Congestion Pricing of Urban Street Segments along with MRT Route—The Case Study of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, already has a congestion problem to handle the ever-growing demand for traffic. The usage of private cars cannot be stopped by charging and the town is not encouraged by quality public transport. It is impossible to enforce congestion prices here in line with traditional cordon pricing systems since the region uses unusual land patterns. However, the current project Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line 6, which will be built by 2021, provides the prospect of congestion pricing. A price and optimum approach were established for this article. The congestion price is only payable for the segments and is accessible for private cars under this system. Two urban street segments along the MRT route were selected for the study and congestion toll for a private car is estimated for each segment separately. The sum of the toll in monetary terms is determined using certain associated parameters from the discrepancy from the actual Level of Service (LOS) travel time and traffic flow to the desired LOS. The outcome has shown that the price per passenger car is $0.3 - $0.44. The price is flexible, which means it will vary based on traffic volume. The findings for politicians to enforce congestion pricing are viewed as recommendations.

Risk of COVID-19 Spread and Mitigation Strategies in Public Transportation Sector

The world is trying to recover from once in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has a higher mortality rate than the common flu. However, the threat of different variants is still affecting us in a different capacity. Several preventive measures have been adopted across the nation and the globe to avoid the spread of this virus, such as lockdown, restricted travel, social distancing guidelines, obligatory face mask use, etc. These activities directly influenced the management of social life, economy, and livelihoods. The effect of COVID-19 on the public transit industry and strategies the transit agencies adapted to continue providing the service during the pandemic has been synthesized in this paper. As a result of the pandemic, public transit ridership decreased by about 70 percent for most agencies compared to pre-pandemic levels. This article also highlights the prevention of COVID-19 spread in the public transit industry using engineering solutions and advanced material science and nanotechnology solutions.