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History

palanquins, existing since the pre-modern era, were the popular mode of transportation until 150 years ago. These box-like structures were carried by four to eight people, frequently used for formal events like weddings and even transported patients. Even though they were initially limited to rich people, gradually they spread among common men.

In 1865, influential Armenian businessman living in Dhaka G M Shircore introduced the tikka gari or hackney-carriage, better known in Dhaka as ghorar ghari or tomtom. These vehicles, imported from Kolkata, pioneered a transport revolution, and soon other businessmen followed. In 1867, the number of horse carriages in Dhaka stood at 60, increasing to 300 in 1874. By 1889, the number of horse carriages rose to 600.

In 1885, a rail line was constructed from Dhaka and Narayanganj, extended to Mymensingh the following year; the rail line was laid almost parallel to the Mughal road from Tongi through Tejgaon, Kawranbazar to the Shah Bagh area, forming a loop around the Ramna area and turned towards the east cutting through the Nimtali-Fulbaria area it turned south towards Fatullah and Narayanganj. The Fulbaria area was developed into a complex of the Railway including the Dhaka railway station.

In the early 1920s, Dhaka's elite owned vintage cars with canvas roofs. Mawla Bakhsh, a mechanic formerly employed by a British-owned workshop, opened his own business, India Motor Works. He had two cars, which he deployed as taxis between Dhaka and Narayanganj and rented out for transporting patients and other purposes.

After World War II, Bakhsh purchased seven to eight trucks auctioned off by the Allied forces in Chittagong and retrofitted them for passenger transport. These buses, known as murir tin due to their wooden bodies wrapped in tin, ran on petrol and could carry 20–22 seated passengers on plank benches along the sides, with 40–50 standing in the middle. They operated from Bahadur Shah Park to Narayanganj, using Ford chassis and Chevrolet engines. These buses were initially started with a crank and had a rubber bulb horn. A piece of wood near the driver was used to signal turns. Self-starters and electric horns were later added to these buses. In 1948, these buses ran from Sutrapur to Chawkbazar and by the end of the 20th century, they ran on routes from Rampura to Sadarghat, when they declined.

Double-decker buses were introduced at the end of the 1960s, imported from the UK and later from India and Europe. In 2013, articulated buses were introduced for the first time.

In 1938, European jute exporters living in Narayanganj and Netrokona (Mymensingh) imported the first cycle rickshaws from Calcutta for personal use. Initially, these rickshaws did not attract much attention from residents accustomed to horse carriages, palanquins, and city-canal boats. By 1941, Dhaka had only 37 rickshaws, increasing to 181 by 1947. However, by 1998, the number of registered rickshaws in the city had surged to 112,572, some of which were later retrofitted with motors.

Autorickshaws, or "baby taxis," became popular among the middle class during the Pakistan period. These two-stroke yellow and black vehicles were replaced by green CNG-run autorickshaws in 2002 due to pollution concerns.

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When transporting passengers from far-away places Mymensingh, Tangail, or Manikganj, standby engines were kept so that they could be replaced easily if they broke down. Bakhsh, who had renamed his workshop Mawla Bakhsh and Sons, was joined by two more businessmen near the start of this business. Following the Bahadur Shah Park-Narayanganj route, the Chak Bazar-Mirpur-Savar route was inaugurated. At that time, settlements in Mirpur was concentrated around Shah Ali Mazar. Then the Kaliakair-Chandra route was started. Apart from this, Dhaka's first major transport company, Momin Motor Works, started operating buses on a road built by themselves from Jinjira to Rohitpur. The path was much like a railway line. Bricks were laid measured to the size of the car wheels and the middle part was empty. The road was quite narrow, so if a car came from the opposite direction, one of them had to stop and give way to the other. They also ran buses from Demra to Narsingdi. The buses, with protruding hoods, were named after popular Hindi films, such as Pukar, Azad, Kismat, and Taj Mahal.

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With around 370,000 km (230,000 mi) of roads, Bangladesh ranks 16th in the world for total length of road network. It has the highest road density in South Asia after India and ranks 13th globally. However, only about 30 per cent, or 110,311 km (68,544 mi), of these roads are paved. The network maintained by the Roads and Highways Department—the government agency responsible for the construction and upkeep of the country's major road and bridge network—includes approximately 4,000 km (2,500 mi) of national highways, 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of regional highways, and 13,500 km (8,400 mi) of district (zila) roads.

There are eight major national highways, linking the capital with various divisional and district headquarters, port cities, and international routes. The Dhaka–Chittagong highway (N1) is regarded as the lifeline of the country’s trade and commerce, connecting the capital, Dhaka, with the primary port city of Chittagong. The Dhaka–Mawa–Bhanga Expressway, opened in 2020, is the first controlled-access highway in the country.

The modal share of road transport in Bangladesh for passenger and cargo traffic is 88 percent and 80 percent, respectively. This represents a significant increase from 1975, when road transport accounted for just 54 percent of passenger traffic and 35 percent of cargo traffic.