Transportation services restart on short, long routes

Kathmandu, Sept. 15: Public transportation to and from the Kathmandu Valley has resumed smoothly after several days of disruption caused by the recent Gen-Z protests. 

The movement of vehicles, which had come to a standstill earlier in the week, began operating normally from Saturday evening, according to transport entrepreneurs.

Traffic flow had been severely affected since Tuesday due to curfews and prohibitory orders imposed following the protests. Thousands of passengers were stranded within the Valley as public transportation was shut down.

Vijay Bahadur Swar, President of the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs, said that vehicle movement has now returned to normal. 

“On Saturday evening alone, more than 300 passenger vehicles departed from Gangabu Bus Park. We expect around 400 vehicles to leave the Valley daily, and this number will continue to rise in the coming days,” he told The Rising Nepal.

With the situation returning to normal on Friday, transportation has also been fully operational since Saturday.

Currently, the passengers stranded in the Kathmandu Valley during the Gen-Z movement are being transported to their destinations, he added.

Swar said, “The first priority is to safely transport passengers stranded in Kathmandu for a week and then open advance ticket booking for Dashain.”

Stating that there was insecurity in the Bus Park and other places outside the Kathmandu Valley, he demanded the government to ensure security for smoothly operating the vehicles.

On Sunday, businessmen and government officials of concerned bodies monitored the bus park and concluded that insecurity had increased. 

Businessmen are demanding that the army provide security, saying that the police post has been burned down and the Lhotse Hall connected to the bus park has been destroyed in fire, and that the police presence has not been effective.

President Swar said, “We have found that insecurity has increased at the bus park. Now the crowd of people is increasing. People are still impulsive. The risk of robbery on the bus has increased during Dashain. Such incidents have not been absent in the past. 

Security at the bus park is very important as there is a possibility of robbery, looting and bullying.”

Transport Management Committee being formed for safe travel

A six-point decision has been made in a meeting of stakeholders regarding facilitating passengers during the festival. 

The decisions were made in a meeting held at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday. 

The meeting was held in the presence of Ministry Secretary Keshab Kumar Sharma and representatives from transport entrepreneurs, traffic police, NADA Automobiles Association and other organisations, said Swar.

The meeting has decided to request stakeholders including the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneur to make arrangements for smooth and safe travel for passengers leaving the Kathmandu Valley during the festival.

It has also been decided to form a high-level transport management committee under the coordination of the Director General of the Department of Transport Management to make the journey of passengers safe and smooth and to address complaints immediately. 

This committee will include stakeholders from the Nepal Police Headquarters, the Chief of the Highway Safety Division, the Chief of the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office and the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs.

In addition, it has been decided to identify the public vehicles and offices damaged during the Gen-Z movement and take necessary steps for appropriate compensation, said Swar.

Similarly, it has been decided to request organisations including NADA Automobiles Association to conduct technical inspections of vehicles leaving the valley 

for the festival and to construct passenger assistance rooms as needed.

The meeting also made decisions to provide essential materials for the traffic police from the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Road Safety Council, among others, and to immediately issue a notice prohibiting the transportation of weapons and other materials looted during the protests in vehicles.

No decision has been made regarding opening advance ticket bookings for Dashain from today's meeting, said Swar. 

He said that the date for opening tickets will be decided after discussions with stakeholders including the Department of Transport Management shortly.

According to him, there was no delay in opening advance ticket bookings as advance tickets are required for those leaving Kathmandu after Ghatasthapana.

Generally, after holding discussions with bus operators, the government used to open advance ticket bookings about one or two weeks before the Dashain holidays (Ghatasthapana).

The Ghatasthapana, the first day of Dashain, falls on September 22 this year.

He said that as Tribhuvan University has already decided to close studies until Tihar, many campuses have been closed, and now travelers leaving Kathmandu are also going to their hometowns to celebrate Dashain. 

“We are committed to providing smooth services to passengers by making arrangements of more buses, and microbuses operating day and night. We will operate an additional number of vehicles in routes which are available with us based on the pressure of the passengers,” he said.

Every year, about 1.9 

million people leave the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain and Tihar.