By Aashish Mishra
Kathmandu, Oct. 22: Public transportation has started to get too pricey for the public. This is what many passengers feel about the latest hike in the fare of public vehicles operating in Bagmati Province that took effect from Monday.

The provincial Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development had decided on October 6 to raise the fares of public transport by 23 per cent in all districts of Bagmati except the Kathmandu Valley where the rates have been revised based on the kilometres travelled.

In the three districts of the Valley, passengers have to pay a minimum of Rs. 18 for using a public vehicle. For travelling a distance of 10 kilometres, they will have to pay Rs. 23; for 15 kilometres, the amount is Rs. 27; for 20 kilometres, it is Rs. 30 and Rs. 35 for any distance over 20 kilometres.
This fare increase has miffed many people who say that it has not taken into account their income which has stagnated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many people lost their jobs or were forced to work at less pay. Businesses have still not opened completely. People are short of cash and yet, the provincial government felt this was the appropriate time to increase public transportation fare?” asked Bijayata Limbu, a store clerk who takes a public bus every day to commute from her home in Balkhu to Lagankhel.
Limbu also questioned why the passengers needed to pay more for the same low quality of service. “The transport operators still cram people into their vehicles, there is absolutely no sanitation despite the raging coronavirus and the drivers and conductors are as rude as ever. Yet, passengers are asked to pay more?”

Similarly, Indra Shrestha, who takes a tempo every morning from Imadol to reach his office in Tripureshwor, called the new fare amounts weird and said that they opened the way for transporters to overcharge. “The government may say Rs. 18 but the vehicle operators will charge Rs. 20, saying they do not have change.”

He also complained that the government announced the fare hike too early. “The provincial government issued the notice on October 6 and vehicles starting charging the increased fare from October 7. The government should not have made the announcement two weeks in advance and that too, right before Dashain.”

The Nepal Consumers Forum has also previously expressed concern about the increase in public vehicle fare.
The Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs, however, has said that the hike was required because of the increase in prices of fuel and vehicle parts.