Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh and the home of more than 15 million people, is subjected to severe traffic congestion on a regular basis resulting in lost productivity, fuel wastage, commuter frustration and environmental degradation. The problem is getting more acute day by day due to alarming increase in car usage. According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, the number of newly registered private cars per year in the city has more than quadrupled between 2004 and 2015.Congestion pricing schemes, which have been successful in many parts of the world, have a good potential to minimize the number of cars on the roads and reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka. This paper investigates the potential response to congestion pricing in Dhaka using Stated Preference (SP) surveys where users are presented with hypothetical choice scenarios involving varying amounts of congestion charges and travel time savings alongside improved public transport options. Two case studies have been conducted in this regard focusing on shopping and work trips respectively. Discrete choice models have been developed to model the sensitivity towards congestion pricing and to quantify the potential effectiveness of this measure in different trip contexts. Results indicate that car users, especially those having lower incomes (less than 50,000 BDT/month), have significant sensitivity towards congestion charge and have a substantial chance of shifting to improved public transport and/or park-and-ride facilities. The findings of the study can help in formulating effective congestion reduction policies in Dhaka.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)