Cost of traffic congestion in Dhaka Metropolitan City

Abstract

This study attempts to estimate the cost of traffic congestion in Dhaka Metropolitan City of Bangladesh through collecting field level primary data. Traffic congestion is an important issue in the city. The study findings indicate that most of the commuters in the city travel more than 2 h/day. The calculated travel-related indices indicate that the commuters in the city have to spend more time on the road compared to an uncongested situation. They lose about one working hour per day on an average due to traffic congestion. Combining the elements of traffic congestion, this study finds that the calculated cost of traffic congestion crosses the benchmark of US$ 4 per day per commuter in the city. According to the perception of the commuters, pick up/drop off of passengers at any place is the most important cause, while ambulance stacking is the most severe impact of traffic congestion in the city. The commuters perceive more use of public transport as the prime solution to tackle the traffic congestion problem in the city.