Unfair Transport Fares

With the arrival of Dashain, people are in a rush to go to their home towns to celebrate their biggest festival. Hundreds of thousands people have already left the Kathmandu Valley. However, this time passengers travelling by road are facing double whammy. On one hand, they are afraid of potential risks of accidents on the highways that are partially or fully damaged and blocked by landslides and floods. On the other, they have to pay exorbitant prices to get tickets.  Some transport operators are ashamedly fleecing the commuters at a time when they are supposed to charge reasonable fares from the passengers, who have been compelled to travel in buses carrying beyond capacity. The acts of taking undue advantage from the passengers pose a moral question to the transport entrepreneurs, who should run their business in line with the existing rules and regulations.

Strict monitoring is needed to control such malpractice. Against this backdrop, a news report published in this daily states that District Administration Office, Dhading and the District Traffic Police Office conducted surprise inspections along the Prithvi Highway and took action against dozens of vehicles for charging excessive fares.  These cases of charging excessive fares by vehicles on one or the other pretext during the festive travel rush call for serious and broader monitoring on the part of the administration. Like every year, this year the booking of public vehicle tickets started a few weeks back but the major highways across the country are not in good condition which demands utmost caution and weather watchfulness for safety.   

It is unethical for transport entrepreneurs to charge high fares at a time when passengers have found themselves vulnerable. When there are natural disasters, festive seasons, or infrastructural problems, transportation entrepreneurs have to provide reliable service rather than being unnaturally profit minded. Despite passengers purchasing tickets at the designated fare rates from the ticket counters, some vehicles were found charging extra in the middle of the highway or roads during the travel. To address these complaints, surprise inspections were conducted, and the District Administration Office, Dhading deserves praise for the action it has initiated. Other authorities need to follow suit to make sure the commuters are not cheated. 

The surprise inspection as done in Dhading should be conducted in other places as well as this measure can be effective to curb this problem. This type of regular checks can serve as a deterrent, ensuring bus operators adhere to the fare structure and don’t engage in price hikes in the middle of the travel. Both roads and vehicles are cramped during the festive seasons and a study shows that during this time of the year road accidents increase by threefold. 

Concerned authorities should pay attention that both vehicles and roads are not overcrowded. There should be a regular inspection to ensure that vehicles do not violate traffic rules and do not take high fares from the passengers already hard hit by floods and landslides. The surveillance and inspection will save the general public from being scammed and once there is an inspection, the vehicles will refrain from accommodating passengers more than capacity which will eventually decrease the occurrence of accidents.