ISSN: 2455-8826 Asian Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (AJIRSET) Available online at: www.engineeringjournal.info RESEARCH ARTICLE Md. Niaz Mustaqeem et. al.| June 2016 | Vol.1 | Issue 5|01-08 1 Bus Network Coverage Analysis of Dhaka City Along with its Service Quality Md. Niaz Mustaqeem 1* , Faiyaz Jalaluddin 1 , Rakibul Hassan 2 1 Department of Civil Engineering, Stamford University Bangladesh, Bangladesh. 2 Department of Civil Engineering, Presidency University, Bangladesh. Abstract Bus is the only mode of mass transit available in Dhaka. It carries about 1.9 million passengers in an average working day out of total about 21 million trips. Share of bus has increased from 10 to 30 percent for all types of trips. There are 11,060 buses and 8,583 mini buses plying on roads which represent only about 3% of total motorized traffic. Out of 160 bus routes 140 routes are operational of which 88% of the routes are being operated by 137 bus companies. The bus routes are delineated in the north-south direction and are restricted to about 200 kilometers only. These routes were never the result of any assessment of demand or proper planning in respect to service optimization and thus resulted in high density route overlapping, undesirable route length and uneven competition among bus companies and not meeting passenger trip patterns. Present bus services lack both standard service as well as door to door service. Reorganization of the bus routes, improvement of bus service quality that will draw consumer’s attention, lane separation for MV and NMV's, introduction of BRT and MRT are some of the important measures that need to be initiated in this regard. Keywords: Bus network, Dhaka City, Public transport, Route restructuring, Service quality. Introduction Dhaka is one of the only seven cities in the world which has experienced urban population growth higher than 2.4% in between 1975 to 2005 [1]. It has developed into the capital of a nation from a mere provincial capital since the birth of Bangladesh, unfortunately in an unplanned way. It is perhaps the only city in the world without any well and properly planned mass transit system [2]. The environment of Dhaka city transport is characterized by traffic congestion and delays, inadequate traffic management, unaffordable and inaccessible for majority of the people, high accident rates and increasing air pollution problems etc. However, the major problem to this situation seems to be the operational weakness of the present resources. In general, Rapid growth, low incomes, and extreme inequality are among the fundamental reasons of transport problems in Dhaka, similar to every other megacity of developing countries [3]. Due to the growing mobility, use of private transport has been increasing and ultimately, it has been a matter of great concern regarding its implications in terms of congestion, pollution and social impact. To reduce this congestion and pollution, public transport in terms of mass transit is preferred over private transport. Bus Fleet and Share in Dhaka Dhaka suffers from critical and deteriorated traffic congestion, despite low level of motorization, largely due to the absolute lack of roads, deficient road network configuration and inefficient traffic management. Existing public transport system, bus transit operations in particular is characterized as far short of the desirable mobility needs of the people in terms of reliability, comfort, speed and safety. In Dhaka, buses are generally considered