“Although our plan was to operate 300 new taxis, we are starting with 100 taxis for now,” said Dinesh Shrestha, general manager at TIA. “Gradually, we will bring more of such taxis in operation.” [break]
The TIA had granted the permission to the Tribhuwan Bimansthal Hawai Yatru Yatayat Baybastha Limited (TBHYYBL) one year ago to operate the taxis, but the process got delayed due to prolonging debates between the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) and other stakeholders.
“The government had already given its nod, but due to lack of coordination between all stakeholders, the initiative could not be carried out,” said Devi Ram Bhandari, spokesperson of Department of Transport Management (DoTM ). “Many other taxis´ associations also wanted to operate their taxis from TIA which was not possible, and there was the question about whether the taxis would provide service only to the tourists or to the Nepalis as well.”
According to the TBHYYBL, the new vehicles will be of Euro 4 standard, which means all the taxis will have air-conditioning, fire extinguisher, fuel conserving technology and high mileage, among others. All the taxis will be of white color. And they also informed that the taxis would charge fares set the by the government, which would be on display at Tribhuwan International Airport all the time.
“The taxis will be of Euro 4 standard which will surely provide huge comfort to the passengers,” said Bijay Swar, one of the board members of TBHYYBL. “Because of the old taxis, tourists get negative impression at the first sight.”
According to him, the total budget for the 100 taxis will be around Rs 400 million. They are also preparing to take loans of around Rs 320 million for the down payment of the taxis.
“The down payment will be paid by the loan which will be taken from banks,” said Swar.
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