Shortest Path Analysis for Bus Route of Dhaka City Using ArcGIS

Md. Jisan Ahmed1

Master’s Degree student of Urban and Regional Planning, Department of Urban and Regional
Planning, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
Email: jisanurp11@gmail.com
Dr. Meher Nigar Neema2
Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology
Email: mnneema@yahoo.com
Abstract
Very few megacities like Dhaka are growing up without any planned and proper guideline for
operation and augmentation of its public transport system. The public transportation system of
Dhaka city is largely and primarily based on bus as mass public transport and till date, bus is
the only affordable and available mass public transport mode in Dhaka City. The traffic
situation of Dhaka, the metropolis of Bangladesh and the main hub for business and economy
of the country is in an awful condition. The existing mass public transport system of Dhaka
city is going up with the typical bus services (buses and minibuses) and para-transit modes like
CNG, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, taxis, battery bikes and rickshaw etc. Lack of effective mass
public transport system in Dhaka creates forceful pressure on Dhaka’s bus routes. Lengthy,
unaffordable, and uncomfortable bus trip with insufferable traffic jam in Dhaka are wasting
millions of productive working hours and rising up the bus route costing high for the bus route
operators and users in Dhaka metropolis. The average travel speed of bus services in Dhaka
city is now close to walking speed of commuter. In absence of other modern mass public
transport system, the bus and bus routes are serving the purpose of the majority of the city
dwellers in Dhaka City. The existing bus route services provide insufficient, inefficient, and
unproductive level of services with long bus route and overlapping at too many intersections.
According to BRTA data 2019, there are 366 bus routes in Dhaka metropolis but most of them
are inactive, inefficient and overlapped in too many intersections. It is also seen that there are
unnecessarily overlapping routes for the only purpose of profit maximization and operational
advantages. According to BRTA data, the four bus routes with the highest numbers of buses
are Motijheel to Uttara, Motijheel to Mohammadpur, Motijheel to Mirpur-10, and Motijheel to
Kalyanpur. Almost all the buses of Dhaka metropolis want to cross Motijheel, Mohammodpur,
Mirpur-10, Kalyanpur, Uttara, Gulistan, Shahbagh and Science Lab bus stoppages. These
points and intersections are already well known and proven lucrative stoppages in Dhaka for
bus and bus route operators and the bus route operators always try to keep these stoppages in
their operational bus routes. This study has considered the above mentioned four bus routes of
Dhaka City to find out the shortest bus routes from Motijheel to Uttara, Mohammodpur,
Mirpur-10, and Kalyanpur by using ArcGIS network analyst tool. This study has found that all
the four bus routes can follow a common routes from Shahbagh to Motijheel and rest of the

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routes follow different publicly known bus stoppages in Dhaka City. The findings of this study
can help transport planners and decision makers to restructure the Dhaka’s bus routes.
Key Words: Dhaka City, Bus Route, Bus Stoppage, Network Analyst Tool, Public Transport

