Commuters reacted positively to rickshaw-free roads as yesterday's strike showed that rickshaws are one of the main causes of traffic congestion.

"I was confused. The road from Jigatola to Nilkhet was absolutely free. The Jigatola intersection is normally blocked with traffic everyday with rickshaws plying in all directions. The strike has opened our eyes that roads could be free if there were no rickshaws," said Zakir Khan of Jigatola.

"The presence of rickshaws costs time and money. It takes me at least half an hour to reach Moghbazar from Shantinagar and costs Tk. 10 by rickshaw. But today I walked to Moghbazar in 10 minutes. Even buses are able to pick and drop commuters at proper stops," said Selim Khan, a computer hardware trader.

Some urbanites are of the view that rickshaws make city dwellers lazy and the rickshaw pullers are a waste of labour force.

"We forget we can walk short distances because rickshaws are freely available. We are habituated to sit for hours on rickshaws in a traffic jam," said Shirin Sultana, a boutique owner.

Noise pollution too was at a minimum with the absence of rickshaws.

"We use horns frequently because rickshaws don't maintain order," said a taxicab driver.

"We use rickshaws as we can't afford cars. It is too risky to ply buses, but we still want rickshaw-free streets as it saves us money and time," said Fouzia Ahmed a parent of a student of Wills Little Flower School who use rickshaws to and from school.

"Bus services need to be developed for children and women to substitute rickshaws," suggested Shamsun Ara, a schoolteacher who commutes by rickshaw from Moghbazar to Dhanmondi.

"Taxicabs and CNG auto rickshaws should take commuters to whatever their destinations are. Refusal of these drivers is another reason to ride rickshaws," said Munira Jahan.

As slow movers, many commuters recommend that rickshaws are kept for alleys and short distance rides.

"Rickshaw should be off-limits from all main roads," said Rafiqur Rahman of Lalmatia.

Bangladesh Rickshaw and Van Shramik Oikya Porishad (BRVSOP) called rickshaw strike as government announced the eviction illegal rickshaws on city streets to reduce traffic congestion during Ramadan.

President of BRVSOP Fazlur Rahman said: "The authorities have not been renewing the 79,670 legal licences for the last three years and now they want to evict illegal rickshaws."

The government promised to increase legal licences to 1,50,000 rickshaws from 79,670 according to an agreement between our Parishad and Communication ministry," said Rahman.

"We want separate bylanes for rickshaws and we know that the World Bank has Tk. 1,300 crore to Dhaka City Corporation to construct bylanes and to rehabilitate some rickshaw pullers but we are yet to see any action being taken," he added.

"There are about four lakh rickshaws in the city and eight lakh people eke out a living from this profession while another 40 lakh depend on their income. It will be inhuman to evict rickshaws without rehabilitating the victims," said the president.

According to a DMP (traffic) source, of the 3,002-km road, only 27-km are off-limit to rickshaws. Every year, 23,787 motorised vehicles are added to the already exhausted city.