Public vehicles flouting govt order to switch to old transport fare adjustment

Kathmandu, Oct. 15: The government's direction for public vehicles to switch to the old transport fare adjustment has yet to be implemented. A Cabinet meeting on October 12 decided that public vehicles could have passengers as per seat capacity and the transport fare has been retained as the fare adjustment on September 23, 2018.

Earlier, the government in view of global COVID-19 pandemic asked public vehicles to follow the health and safety guidelines and to limit the passenger numbers to half their seat capacity and charge them 50 percent more fare.

In violation of the Cabinet decision, public vehicles operating in the Kathmandu Valley are found to have charged more fare. For an instance, City Yatayat (Ba 2 Kha 1204) running at Ring Road route charged him Rs 25 for travelling four kilometers, which is against Rs 14 set by the government as per the fare adjustment on September 23, 2018 for travelling the same distance, said a passenger Prem Bahadur Thapa.

When asked, Rameshwor Prasad Yadav, Spokesperson for the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division said they were yet to receive the order in writing although the Cabinet decision was heard through media. As a result, they were finding it difficult to implement the decision, he added.

However, the vehicles charging more than 50 percent fare have faced action, said the Division. On Wednesday, 42 public vehicles in the Valley charging more than 50 percent fare faced action, it said.

Information officer at the Department of Transport Management, Dr Lok Nath Bhusal said they could not talk about the matter as they were yet to be informed of the Cabinet decision in writing.