KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 27
The Department of Transport Management opened the advance ticket booking for buses today.
The decision was taken considering the large number of people leaving for their hometowns from Kathmandu valley for the upcoming festivals.
With the opening of bookings, people have started thronging bus parks inside Kathmandu valley as they want to secure bus tickets to go home with ease.
Some transportation companies have opened extra ticket booking counters for long-route destinations while the DoTM has facilitated 14 counters in major bus parks. Booking centres at Gongabu-based Naya Buspark, Kalanki, Balkhu, Old Buspark, Sundhara, Tilganga, Chabahil, Swoyambhu, Nagdhunga, Jagati, Koteswor and Lagankhel have opened from today onwards.
Advance booking for relatively short-route destinations, which includes adjoining districts of Kathmandu valley will open only after a few days, as per the DoTM.
The government has also urged everyone to beware of swindlers and said it was committed to controlling black-marketing of tickets.
Lokhnath Bhusal, Information officer of DoTM said they were coordinating with Nepal Police to control possible black-marketing of tickets. Bhusal further asked people to buy tickets from authentic ticket counters where ticket sellers have their identity cards to avoid being cheated. DoTM has also published the ticket rates for more than 500 routes across the country.
Long route public vehicles are also strictly barred from transporting more people than the seat capacity.
Normally, in the previous years, before the COVID-19 outbreak, around three million people who used to live in Kathmandu valley for their studies, work or professional reasons used to return to their hometowns or villages during for Dashain.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 28 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
