Government rolls back fare rates for public transportation

 The government has decided to roll back the fares for short- and long-distance public transportation services. 

A cabinet meeting – on October 12 – decided to retain the fare rates, which were in practice before March 24, confirmed the newly appointed government spokesperson and minister for Communication and Information Technology Parbat Gurung in his first press meet today.

The government had imposed the nationwide lockdown effective from March 24 to contain the spread of the coronavirus. “Transportation operators are not allowed to charge more,” Gurung said, adding that 

Though, the long-haul public transportation had resumed from September 17, though the lockdown was lifted on July 21 earlier this year, they have been charging 50 per cent more as they have been instructed to carry half the capacity of transportation. “Public vehicles were allowed to carry passengers only 50 per cent of their total capacity and in lieu charge an additional 50 per cent to the regular fare,” he said, adding that the cabinet meeting withdrew its previous decision. “The government has allowed public transport vehicles to carry passengers to their capacity, and charge the earlier fare too.”

However, the transport entrepreneurs have been charging the more – in long-and-short-haul – despite the government rollback of the fare.

Consumer rights activists, doctors and Kathmandu Valley Mayors’ Forum had criticised the government’s move, saying that carrying passengers without maintaining physical distance will fuel the transmission of Covid-19 among the public.

However, chairman of the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) Yogendra Karmacharya said that hardly 300 long-route buses are leaving the Valley these days. “As almost all of them are going empty, there is no need to worry of safety,” he said, accusing the government of puzzling bus operators with its decisions at this difficult time. "Transport operators had to keep their buses off the road for six months, now even during Dashain they are running empty.”

The transport entrepreneurs have been compelled to charge high as they are going empty even during Dashain unlike previous years, when the busses used to be less for festival travel, he added.

Transport bodies transform into companies

The transport committees and associations – that are infamous for running transport syndicate – throughout the country has formally transformed into companies from today.
Organising a formal programme in the Valley today, the Federation of Nepali National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) announced that they have transformed themselves into company modality in line with government’s direction across the country. The government had been claiming to end the transport syndicate a year ago. But it has been extending the date – in the request of the transport entrepreneurs – to transform their committees under the company modality.
“All the transport bodies under FNNTE have transformed themselves into company modality as asked by the government,” general secretary of FNNTE Saroj Sitaula, said, adding that they expect support from the government in the future to strengthen and further improve the public transportation sector of the country.
The transformation of transport bodies into companies has ended the syndicate system that existed in the public transportation sector, announced minister for Transport and Physical Infrastructure Raghubir Mahaseth, inaugurating the programme.
“The government is preparing to constitute transportation management authority,” he said, adding that the authority will address overall issues of the transportation sector. “The government has drafted the bill and is likely to table it in the upcoming meetings of the parliament.”
The government had directed transport committees to operate only after registering under the company modality more than one year ago. But they had been making one or the other excuses. The government then had frozen the bank accounts and other assets of the transport committees to force them register as a ‘company’.
Though practically, there will be no difference between a transportation committee and a transport company, the only difference is that the transport companies will come under government tax net as transport committees were exempt of the tax. 
The public transport sector has transactions worth billions of rupees annually but they are not under the income tax net. Thus, the move will help government mobilise the tax from the public transport sector.
There are over 200,000 public vehicles, including passenger and goods-carrying vehicles across the country, according to the government data that has also claimed that transport committees and associations are expected to be almost 1,500 in number in the country.

Agreement ends transport cartels

Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and transport entrepreneurs agreed to end the cartel and operate under Company Act in the transport sector after marathon rounds of discussions.
In a meeting held at the Ministry in Kathamndu tonight, transport minister Raghubir Mahaseth, transport secretary and director general of the Department of Transport Management discussed with the agitating transport entrepreneurs to end the cartel. After the five-point agreement, the transport entrepreneurs have also expressed their commitment to support the government initiatives to end the transport cartel by officially withdrawing all kinds of protest programmes. The two sides have also reached an agreement to form a taskforce to make the transport sector more effective and transparent.
The two sides agreed to end all form of cartel in public transportation, to allow individuals with only one public transport to provide services, form a probe committee as per the mandamus issued by the Supreme Court, form a committee incorporating ministers and concerned agencies for consultation, and withdraw from all forms of protests.
Both the parties are going to organise a joint press conference tomorrow to announce the details of agreement reached between the government and transport entrepreneurs.
Late evening, the government has also released 106 transport entrepreneurs including Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) president Yogendra Nath Karmacharya, senior vice president Bijay Bahadur Swar, general secretary Punya Prasad Sitaula (Saroj), deputy general secretary Basanta Bhandari, treasurer Kiran Kumar Khadka and in-charge of Province 3 Dharma Raj Rimal, who were arrested by the police for not operating their vehicles on Friday.
The transport entrepreneurs – on Friday – had halted public vehicles across the country to force the government to withdraw from its decisions of implementing the new regulation that has directed all the transporters to register their transport committees as a company.
Currently, most of the public vehicles operate under the committees and are blamed for evading tax.
However, the government struck as home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa directed to arrest transport entrepreneurs, cancel route permits and freez their bank accounts. The central bank – after the Home Ministry's request – froze 245 bank accounts of transport entrepreneurs and their committees in the afternoon.