Introduction
The total population of the greater Dhaka is about 17 million with an area of 1,528 square
kilometers where population density is about 45,000 and more in per square kilometer in the
down town areas of the Dhaka metropolis [1]. In addition, Dhaka is not at all a big city in size
but very big in population count. Dhaka is now going up with rapid urbanization and improper
urban governance in transport sector. It is also not an organised city as well where the old
Dhaka was formally known as 'Bayanno Bajar Teppanno Goli'r Shohor' (a city of 52 bazaars
and 53 lanes). It is recognized as one of the very few metropolis and megacities which go up
without any planned guideline for its bus route and bus services operation as mass public
transport system. Though transportation system of Dhaka city is typically based on Bus Route
and bus services, and till date, the bus services are the only accessible, affordable, within easy
reach and mostly preferred mass public transport mode in Dhaka metropolis [2]. The routes
which serve the bus services in Dhaka City are primarily unorganized and unplanned with
overlapping at too many points and intersections. As a result, the traffic situation of Dhaka
metropolis and the main center of national business and economy of the country is in a terrible
condition [3]. Dhaka city can play an important role in the national economy of Bangladesh
where existing traffic congestion could be a barrier and it will disturb the national economic
growth. 6-10% of Bangladesh national GDP is lost directly or indirectly because of city’s
immense traffic congestion. It is estimated that the economic losses just because of traffic
congestion in Dhaka metropolis is more than $18.5 million per day [4]. In Dhaka City, only
8% of total land area is designated for road network services where standard says that about
25% is required for smooth traffic system in any city [5]. The city dwellers of Dhaka metropolis
have to spend on an average 2.35 hours for their daily traffic activities where more than 1.30
hours is wasting just because of city’s immense traffic congestion [6]. It was estimated in 2016
that the value of average bus services speed in Dhaka City was 6.4 kilometers per hour where
it also predicted that it could be around 4.7 kilometers per hour by 2035 [7]. However, in
absence of modern Mass Transit System, the bus services and bus routes are covering the trips
of the majority of the passengers in Dhaka City. On the other hand, each city dwellers of the
Dhaka city deserves planned shortest bus route and bus services than the existing one.
According to BRTA data 2019, there are 366 bus routes in Dhaka city but most of them are not
in operation and overlapped in too many common intersections. Motijheel to Uttara, Motijheel
to Mohammadpur, Motijheel to Mirpur-10, and Motijheel to Kalyanpur bus routes have the
highest numbers of buses in Dhaka. Motijheel, Uttara, Mirpur, Mohammadpur and Kalyanpur
are the well-known central business districts (CBDs) in Dhaka metropolis. Almost all the buses
try to cover Motijheel, Mohammodpur, Mirpur-10, Kalyanpur, Uttara, Gulistan, Shahbagh and
Science Lab in Dhaka city. This study has considered the above mentioned four bus routes and
well known bus stoppages of Dhaka City to find out the shortest bus routes from Motijheel to
Uttara, Mohammodpur, Mirpur-10, and Kalyanpur by using ArcGIS network analyst tool. This
study has also considered four objectives to find out the shortest bus routes in Dhaka City. The
study objective are a) to determine the shortest bus route in between Motijheel to Uttara; b) to

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determine the shortest bus route in between Motijheel to Mohammadpur, c) to determine the
shortest bus route in between Motijheel to Mirpur-10, and d) to determine the shortest bus route
in between Motijheel to Kalyanpur. This study comprises with five sections. Introduction about
bus route bus service issues in Dhaka City is discussed in the first section. Then, literature
review related to the subject matter is presented in the second section. The third section presents
the methodology used to conduct this study. The fourth section elaborates on the results and
discussion. A brief summary of the study with suggestions for further research are provided in
the last section.
Literature Review
Bus route and bus service in Dhaka City has increased from 10% to 30% for all kinds of
generated trips in Dhaka metropolis. In Dhaka metropolis, around 11,060 buses and 8,583 mini
buses are operating in about 140 operationally active bus routes where 88% of the bus routes
are being owned and operated by 137 different bus companies [8]. Basically, the bus services
and bus routes of Dhaka metropolis are mainly portrayed in the north-south direction and ended
within 200 kilometers only. The bus routes and bus services do not have any assessment of
service demand and gaps or planned guideline to optimize the bus route service operation. As
a result, it set forth to undesirable and unplanned bus route length with high density bus route
overlapping. In addition, uneven and unhealthy competition are going on among the bus drivers
even the bus companies are also involved in this competition in Dhaka metropolis. The existing
bus routes and bus services are not meeting the passenger trip demand and supply [8]. Dhaka
City’s mass public transport situation have increasingly deteriorated with unplanned traffic
route, traffic overcrowding and delays, improper and inefficient traffic management,
unaffordable and uncomfortable public transport for many users, comparatively high accident
victims and fatalities as well as increasing air pollution problems [9]. In Dhaka City, the LOS
(Level of Service) and transport mode options are not at all up to the mark for the operators
and users and either not suitable for the Dhaka’s environment [10]. The mass public transport
environment of Dhaka metropolis is point out by lengthy, delays, mismanagement, traffic
overcrowding, conflict of law/jurisdictions, poor coordination among all level of transport
stakeholders, and increasing adverse environmental issues as well [11] [12] [13].
It is found that Dhaka City’s road network has been predominantly increasing in north-south
direction in the last 20 years. To cope up with the expansion of Dhaka city and rapid
urbanization, the old bus route network of the city has also been developed and upgraded time
to time but did not meet up the emerged increasing demand. Most of the bus routes of the old
part of Dhaka City has been improved and developed in the east-west direction where most of
the bus routes of the new part of Dhaka metropolis has been improved and developed in the
north south direction. In addition, the bus route network of Dhaka metropolis had never been
organised and planned with the process of trip generation, trip distribution, and bus route
restructuring. Eventually, an irregular, inefficient, and unplanned pattern of bus route network
have been developed in Dhaka metropolis rather than an efficient one such as gridiron or redial-
circumferential pattern [14]. The overall route network of Dhaka metropolis is about 3000 km
[15], where about 50 km is recognized as feeder roads, about 200 km is recognized as primary
roads, 110 km is recognized as secondary roads, and rest 2640 km is narrow road with having
very few alternatives and connector routes [16].

