Kathmandu, January 18
The Department of Transport Management is taking the concept of mass transit quite seriously, it appears.
In a bid aimed at ensuring efficent road traffic management, the department is planning to gradually remove small vehicles, particularly public vehicles with low carrying capacity, from the Kathmandu Valley.
In view of increasing pressure of vehicles in the valley, it plans to replace small vehicles like microbuses with big buses. Still, it will let modern and luxurious taxis operate.
But the idea is to also displace those taxis in the long run. The process of phasing out these vehicles will begin from the month of Chaitra (in about two months from now). Within a year, the department estimates, it will be able to remove 50 per cent of small vehicles from the road.
It is doing homework to remove vehicles that are 20 years or older from the third week of Falgun (in about one-and-a-half months from now).
Chandra Man Shrestha, the department’s director-general, said they will recommend the government to review and revise relevant legal provisions necessary to bring about desired changes.
