Be it a young woman or an old man, Kathmandu is a difficult city to negotiate for any and all involved. That is unless you happen to be one of very few who can afford to financially and somehow also guiltlessly purchase and drive your own private vehicle. I have deep admiration for those who can afford private vehicles but choose to walk, bike or jump aboard rickety public vehicles instead. You can also read that as slight disdain for those that live within the realm of Ring Road and the ease of public transport that it provides, but selfishly hog Kathmandu’s precious strips of drive-able roads and clog traffic with their private vehicles.
I understand it is a matter of prestige for the valley denizens to showcase to society that they have soared up the social ladder. Of course a few were born inside Hummers and Four-wheel drives, but the rest, the rest demonstrate their ‘development’ from bus to bicycle to motorbike to car. I suppose congratulations are in order, but Kathmandu really isn’t a city that can accommodate the middle class’s social display of success. A city as unplanned, unmanaged and unkempt as this needs the very class that is educated, aware and (better) traveled, often inaccurately tagged as the “middle” class in countries like Nepal, to consider how to ease traffic woes—not add to its misery.
Needless to say, recent destruction of what few real sidewalks the valley possessed is simply puzzling: Why destroy the path to pedestrian safety in order to satiate the whims of vehicles—both private and public? Here I was waiting for more sidewalks to adorn the city streets (perhaps elevated at least two feet from the ground to halt pesky motorbikes that often dangerously zoom down when traffic is especially taut). Pedestrians don’t enjoy putting themselves in harm’s way by walking on roads designed for wheels either, but when hawkers and shops invade sidewalks and skywalks, there’s no option but to scuttle down the sides of busy street. Of course this perturbs drivers and they blare their horns in protest, but it’s all also a classic case of the chicken or the egg first.
It is, of course, no doubt the patrons of public transport whose fault it is that we get on and off anywhere we please—be it in Kupondole, on the Bagmati Pool or at the intersection of Thapathali. Traffic Police’s new tactics, threats and fines have, however, successfully discouraged khalashi dais from stopping anywhere passengers like. But buses are still packed as though each is the last one headed home, fares are inflation-ecstatic at best and made of lies at worst; safety is perhaps at the bottom of the list of concerns and lines to get into vehicles unheard of. Yes, there are plenty of problems with public transportation, but it is also one of very few viable solutions to meet the needs of an ever-expanding commuter culture.
Kathmandu is the blueprint for the country, be it in terms of waste management or public transportation, as it sets the trends and dictates the terms for places like Biratnagar and Nepalgunj. Getting it right here or at least steering away from the path of self-destruction may mean the same might be done in other parts of the country. As such, talks of commencement of the night bus services, courtesy of KMC, is a welcome experiment. And, it is an ‘experiment’ if recent news reports are anything to go by. It will take time to see if the joke’s on us though—those laughable double-deckers will be ploughing the same pot-holed but much emptier streets of night-time Kalanki, Balkhu, Tinkune and Gaushala to make their way to Kathmanudu public transportation epicenter, Ratnapark.
The city´s planned night bus service is welcome news. Better, if we can rid of private vehicles
Of course we’re wondering why the double-deckers (the case against which has been made by plenty in months past). Extending the safa-tempos and micro services later into the night seems like a sensible option to people like me, who are non-experts but frequent users of public transportation. Fares may increase, though one hopes not exorbitantly, and initially, there may be glitches (after all servicing passengers, at night, in the dead of winter, every two hours, is questionable) but in the long run neither the passengers nor the saujhis will, hopefully, have to go at a loss.
For those trickling into the valley from Kakarvitta and Dhangadi in the wee hours of the night to those partying in Thamel and those in between, night buses will be a godsend for obvious reasons. By those “in between” I mean the professionals who get stuck at work into the early evenings or the audience at Gurukul’s darling performances that end at dusk or those dashing home after delivering dinner to a sick one at a hospital. And I say “obvious reasons” because I don’t need to share my story of forking out over Rs.1,100 at 8:30PM to get from Naya Baneshwar to Bhainshipati last week because you probably have a similar tale.
Most people who call Kathmandu their home cannot afford private vehicles, and thankfully so. If everyone in the valley that wanted to did purchase their own scootie or Santro no amount of destroying sidewalks would ease traffic, congestion or pollution. But, developing a safer, more reliable and affordable public transportation on the other hand will ensure Kathmanduites can make this city their home. Introducing night time public buses is one good start, getting rid of your private vehicle is another.
sradda.thapa@gmail.com
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