KMC strong in public bus management

Kathmandu Metropolitan City located in the federal capital of the country has not been able to operate buses.

Although the new bus park and the old bus park at Gongbu have been put into operation to manage the public transport that brings passengers from most of the districts of the country to Kathmandu, the bus management has failed as public buses are not allowed to enter. bus park The old bus park is not operational now.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has entered into an agreement with Lhotse Multipurpose Pvt. Ltd. to manage and park public vehicles entering Kathmandu Valley. Limited started operating a new bus park in the year 2056, after some public buses refused to enter the new bus park, public bus operations were stopped.

Especially now, microbuses plying from Kathmandu to Pokhara, Lamjung, Baglung, Myagdi and other areas under Prithvi Highway are plying on the side of the main road between Gongbu and New Bus Park. Similarly, vehicles going to Dhading, Rasuwa Nuwakot and microbuses going to Machhapokhari and Gorkha are plying from Balaju area.

Although a new bus park has been put into operation at a distance of two kilometers from Gongbuchok to Balaju Chowk, most of the microbuses and big buses are running from the side of the road. Although the traffic police decided to operate night vehicles from the new bus park in discussions with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, transport businessmen, and the Department of Transport Management, some vehicles still ply on the roads around the ring road.

Night vehicles plying in areas like Janakpur, Birganj, Bara, Parsa etc. have passed through Gaushala. Similarly, the vehicles of Sindhupalchok, Kavrepalanchok, Dolakha and Ramechhap are passing through the old bus park from the side of Koteshwar road. Microbuses are plying from Kalanki to Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Sumobuses from Balkhu to Hetauda.

For the management of public transport, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has built a parking lot on the banks of the Bishnumati River in Ward No. 26 Gongbu in the 161 Ropani area, which can accommodate about 2,000 public vehicles, but most of the vehicles leave from this place. Without a strict policy, the road.

Jagatman Shrestha, a transport expert of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, says that Kathmandu Metropolitan City has started the homework of operating all public vehicles from within the new bus park.

"Kathmandu Metropolitan Corporation has provided 161 acres of land in the new bus park for parking of long and short-distance public vehicles, all vehicles must move from within the bus park," he said.

He said that if the vehicle is not parked in the bus park, an alternative will be found. Shrestha said that the Kathmandu Metropolitan City is conducting necessary studies to reduce the traffic jams in the metropolis and for private vehicle parking.

At present, businessmen say that there is difficulty in operating buses from the road during the second phase ring road expansion project from Kalanki via Balaju-Chabhil to Koteshwar. Bishnu Khatri, an employee of Lamjung Microbus Company, says that when microbuses are taken inside the new bus park, there is a problem in entering the bus park due to the fear that the microbus will not be able to carry passengers. passengers. "We do not want to run microbuses on the road, there should be separate parking arrangements for big buses and microbuses in the new bus park", he said.

Ticket counters and haphazard bus parking on the main roads around Kathmandu's ring road also cause problems in traffic management in the valley. According to the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office, traffic management becomes uncomfortable when long-distance vehicles pass through the ring road.

Spokesperson of the office, Senior Superintendent of Police Rajendra Prasad Bhatt says that long-distance parking of vehicles on the roads around the ring road causes problems in the traffic management of the valley. "Long and short-distance vehicles should be operated from the new bus park and the old bus park in Gongbu, parking of vehicles randomly on narrow roads causes traffic jams for a long time," he said.

Spokesperson Bhatt said that the traffic police is taking action against the vehicles parked indiscriminately around the ring road. According to the Traffic Police Office, there are currently around 1.9 million vehicles operating in Kathmandu Valley and 1,500 traffic personnel are employed.

Lately, there has been an increase in the number of private and public vehicles across the country, including the capital Kathmandu, and the lack of road expansion has added to the challenge of traffic management.