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In the other hand, the bus route of Dhaka City is listed by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
(BRTA), which shows a total of main 34 bus routes and adding all the sub-routes with the main
routes, and it is 46 in total of where 13 routes are not currently in operational services [17] [18].
Usually the bus stoppages are the attributes of the bus transport services which are located at
fix place where the buses stop to allow passengers to in and out from the bus. In Dhaka
metropolis, the majority of the bus users usually walk to reach bus stoppages or to get buses,
and more or less approximate 500 meter is considered as comfortable and convenient walking
distance for the city dwellers in Dhaka metropolis [19]. The Dhaka City’s bus routes and
stoppages are found that the majority of the bus passengers in Dhaka metropolis use a specific
bus services for the cheap transport expense and walk to or from the bus stoppages [20].

Methodology
This study is conducted based on secondary database. The data about bus routes and bus
stoppages of Dhaka City are collected from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
This study also used the GIS shape files of Detail Area Plan (DAP) of Dhaka City to conduct
data analysis in ArcGIS software (ArcGIS-10.5). All the data analysis are done under network
analyst tools of ArcGIS. The ArcGIS Network Analyst tool enabled the efficient movement of
goods/vehicles, efficient organization and efficient coordination of vehicles, and intelligent
transport network analysis. To find out the shortest routes, a model was created in ArcGIS and
prepared a route layer in the model. After that the bus stoppages were added in the created bus
route layer in ArcGIS. Origin, destination, and publicly well-known bus stoppages of Dhaka
city were set as parameters for the analysis. The solve tool was added to run the model. After
running the model, this study have found the shortest bus routes from Motijheel to Uttara,
Mohammodpur, Mirpur-10, and Kalyanpur. The results of the analysis are exported as suitable
format like maps and graphs which are shown in result and discussion section.

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Figure 1: Map of Dhaka City’s Bus Routes with major Bus Stoppages in Dhaka City (Source: Author, generated from
ArcGIS 10.5)

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Result and Discussion
This study has considered the bus routes of Dhaka City which has the highest numbers of buses
and they are Motijheel to Uttara, Motijheel to Mohammadpur, Motijheel to Mirpur-10, and
Motijheel to Kalyanpur. All the four bus routes starts from Motijheel and end at Uttara,
Mohammodpur bus stand, Mirpur-10, and Kalyanpur bus stand. Almost all these four bus
routes cross the publicly known bus stoppages like Abdullapur, House Building, Azampur,
Rajlokhi, Airport, Kawla, Khilkhet, Kuril, Banani, Kakoli, Mohakhali, Jahangir Gate
Kazipara, Shewarapara, Taltola, Agargoan, Bijoyshoroni, Farmgate, Panthopath, Shahbagh,
Banglamotor, Science Lab, Shamoly, College Gate-Asad Gate-Shahbagh, Motsho Bhaban,
Press Club, Polton, Gulistan, and Biman Bangladesh. These bus stoppages are already proved
as lucrative to the operators and they always try to cover these locations. By using the publicly
known bus stoppages, this study finds out the shortest bus routes from Motijheel to Uttara,
Mohammodpur, Mirpur-10, and Kalyanpur. The study considered ArcGIS network analyst tool
to find out the shortest bus routes from Motijheel to Mohammodpur, Mirpur-10, Kalyanpur,
and Uttara. This study has found that all the four bus routes can follow a common routes from
Shahbagh to Motijheel (Shahbagh - Motsho Bhaban - Press club –Polton-GPO – Gulistan -
Biman Bangladesh – Motijheel) and rest of the routes follow different publicly known bus
stoppages along the respective routes in Dhaka City. The following table and maps show the
details of shortest bus routes from Motijheel to Uttara, Mohammodpur bus stand, Mirpur-10,
and Kalyanpur.
Table 1: Details of shortest bus routes from Motijheel to Uttara, Mohammodpur bus stand, Mirpur-10, and Kalyanpur

