Kathmandu is a nightmare city of sort for commuters during the late evenings. There are few buses operating which cram as many passengers as possible almost as if they were animals being ferried to farm houses. If you miss a few minutes, even this painful service may not be available. As soon as it is seven or eight, there are no vessels to transport you back home and you are left with no option but to hire a cab which charges you as best as it can. It is in this background that Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s plan to operate night bus services in the capital deserves accolades. We hope for KMC’s success and expect to have the service in place from Nepali New Year, Baisakh 1 (April 13) as planned.
The service will be the first of its kind in Kathmandu if put into action. But the plan bears some streaks of doubts that need to be mentioned here. First, the night bus service is going to run for first three months on a trial basis, making it clear that if passenger turnout is low during the period, KMC could stop the service. If this happens, it will be a blow to the commuters desperately waiting for such service. Second, the most worrying concern, many development plans floated in the past have only been limited to news and papers. We had the prospect of outer ring road a couple of years ago. But it is nowhere close to us. And then there was a talk about resuming trolley bus service and restarting Sajha Yatayat. None of these prospects have materialized. Without robust homework and careful planning in economic and administrative management, the proposed bus service could meet the same fate.
Yet there are reasons for optimism. Past few months, several development projects have made rounds in Kathmandu Valley—some progressing in the fast pace. KMC’s drive to expand the valley roads has been met with applause by the commoners. (There have been grievances of authorities’ highhandedness, and we are opposed to demolishing legally built structures without paying compensation to the owners). And Kathmandu is expected to witness Metro Railway Service, for which the preliminary inception report has already been submitted to Department of Railways (DOR). Wide roads and rail service could qualify Kathmandu as an international city. And these will contribute to managing Kathmandu’s chaotic traffic too.
Yet there are other areas on which government authorities, including KMC, must focus. Among the scourges ailing the commuters in Kathmandu, is poor, untimely and unreliable transportation system. Public transportation system remains least monitored and hardly available when needed. One will have to spend hours before one gets the bus for his/her destination. The proposed night bus service, in absecne of these problems, will really benefit people of the metro.
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