There has been an exponential growth in the number of vehicles in the country. The 76,000-odd vehicles that were registered in 1991 have now jumped to 411,727 and keep growing. It is exasperating that there is an ignominious road length of just about 16,000 kilometres in the country for this many vehicles to roll on. The Bagmati Zone, the kingdom’s cultural and political nerve centre, boasts of half the total number of vehicles with less than 600 km of pliable road. Very little has been accomplished by way of broadening the narrow roads or even constructing new ones, wherever possible. The haphazard pattern of city growth is partly to blame for the clogged arteries. It is simple science that rise in the number of vehicles must be accompanied by a proportionate expansion of the road network and associated infrastructure. As a result, efficient driveways are inevitable in the long run. At the current average registration rate of over 30,000 vehicles per year, the number of vehicles plying in Kathmandu valley a few years down the line would simply be too overwhelming for the existing roads to sustain the traffic. Even the existing roads are not maintained regularly, and this only adds up to the problem. As a result, congestion has led to vehicles sharing the road space with the commuters and cattle alike. The level of pollution is up, as is the respiratory ailments.

With all these on the background, people in the capital city still lack access to a methodical public transport system. Although there are a range of private transport operators, they are yet to develop into reliable and efficient transport system. While most of them ply on normal days, a bandh scare, for example, would bring the entire system into a grinding halt, forcing commuters to trudge to work. The private transport entrepreneurs, however, have a better track record than that of the government in managing the transport firms. Given the tardy progress the government-owned trolley buses and Sajha Bus Service have made after being given a new lease of life when they were forced out of the roads earlier, the proposition of the Kathmandu Electric Vehicle Alliance to revamp the management of the trolley bus service is the most welcome. Joining hands with the private sector to improve the way the trolley buses are run would certainly help streamline the transport service and make it efficient. It is also environment friendly. These money loosing enterprises can be turned into vibrant profit making ventures if the public infrastructure is combined with the efficiency of private management. A public and private transport sector partnership will pave the way for a conveyance system that is efficient, reliable and useful for the people.