement in the intersections. Apart from these differences, the areas are similar with respect to -

(i) Road type: All areas are on major roads serving public buses. It should be mentioned here that in Dhaka public buses ply only on some major roads; not in secondary or tertiary roads where less road width, strong presence of other type vehicles, indiscriminate onsite parking of car make the space and scope too little for buses to ply on. All three areas are served, although too limited to match the demand, by public buses.

(ii) Building type: All types of buildings are present in all three areas. Builidng types include high and low rise, private and real estate developer built apartments of different size.

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(iii) Proximity to major activity centres/CBDs: The first two areas are close to Karwan bazar - a commercial and retailing hub; New market- a shopping hub; Dhanmondi- a vibrant hub of educational, commercial, service, residential and recreational/cultural land uses and activities. Last one, Bijoynogar, is close to Motijheel- a major CBD/commercial hub; Mouchak-Baily road, Baitul Mokarram area- vibrant shopping attraction; Segunbagicha-Bailey road area - a hub of mixed land uses like residential, office, cultural/recreation ones.

(iv) There is no slum in any study area23, although one third of the people in Dhaka live in slums containing 11% of total land devoted to residential use (CUS, 2006). This is mainly because the study areas are typical middle class areas24 in the city. Since these areas are close to CBD, land value is high, land uses are dense and areas are mostly built up. So, slums are not located exactly within the premise of these study areas.

The other reason for selecting three study areas is to understand if there is any difference in the mobility pattern of the users in areas where secondary roads have/do not have restriction on rickshaws. Shukrabad is almost rickshaw restricted area as only one secondary road is open for rickshaw (see Map 2.3). For other roads passengers have to leave rickshaws around 250 metre before the intersection. But in the case of Shyamoli rickshaws can come as close to the intersection with major road. In both cases no rickshaw can cross the intersection. So they have to take a u-turn with or without passengers in the reverse direction; if police/ traffic warden do not allow them to stay there, to maintain traffic order or to restrict a jam of rickshaws which eventually spread in the major road in some cases. Bijoynogar case is interesting as here one intersection and one secondary road are restricted for rickshaws (see Map 2.3) .

23 _{However, slums are found in locations close to these study areas. But during the reconnaissance survey, none of the respondents} mention that they are either coming from going to any slum which could be their living or activity area. So exclusion of slum is not suppose to affect the study findings. However, focus group discussion with the rickshaw-wallas reveal that many of them live in the slums- small or big. But they also informed that neither their household members nor most of their neighbours in the slum are rickshaw users - rather they walk.

24 _{In fact, the study areas are selected on spatial criteria, listed out in the 2nd paragraph of the section 2.4.1; no socio-economic} criteria was applied. However, there is a general perception in Dhaka about people living in some areas: Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, which are planned neighbourhoods, are posh or high income areas; Kalabagan, Moghbazar, Rajarbagh, Elephant road and some other areas including three study areas are middle class areas. The study has only reflected this perception saying that the study areas are middle class areas. It should be mentioned that it has developed no criteria or benchmark for income based classification of citizens in Dhaka. However, later in this chapter car-ownership and other characteristics of the respondents of the households are examined based on the income level defined by JICA (2010), described in Figure 2.5.

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So it is important to mention that residents in these three study areas cannot use rickshaws for any activity which is to be done on the other side of the road. However, if they cross the road on foot, in case of Shyamoli and Bijoynogar they find rickshaws just on the other side of the road and in case of Shukrabad they have to walk around 250 metre. Since residents of the area, know the banned/restricted roads/intersections, in case of short distance trip they walk to the other side and take rickshaws. But non-resident or through user of the areas face a break of journey. Although residents of the study areas may avoid break of journey in their localities, but for many others for journeys to other parts of the city broken journeys are unavoidable; they have to use long distance diverted routes as rickshaw banned/restricted areas spread almost all parts of the DCC areas.