Transport in dilemma to open ticket booking

Those planning to leave the Capital to go to their hometown for Dashain via road are likely to face additional hassles in getting their hands on the tickets this year, as the government and transporters are yet to fix the date to open advance bus ticket booking. This is mainly due to the ongoing unrest in Tarai and security concerns, even though the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) today said that they are targeting to open the ticket booking no later than October 3. Generally, ticket bookings start 15 to 30 days before the festival. This year Dashain, the biggest festival celebrated in the country, starts on October 13 and the main day of the 10-day festival — Vijaya Dashami — falls on October 22. Road transport plays a vital role during the festival time as around 50 per cent of the population in the Kathmandu Valley head for different parts of the country for festival celebration. Transport entrepreneurs said that it is already late to take ticket reservations and this has happened due to the protests in Tarai districts by people unhappy with the new constitution. “We are in a huge quandary — what if we take the bookings and fail to provide the service later?” said Bijay Swar, second vice president of Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs. He added that they would soon also hold consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding operation of vehicles and security issues. East-West Highway, which runs across the Tarai region, is the main surface route to travel to different parts of the country. Transporters said that there was no problem in Kathmandu-Pokhara route but reaching east, west, mid-west and far-west have become challenging due to security issues and protests in Tarai districts. Swar said that the government should declare the highways as restricted zones for any kind of protest to ease free movement of passengers during the festival period. DoTM said that the exact date to open ticket reservations will be set soon after holding discussions with the transporters and traffic police. Basanta Adhikari, spokesperson for DoTM, said that opening ticket booking early could also give space for transporters to engage in unethical business to cheat customers. “We have a target to open booking on October 2 or October 3 after holding consultations with transporters.” The days leading to the main day of Dashain is when road transport operators and airline companies make a major chunk of their annual business. Owing to the huge demand in service, this is also the time when airlines and public transport operators increase service frequency by adding more flights and new vehicles, respectively. As a result of protest in Tarai, demand for air service is expected to increase. Meanwhile, domestic airline operators have already started taking air ticket booking for Dashain. However, airlines companies expect the booking rate to pick up only after next week. “There was huge pressure to cater to the demand for air service during the last few weeks because of the strikes in Tarai,” said Ghana Shyam Acharya, spokesperson for Airlines Operators Association of Nepal, adding air ticket bookings normally go up during the festival time anyway. Source: THT