Dhaka: rickshaw capital of the world
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Rickshaws are the most popular means of transport in Dhaka, followed by public buses, walking and motorised two-wheelers. With a share of five percent of total traffic, cars bring up the rear -
Nevertheless, more than one million cars are registered in the greater Dhaka area. During peak hours, they clog the roads: though their share of transport is small, they occupy more than half of the sealed traffic routes. Average speed during rush hours: five kilometres per hour -
Officially, about three quarters of the population are literate. The proportion among rickshaw drivers is lower; they come from educationally deprived backgrounds. Many have to have regulations and driving bans read to them -
Inland port of Shadarghat: of the nearly 2,000 migrants from other parts of Bangladesh who arrive in Dhaka every day, many try to eke out a living as unskilled labourers, rubbish collectors or rickshaw drivers -
Some rickshaw drivers earn extra money as advertisers: a loudspeaker is used to broadcast the merits of a cheap network provider or newly opened shop on a continuous loop -
Rickshaw drivers and their families cannot afford a flat in the new high-rise buildings of the middle class. They live in the Dhaka slums or in makeshift shelters at the side of the road -
A rickshaw can also be a place to sleep – as it is every now and then during the day for this driver, who takes children to school every day and then picks them up again and delivers them individually to their homes -
The rickshaws are rolling works of art and custom-painted -
Some of the paintings convey hopes and dreams of untouched, wild nature -
Other images display fantasies of beautiful women and armed machos -
Numerous studies and government advisors are calling for Dhaka's traffic to speed up. So the slowest and most environmentally friendly participants – the rickshaws – are being forced to give way