The conductor, a stout boy who was not more than 14, asked a seated passenger to slightly shift, and asked the girl to get in. She refused. [break]
Nikita Bhatta is one of many city denizens who travel by public transports every day. A student of nursing at Sushma Koirala Memorial Nursing College, Old Baneshwar, she was returning home from her hostel for a two week´s vacation. A microbus was in front of her, and yet she was reluctant to enter because it´s packed beyond its capacity.
"Despite the sweltering heat, I´d rather wait than get in and suffocate not only from lack of air but also from sweat," Bhatta says. Many people might well undergo similar thoughts until night starts to fall.
In the capital populated with as much as four million people, packed public vehicles run to and fro in the bustling and overcrowded streets. As a result most of the people push themselves on board with little or no enthusiasm to wait for the next vehicle.
"It´s really difficult to get into the vehicles, especially during the evenings when offices close and people swarm in," she added.
To add to the pain, traffic jams due to big vehicles plying on the streets make it almost unbearable to stand for passengers who are aching for some air to breathe.
Another passenger, Hira Roka said that it´s difficult and stuffy inside. "However, I have to go as finding seats is gets more difficult as night falls. It´s uncomfortable inside but we have to adjust."
In seats where only two people can accommodate themselves, drivers and conductors squeeze in another passenger where the latter hardly sits.
"Brother, shift a bit. There´s seat there," the conductor yelled to a passenger.
"There are many people apart from the seated passengers who need to travel, and we´re trying to help the utmost," Ram Shrestha, the driver of the bus, said.
"Every vehicle has a carrying capacity. Overloading deters vehicle´s performance and makes the passengers uncomfortable," Kamal Singh Khatri, sub-inspector, Metropolitan Traffic Police, said.
"It´s very risky to overload a vehicle because there is high chance that the axles break. More than that, it´s difficult to turn and steering gets tough. This creates high accidental risks," Khatri added.
"Passengers and bus operators should themselves be conscious about the problem and solve it. State doesn´t need to do intervene in it," said Binod Singh, Deputy Inspector General of Metropolitan Traffic Police.
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