25 to 35 pc transport fare hikes mooted

BY PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE
KATHMANDU, June 17

A meeting of a technical committee comprising government officials and transport entrepreneurs recommended to the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) Monday a hike in transport fares of 25 to 35 percent depending on routes and vehicles.
The committee formed Khagendra Mani Pokharel, Director General of Department of Transport (DoT), to recommend fare
hikes to the government made its recommendations on the basis of different factors
that go into the cost of transportation such as salary of staff, tax, insurance, repair, interest payment, fuel, battery, lubricants, overhead, depreciation and profits, besides rising fuel prices.
Unlike in the past, the committee recommended the fares hike on the basis of per kilometer fares. "We recommend to the government new fares fixed on basis of a scientific method acceptable to all stakeholders," Pokharel said after the meeting. He said that the recommendation would be submitted Tuesday to MoLTM for its endorsement.
"MoLTM would being decision on fare hikes, possibly on Tuesday," he added.
Earlier transport entrepreneurs had decided to increase transport charges by a whopping 30 to 40 percent depending on distance, in response to the government's decision to jack up the price of petroleum products.
According to Vice-General Secretary of the National Federation of Transport Entrepreneurs Dol Nath Khanal, bus and minibus fares for long haul routes (more than 250 km) have been increased to Rs 1.43 per km from the existing Rs 1.25 per km.
For medium distance routes (25 km to 250 km), the fares have been jacked up to Rs 1.40 per km from Rs 1.24 per km. Commuters on city routes will have to pay Rs 2.55 per km, up from existing the Rs 1.95 per km.
Fares for microbuses and tempos have shot up to Rs 12 and Rs 11 per respectively per person for up to a 5-km distance subject to an increase of Rs 2 for each additional kilometer. The fares were Rs 10 and Rs 9 within 5 km.
The initial meter charge for taxis has also been jacked up to Rs 11 from Rs 8 while the charge per km has increased to Rs 23 per km from Rs 20.50 per km. For tourist taxies, the charges have risen to Rs 300 for up to 5 km subject to an increase of Rs 46 for each additional km. Khanal said the fares for vehicles operating in hill and Himalayan areas have been increased 20 to 50 percent depending on the status of the roads.
In a bid to control the incidence of accidents, the committee has also recommended a monitoring system in the transport sector.
According to Pokharel, the committee has recommended to the government to form committees comprising transport entrepreneurs and consumers at the zonal level to be headed by the chief of zonal transport officers to clamp down on overloading, riding atop hoods and transporting of commercial goods in passenger buses.
"We recommended the monitoring system to reduce the number of road accidents", Pokharel told the Post.
Posted on: 2008-06-16 19:43:42 (Server Time)

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