Sl. Route Name Route Details Route

No Length in km
1 Motijheel to Mohammodpur Bus Stand–Jigatola-City College-Science 6.63
Mohammadpur Lab–Katabon–Shahbagh-MotshoBhaban-Pressclub-
Bus Stand Polton-GPO –Gulistan-Biman Bangladesh-Motijheel
2 Motijheel to Kalyanpur Bus Stand–Shamoly-College Gate –Asad 10.03
Kalyanpur Bus Gate-KhamarBari–Farmgate–Panthopath–Banglamotor–
Stand Shahbagh-MotshoBhaban-Pressclub–Polton-GPO–
Gulistan-Biman Bangladesh-Motijheel
3 Motijheel to Mirpur-10 – Kazipara – Shewarapara – Taltola – Agargoan 12.09
Mirpur-10 - Bijoyshoroni – Farmgate – Panthopath – Banglamotor –
Shahbagh - Motsho Bhaban - Press club – GPO – Gulistan
- Biman Bangladesh -Motijheel
4 Motijheel to Abdullapur-House Building–Azampur-Rajlokhi-Airport– 18.74
Uttara Kawla–Khilkhet–Kuril–Banani–Kakoli–Mohakhali-
JahangirGate-Bijoyshoroni–Farmgate–Panthopath–
Banglamotor–Shahbagh-MotshoBhaban-Pressclub-
Polton–GPO–Gulistan-Biman Bangladesh-Motijheel

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Figure 2: Details of shortest bus routes from Motijheel to Uttara, Mohammodpur bus stand, Mirpur-10, and Kalyanpur,
(Source: Author, generated from ArcGIS 10.5)

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Figure 3: Map of studied shortest bus routes of Dhaka City with major bus stoppages (Source: Author, generated from
ArcGIS 10.5)

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Figure 4: Google earth map showing the Motijheel to Figure 5: Google earth map showing the Motijheel to
Mohammodpur bus routes with the major bus stoppages of Kalyanpur bus with the major bus stoppages of this route,
this route, (Source: Author, generated from ArcGIS 10.5) (Source: Author, generated from ArcGIS 10.5)

Figure 6: Google earth map showing the Motijheel to Mirpup- Figure 4: Google earth map showing the Motijheel to Uttara
10 bus routes with the major bus stoppages of this route, routes with the major bus stoppages of this route, (Source:
(Source: Author, generated from ArcGIS 10.5) Author, generated from ArcGIS 10.5)

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Conclusion
Dhaka City is a well-known over densely populated city and the bus service system is mainly
fulfill the travel need of the city dwellers of Dhaka. Now a days, Dhaka metropolis is
experiencing severe traffic overcrowding with lack of planned traffic management. Very few
studies deal with public transport system specially the bus service system in Dhaka metropolis
to find out the shortest, efficient, and desirable bus routes. Unplanned and unorganized
improvement and development of bus routes, the lack of east-west connecting bus routes,
inappropriate and inaccessible location of bus stoppage, and lack of planned bus route and bus
service system are creating the Dhaka’s bus routes lengthy, overcrowding, expensive,
undesirable, uncomfortable, inefficient, and insufficient. There is also seen a high level of
operation mismanagement, which is continuously deteriorating the efficiency and effectiveness
of the existing bus transport systems in Dhaka metropolis. After analyzing the existing
condition of these four studied bus routes, it is clear that without bus route restructuring in a
planned way, the bus routes of Dhaka metropolis will not be able to cope with the growing bus
numbers and passengers in the near future and even the whole public bus service system may
collapse. So to ensure proper bus route network by planned bus service system is can be a way
to solution the existing bus service problem of Dhaka metropolis. A detailed study on whole
bus routes of Dhaka metropolis is needed to find out the shortest, efficient, cheap, and desirable
bus service and bus routes. The findings of this study can help transport planners and decision
makers to restructure the Dhaka’s existing bus routes and bus services and bus routes.
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