No.35 The Impact of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit on Road Congestion

The Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is the first rail-based urban mass transit system in Bangladesh and was expected to reduce the severe traffic congestion in Dhaka. This study examines the impact of the introduction of Dhaka MRT Line 6 on road congestion. We employ a two-group event study evaluation design, comprising a multiple-period version of the difference-in-difference. Instead of using survey-based travel time data, we measure the speed of vehicles using super-frequent real-time travel data derived from Google Maps. The results from the quasi-experimental analyses show a substantially large impact of increasing vehicle speed along the treatment corridor that hosts the MRT Line 6 viaduct. Vehicle speeds responded immediately to the gradual expansions of the MRT operational hours and stations. However, our analysis also suggests that this additional traffic capacity may be gradually saturated by the induced travel demand along the corridor served by the MRT, providing an empirical case supporting the fundamental law of road congestion.

Keywords: Urban Transport, Travel Time, Mass Rapid Transit, Congestion.