Public transport fares go up as govt agrees transporters demands
KATHMANDU, MAR 20 -
Bus and taxi rides will be dearer from Tuesday as the government agreed to meet transport entrepreneurs’ demand to increase the public transport fares, ranging between 4.54 percent to over 8 percent, to adjust them in line with the cost of fuel.
The decision was taken during a meeting at the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) on Monday. This is the second time that the government has increased the fares in the current fiscal year citing the reason of fuel price hike.
The revised fare structure means the charge for travelling in public vehicle will go up from Re 1 for a shortest ride to Rs 70 for a longest route—Kathmandu to Sanfebagar.
Technical Director of the DoTM Prem Kumar Singh said that the fare had been adjusted for public transport, cargo carriers and cabs upon approval from the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management. “Increment is purely based on fuel price hike,” he said.
The fare for trucks and tankers has been increased by 5.26 percent per tonne per km on Tarai routes and 5.29 percent on hilly routes. Truckers had been charging Rs 3.95 per km for ferrying a tonne of goods in Tarai and Rs 8.89 per km per tonnes on hilly routes.
Similarly, the taxi fare has gone up 8.19 percent to Rs 32 per kilometre. The previous rate stood at Rs 29.70 per km. Nepal Metre Taxi Entrepreneurs’ Association had demanded the government to increase the fare at least by 8 percent after the recent hike in petrol price, which went up by Rs 16 a litre.
On Nov 2, 2011, the government had hiked the public transport fare by 9.9 percent for the same reason.
The transport entrepreneurs had been putting pressure on the government to increase the public fare by at least five percent and six percent for carriers in the wake of the fuel price hike in late February this year.
“Regardless of the percentage, the minimum fare would increase by Re 1 in round figure,” said Yogendra Karmacharya, president of the National Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs. He said that they would also be trying implement ticket system for all short and long routes as provisioned by the government.
While increasing the fare last time, the government had also made it mandatory for the transporters to issue tickets mentioning distance and fare. But the transport entrepreneurs are yet to follow the government instruction. “It has been a tough task to implement ticketing on short routes. But we are targeting to implement this provision fully by mid-April,” said Karmacharya.
Date Hiked Fare Diesel Price Petrol Price
November 2, 2011 9.9 percent Rs 76 per litre Rs 100 per litre
March 19, 2012 4.54 percent Rs 85 pre litre Rs 116 per litre
Source: Kantipur
