Recent restrictions and bans in key urban zones reflect growing tensions between elite infrastructure visions and the lived mobility needs of working-class populations. This study examines rickshaw governance through a political ecology and livelihoods lens, focusing on how regulatory decisions are made, contested, and experienced on the ground. The research explores the political, institutional, and socio-economic forces shaping their regulation and the consequences for those whose livelihoods depend on them.
Researchers: James Ward Khakshi; Md. Faruq Hossain; Noriya Mahin Chowdhury; Mohd. Rubayat Ahsan; Nawshiba Arnob
Partners: BRAC Advocacy for Social Change
Timeline: 2026-2028
Status: Ongoing
Contact: James Ward Khakshi, james.wk@bracu.ac.bd
Context
Despite their economic and environmental contributions, rickshaws continue to be marginalized in formal transport planning. Policy decisions particularly around battery-run rickshaws are often made without meaningful participation from rickshaw pullers, even though the sector supports an estimated six million vehicles nationwide and contributes substantially to the urban economy. Existing research has examined rickshaw pullers’ socio-economic precarity or the technical role of rickshaws in transport systems, but far less attention has been paid to how governance decisions are negotiated, whose interests dominate, and how regulation reshapes livelihoods. This study addresses that gap by foregrounding governance from below examining how rickshaw pullers experience, adapt to, and sometimes resist regulatory power.
Objectives
The study aims to generate evidence to support more inclusive and context-specific urban transport policy in Bangladesh. Specifically, it seeks to:
- examine the political, institutional, and regulatory factors shaping rickshaw governance in urban Bangladesh;
- assess the socio-economic conditions, vulnerabilities, and coping strategies of rickshaw-pullers across different regulatory environments;
- analyze the sustainability trade-offs—social, economic, and environmental—of current rickshaw policies; and
- identify entry points for participatory and inclusive policy pathways that reflect both governance realities and everyday mobility needs.
Methodology
The study adopts a mixed-methods design, anchored in Problem-Driven Political Economy Analysis (PD-PEA) and complemented by a livelihoods framework. This approach enables analysis of how political incentives, institutional arrangements, and actor power shape feasible policy choices and its uptake, while grounding these dynamics in lived livelihood realities.
Fieldwork will be conducted in Dhaka and Barishal, allowing comparison between a megacity with restrictive rickshaw regulation and a medium-sized city where rickshaws remain central to mobility. The quantitative component includes a structured survey with 450 rickshaw-pullers across different regulatory zones to assess income, work patterns, vulnerabilities, and encounters with regulations. Qualitative methods include key informant interviews (KIIs), in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), and document and media analysis. Actor-network mapping and critical discourse analysis are used to trace decision-making processes, power relations, and dominant narratives shaping rickshaw policy.
Findings and Recommendations
Forthcoming.
