I also read the story in today's newspaper. Please note, however, that any attempt to restrict car movement in Dhaka's central city will require a consensus throughout government and complex legal and administrative procedures. Regarding the buses, I have been developing BRT and general bus reorganization programmes here to try to radically improve service levels. However, now that consultants have been selected for a major BRT implementation study, the government has decided not to extend my contract -- hence my recent note to some of you to ask if any of you have ideas for my next assignment! General bus purchases are necessary because Dhaka's bus fleet is in almost unbelievably poor condition. In fact, nowhere in the world have I seen buses that are quite so dilapidated. The buses are driven dangerously and there is very little maintenance. So getting something new is a start. However, work needs to be done to find ways to encourage the industry to maintain its fleet in better condition. There are financial and organizational constraints to accomplishing this, and they need to be overcome. Best regards, --Jonathan On Tue, 21 Dec 2010, Lee Schipper wrote: > Good news indeed but just buses without dedicated lanes? Who can move under those conditions? > > Lee Schipper > Global Met Studies UC Berkeley > Precourt En Eff Center Stanford > > > > On Dec 21, 2010, at 17:37, "Syed Saiful Alam" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> >> Dear all Good news for all our activist that The government of Bangladesh is planning to restrict the movement of private cars in Dhaka to reduce nagging traffic jam. >> "Private cars with less than four or five passengers will not be allowed to ply the city streets," finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told reporters at the secretariat on Tuesday. >> >> "We'll have to make public transport system more efficient for the people," he said. >> >> He said they had approved a proposal to buy 255 buses to make the public transport system more effective. "Public transport should be meant for public but now a few people are creating anarchy in the field." >> >> The minister said: "Traffic jam is the biggest allegation against the government. >> >> The cabinet committee on purchase has approved the proposal to buy 255 Korean buses for BRTC under EDCF loan of Tk 2.12 billion. >> >> Thanks >> Syed Saiful alam >> [log in to unmask] >> +8801552442814 >> Are private cars the ideal transport? www.dhaka-rickshaw.blogspot.com >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------- >> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >> >> -------------------------------------------------------- >> If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. >> >> ================================================================ >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > -------------------------------------------------------- > If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). > ----- Jonathan Richmond Public Transport Advisor Dhaka Transport Coordination Board Ministry of Communications Government of Bangladesh Nagar Bhaban, 13-14th Floor Dhaka-1000 Bangladesh Phone: +880 (0)1714 179013 Fax: +880 (0)2 956-8892 e-mail: [log in to unmask] http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/