The rickshaw of Bangladesh, poorly designed and manned by the underclass, plays an important role in propping up the national economy. Its neglect by government officials and researchers can only hurt the country´s own interests.
No one knows how many rickshaws there are in Dhaka, let alone in Bangladesh. The government statistics are not reliable, and there is no other way of finding out. To give one example, in 1987, there were 88,000 rickshaws officially registered with the Dhaka Municipal Corporation. But in addition there was a huge number of unregistered rickshaws, and various government ministers and newspaper correspondents put the true figure at 150,000 to 200,000.
The government´s hopes to hold down rickshaw numbers, and thereby limit traffic congestion. However, the policy has never succeeded. Rickshaw numbers have gone on increasing as the demand for them has grown.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the rickshaws in 1985-86 contributed 34 percent of the total value-added by the transport sector in Bangladesh, or roughly BDT 9840 million. This was more than double the contribution of all motorised road transport, 12 times the contribution of Bangladesh Railways, and 12.5 times the contribution of Bangladesh Biman, the national airline.