Kathmandu

In the last few months many new transportation and traffic regulation policies have been introduced aimed at managing chaotic vehicular movement in the Valley. On February 2, a regulation to curb overcrowding of micro buses, was enforced which entailed removal of rear-facing seats in microbuses. Around the same time 20 years and older public vehicles were ordered off the streets effective March 1, in an effort to mitigate pollution woes. ‘No Horn’ policy hit the Valley a month back on April 14. Reportedly, a new rule against jaywalking, and crossing roads arbitrarily, is to be imposed from May 15 onwards. These policies are guided by the Transportation Management Act 1993, with Department of Transport Management (DoTM) acting as the regulatory body.

These steps to curb traffic congestion, overcrowding of vehicles, and to mitigate road accidents has garnered huge support from the public. However, it remains to be seen if at all the implementation of these policies has successfully achieved the desired results. The practical implementation of these policies has been, time and again, questioned.

Lack of preparedness

Traffic policies are being introduced and implemented without proper physical infrastructure and preparedness to support them. 20 years and older public vehicles have been removed but new public vehicles are yet to hit the roads as promised; rear-facing seats from micro buses have been done away with but the number of micro buses plying the routes remain the same leaving commuters fighting for limited seats. Saroj Sitaula, General Secretary of Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs, stresses that the government issued the policies without intensive studies and deliberations, the implemented traffic policies lack scientific consciousness. Agreeing with him, Bishnu Prasad Timilsina, Secretary of the Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights Nepal says that the government should have prepared a conducive environment for supply of new vehicles before implementing the ban on old vehicles.

No Horn policy was brought to action without necessary expansion of roads, installation of traffic lights, re-marking zebra crossings et cetera. Before implementing penalisable rules and regulations, especially those that affect consumers the most, the government should provide sufficient physical infrastructure and appropriate traffic management.

The removal of rear-facing seats in microbuses which was introduced for the benefit of commuters resulted in worsening the condition in which every day commute is done. The policy aimed to provide comfort to passengers has made their daily travel more troublesome. Sahayog Ranjit, a day-to-day microbus commuter to Balaju from Ratnapark, argues that the policy is completely ineffective; it has made his travel even more problematic. Microbus conductors and drivers take in more passengers now than when there were seats for just four passengers on the rear-facing seats. He says, “Only four people used to sit in the rear-facing seats earlier but now the conductors make eight people stand in the same area making travel more uneasy.” He says that the rule should have focussed on managing the crowd in public vehicles instead of removing seats.

Tok Raj Pandey, Spokesperson DoTM informs that the department is aware of the shortcomings of the policies. He says, “Though the policies have some drawbacks, the decision stands. These policies will be implemented despite

hindrances and we will wait and watch what results these policies will bear.”

Spokesperson of Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD), SP Lokendra Bahadur Malla stresses that the decision to travel in crowded vehicles or not lie with the passengers themselves. He says, “We can penalise microbus

operators only if they force passengers to board their vehicles. However, most times it’s the passengers who insist on boarding an already overcrowded vehicle. Commuters lack civic sense and that adds to the existing chaos.”

Implementation of policies

Stating that 20 years and older vehicles were banned since these vehicles contributed more than 40 per cent of air pollution, Pandey says, “Since the ban we have found only about 10 vehicles which flouted the rule. I would like to believe that the ban has been effective.” Mohan Man Joshi, Spokesperson of Department of Environment, states, “The ban of old vehicles has relatively reduced air pollution, however, vehicles that emit dark smoke are still running in the Valley. The Vehicle Fitness Test Centre is also not working effectively.”

According to Malla, the No Horn policy is also showing positive results. In just a month of introduction of this policy, noise pollution has been curbed to some extent. It is quieter than before out in the streets of the City. Malla shares, “Drivers now think twice before honking unnecessarily which has reduced noise pollution significantly.” MTPD claims that the number of vehicles violating No Horn policy is decreasing by the day. Initially, 300-400 vehicles per day were penalised for not adhering to the No Horn policy but the number of vehicles flouting this rule has dropped down to 70-80 per day. According to MTPD, over 3,000 vehicle drivers have been fined so far since the implementation of the policy. Malla says that the policy has helped to lessen four to five accidents every day and has controlled road rage to an extent. He says, “Earlier 15-20 cases of road accidents were registered per day but since the introduction of this policy the cases have reduced to 10 -15 per day.”

Radheshyam Suwal, a public bus driver on Kamalbinayak-Ratnapark route, says that it’s a hassle for him to drive these days. He says, “Due to this No Horn policy it is impossible to manoeuvre the narrow streets that our City is famous for. People don’t use the footpaths to walk and cross the road as and when they please. Other vehicles try to overtake which is a nuisance for a big vehicle like mine.” According to him, although the No Horn policy is applicable across Kathmandu Valley, places outside the City area are yet to see its impact.

Lack of monitoring

Timilsina informs that many microbuses have gone on and reinstalled the rear-facing seats but there has been no monitoring activity on the part of the policymakers. He asserts, “The DoTM conducts monitoring only when they are under pressure to do so. They don’t take the initiative to do regular checks on these vehicles. There has to be continuous monitoring if these policies are to bear good results, or else it is just another policy making commuters’ lives  difficult.”

Another important case in point, Timilsina says, is the deregulation in the transport fare. It is one of the taxing problems public vehicle users face. Passengers are being cheated in the name of Deluxe and Super Deluxe travel buses for long distance travels and they are asked to often pay more than the actual fare. He says, “Transport entrepreneurs collect thousands of rupees on a daily basis. If the fare from Lagankhel to Ratnapark is Rs 17 then the conductor keeps the Rs 20 note given to him because he claims to have no change to return.” Pandey acknowledges that this practice is rampant and DoTM has so far failed to monitor the fares charged.

Further steps

Road accident is the fourth major cause of human death in Nepal. Hence, to reduce the death rate caused by road accidents, and to manage the ever-increasing traffic congestion in the Valley, DoTM as a regulatory body for transportation management, has a list of rules to implement. Pandey says, “As we lack required infrastructure and resources, we have to make do with what we have. DoTM is planning to operationalise small corridors, make prohibition to right turns and discourage private vehicles by encouraging mass transportation in public vehicles.” Currently, there are 200 transportation routes in the Valley. Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport Project has identified 66 new routes. Hopefully, with opening up of new routes major arteries will be free of traffic congestion. However, that is not where the buck should stop, there has to be proactive engagements in the policy-making level to find solutions to make public transport safer, easier and feasible for commuters.