KATHMANDU, July 24: The government of Bagmati Province has increased the fares of public transport running in the province including in the Kathmandu Valley. The Bagmati Province Labor, Employment and Transport Minister's decision on July 2 decided to increase the fare of public vehicles running in Bagmati Province by 8.39 percent.
The decision to increase the fare of public vehicles has been implemented by the ministerial decision from 21 July. With the decision of the ministry, the fares of public vehicles running in Bagmati province including Kathmandu Valley have increased from Thursday. According to the ministry, passengers will now have to pay 20 rupees for traveling up to five kilometers in the Kathmandu Valley.
Earlier, passengers in the Valley were charged 20 rupees for traveling up to five kilometers in public transport.
Reluctance to implement adjusted transport fares
Although the fare for the distance up to 5 km has not been increased, the fare for the distance above that has been increased. Passengers now have to pay Rs 27 for traveling up to 10 km.
Earlier, the public transport fare for up to 10 km was Rs 25. According to the ministry, the public had to pay 32 rupees for traveling up to 15 km, 35 rupees for traveling upto 20 km and 40 rupees for traveling more than 20 km.
It has been decided to increase the fare of passenger public vehicles operating in places other than the Valley by 8.39 percent. The provincial government has fixed the fare of freight vehicles at 15.05 percent per ton km, increasing by 11.91 percent from 13.45 per ton km.
The ministry said that if the market price of petroleum products is 5 percent or more compared to the base price when the fare rate was adjusted last time, the fare rate of vehicles operating within the province will be adjusted accordingly.
The ministry has stated that the fares for electrically operated passenger vehicles and passenger vehicle taxis have been maintained since the 14th of April. The ministry had also increased the rent to be effective from April 14.
