‘Zone-based school timings could ease Dhaka’s morning traffic nightmare’

Md Hadiuzzaman, a professor at the department of civil engineering of BUET, talks to Khairul Hassan Jahin of The Daily Star about alternative ways to ease traffic congestion during school hours and reduce fuel consumption amid the rollout of austerity measures in response to the energy crisis.

The prime minister recently directed the education ministry to adopt alternative measures to reduce traffic congestion during school hours. In your opinion, what would be the most effective alternatives?

One of the main reasons for traffic congestion during school hours is that guardians in private cars drop off and pick up students directly in front of school gates. Since our road capacity is limited, the pressure spills onto the main roads. Therefore, as a first step, such cars should be prevented from reaching school gates directly. The footpaths around schools should be made hawker-free so that students can get off a little further away and walk safely to school.

Secondly, all morning-shift schools start at the same time, creating immense simultaneous pressure on the roads. To reduce this, a zone-based staggered schedule can be introduced. For example, schools in Mohammadpur could start at one time and those in Motijheel at another. If this is staggered by 30 minutes to one hour, the pressure will no longer hit the main roads all at once. At the same time, office schedules also need adjustment. Many guardians drop their children at school, return home, and then go to office, which creates extra trips. If school and office timings are coordinated, guardians can drop their children and go straight to work, reducing one trip on the road.

The third and most important issue, which is not being discussed enough, is coaching centres. Our education system is now heavily coaching-dependent. Students often rush to coaching immediately after school, adding more trips and vehicles on the roads. If coaching centres are temporarily closed during the ongoing fuel crisis, traffic will fall and fuel will be saved. To make the prime minister’s initiative effective, this issue must be considered alongside school timing.

In recent years, the intensity of heatwaves during summer has become a major cause of suffering for students. If the current season is considered in the context of changing school schedules, how logical would this change be?

There are a large number of schools in Dhaka city, and among them, most haven’t been built in a planned manner. To meet capacity shortages, many run morning and day shifts. A zone-based staggered schedule will certainly reduce road pressure, but heat must factor into such decisions now. When temperatures rise, electricity consumption in schools increases significantly. If the energy crisis is not managed strategically, load-shedding may become inevitable, and conducting classes in classrooms will be very difficult.

I know the education ministry is considering an alternate-day method in light of the energy crisis—one day online, one day offline. But in my opinion, this would be managerially difficult for both students and guardians. Instead, if the crisis becomes severe, educational activities could be moved fully online while examinations remain offline. However, if the government wants to keep schools partially open, then the alternate-day system should be coordinated with office schedules. On days when school is online, offices should also operate online. That would allow guardians to manage both their children and their own work.

Since Covid, educational institutions have been among the first to close during any movement or unrest. As a result, students’ learning and socialisation needs have both been affected. So, is changing the schedule the only solution? For example, can changes in school transport systems, through mandatory school buses or carpooling, be effective in offsetting such disruptions or closures?

This is essentially a problem of flawed planning. In Dhaka, most schools were not established in a planned way; they have neither their own buses nor parking facilities, yet approvals were given without proper analysis. At the same time, we have still not created school zones. In developed cities, the concept of a school catchment area is common—only those living within about one and a half to two kilometres of a school usually attend that school. But in Dhaka, guardians often send children from Motijheel to Uttara in pursuit of reputed schools. That is where the main problem lies.

This also makes the idea of school buses less effective. Because the distances are so long, routes become lengthy. The student living furthest away must board the bus two to three hours before school and returns home last. But if a catchment area is determined, the situation changes. Students remain within a limited zone, it becomes possible to run circular transport services effectively, and many can also walk if footpaths are connected and hawker-free. Then repeated guardian drop-offs and pick-ups would decline, and so would extra trips on the road.

Another benefit is educational quality. If students mainly attend nearby schools, there will be pressure on schools in general to improve their standards. This is a major opportunity for our overall education system.

How exactly would a catchment area policy work? Should we opt for area-based priority over admission tests in schools, and what broader impact would that have on students and the city?

I have not seen any precedent in developed countries for admission tests at the school level. The main principle there is simple: if someone lives within the catchment area and wants to admit their child to that school, the school gives them priority. Education is a fundamental right, so there should be no discrimination based on financial ability. If only affluent children study in good schools while low-income children are pushed into weaker institutions, deep inequality is created.

If the zone or catchment area plan is implemented, many problems will be solved at once. If the school is within two kilometres, students can walk and vehicle dependence will fall. School-based traffic congestion will decrease, fuel will be saved, and each school will have to focus more on improving quality in light of the evolving social needs. But I do not agree with admission tests. Merit is not properly verified in this way; there is already a system of national examinations for that purpose.

Since we are talking about managing school hours and traffic, let’s focus on the metro rail, particularly the concern that it has failed to sufficiently attract private car owners. Why is that?

This is an important issue. Our research shows that the main purpose of building the metro was to shift private car users off the roads. Private cars occupy about 60 percent of road space, but carry only six percent of passengers. The original idea was that if a section of private car passengers moved to the metro, the roads below would become less congested, making way for a more disciplined public transport system. But in reality, the opposite has happened: about 60 percent of daily metro passengers have been found to have travelled by bus previously, while only around five percent came from private cars.

The reason is a fundamental flaw in planning. The metro has been seen only as a fast transport mode, whereas in developed countries it is used as an urban planning tool. They improve roads below, build proper footpaths, and develop buses as feeder services before or alongside metro systems. The metro acts as a backbone. But we did not think sufficiently about the connection system to stations. Private car users enjoy door-to-door service, and to be attracted to the metro, they need an easy and comfortable path to the station. If there were effective footpath networks within 500 metres to one kilometre of metro stations, many more people would walk.

That planning failure is costing us. Before building more metro lines, investment should be made in public transport and footpath management on the roads below. Compared to metro projects, this requires far less investment, but the impact can be much greater.

Coming back to the energy crisis, what else do you think the government should do going forward?

The government is repeatedly saying there is no fuel shortage—that oil exists in depots, distribution systems, filling stations. But it must clearly explain where the crisis actually lies, because people are standing in long queues, not getting oil, and many stations are closed. In this situation, some are even storing thousands of litres.

To prevent confusion and hoarding, the government must send a strict message and strengthen monitoring. If the fuel card system is properly implemented, it will be possible to reduce excess purchases and black marketing. Those whose livelihoods depend on fuel, especially ride-sharing drivers, are suffering the most.

At the same time, alongside changing schooling schedules and methods, it is necessary to introduce online-offline systems in offices to reduce trips on the road. In the long term, the plans we already have for public transport development must be implemented seriously so that small fuel-dependent vehicles can gradually be removed from the roads.

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