Slow moving Two and three-wheeler vehicles (Tri-SMVs) make up as much as 80% of the traffic in Bangladesh, but the roads are largely designed for motorised vehicles with four or more wheels. This creates safety and comfort issues for Tri-SMV drivers and passengers, significantly affecting the mobility of vulnerable groups.
In this episode we speak to Dr Nazmus Sakib of the Islamic University of Technology in Bangladesh about his research into this essential transport modality in both urban and rural areas of Bangladesh. We also discuss the impact of increasing numbers of electric versions of these vehicles, road design, safety as well as the impact of climate change and flooding on the impact of these vehicles.
Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Holger Dalkmann
Bangladesh is really dominated in fact by the use of two and in particular of, of three wheelers. In your own research, you said it’s almost, makes up 80% of the traffic in some of the cities in Bangladesh and at the same time, there is an electric revolution but also because often people also, think, okay, this is all about the electric car, but actually it’s about two and it’s about three wheelers.
What are the opportunities to integrate these with the electric revolution? And what are the challenges?
Dr Nazmus Sakib
It’s a very good question in the sense this actually gives us the niche where these rickshaw, three wheelers fit in and how it’s traditionally been operated. As I mentioned, in the case of Bangladesh, when I think about Bangladesh, I think of two terms. One is resilience and adaptation. We have been fortunate for people who are very resilient, and they adapt very quickly and they need to adapt because of our location.
So when the electric vehicles, motors, and battery technology became easier to implement, they adopted very quickly. It’s not a technologically sophisticated thing. It does not need very sophisticated technology. You need a motor and a battery. That should be it. So this local led initiative, they said, okay, let’s do it and they uptake it very quickly because it showed you didn’t need to invest a lot. So all it did was tick all the right boxes. So when you think about a Tesla or any electric vehicle, their clientele is upper or middle income people, because they have all this automotive technology, self-driving and those kinds of things. But we do not need that.
So this is what we are doing right now. So where does it fit in? The fitting part is very localised and geographic dominated because our road networks are not proper two lane roads. It’s essentially one lane or, not a good quality road. Sometimes they have to drive and drive on muddy roads or roads full of potholes.
So if you get a car or this kind of vehicle, they are not as robust as these rickshaws. Also, you have to consider the fact we have very frequent flooding in Bangladesh. It comes from sometimes deeper and sometimes water logging due to rainfall. So the vehicles which have a very low clearance are under there tires versus a three Wheeler which is like 1.5ft above the ground.
So people adopted this kind of vehicle traditionally. So, the third part is that it was human powered. So we had a lot of people who can work on this, can go into the sector, its easy employment and does not need mass training. So all these things come together to make these three wheelers very popular. Now the next question is where does it fit in the transportation network? These rickshaws or three wheelers actually do the trips in about five kilometres or less on an average. So our cities, in fact, are very small compared to many other urban centres across the world, which is, very spread out in general.
In the case of Bangladesh, you can go across Dhaka in probably 20 to 30 minutes if you are not stuck in traffic. So it’s not a big city as far as the length and width is concerned. So when people go to work or come to school, they usually prefer this kind of modality, where they do not need to wait for public transportation. So there’s a very easy taxi service.
Second part is sometimes people do use buses or other public transport, but they do not, put you in front of your home. So the last mile transport is also very critical for people to adopt public transportation. So they use these three wheelers actually for connecting with the transportation hub to their home.
Holger Dalkmann
So picking up, in fact, on the safety issue, and that was one of the main reasons for the initial ban. And the Prime Minister also called for making rickshaws more safe. So what does your research tell us? Where is the highest risk and where are areas to improve the safety?
Dr Nazmus Sakib
So one is a traditional kind of accident. One is a very new kind of accident happening with this kind of three wheeler. The traditional accidents were because they are slow moving vehicles. When they go into the faster moving lanes like highways, they risk a lot of accidents not only for themselves but also for other vehicles. So I completely agree on banning the rickshaws from the highways where there are vehicles speeding up to 60, 60 miles per hour. Right?
So we cannot allow this kind of vehicle, slow moving vehicles on the highways. That is a big no. But for urban conditions, we are seeing a new kind of accidents. Whereas these rickshaws have been designed to be pedal driven. It has a speed like a bike, which is like 15, 20 to 25 km/h. But with the power that they have from the motors, now they are driving up to 45.
So the brakes, tires, and stability do not work at this kind of speed. So this high speed is actually causing these major accidents, which does not involve a collision with faster vehicles, they are creating their accidents themselves.
We do need one if we need to figure out how to improve the road network. Secondly, we definitely need to improve this speed control mechanism within these vehicles. We cannot allow a local, three-wheeler to run as fast as a car. That is not a solution that we can adopt.
Links
- Read final report
- Read Design Brief
- Read Deployment Strategy
- Bangladesh cracks down on 3-wheelers in Dhaka over traffic, health concerns
- Move to legalise battery-run three-wheelers stalls
- Road to a Green Bangladesh
- Changing institutional landscape and transportation development in Dhaka, Bangladesh