July 15: The Department of Transport Management has decided to increase the fare of public vehicles operating in long-distance route by 28 percent. Releasing a public notice on Wednesday, the department has informed that the transportation fare has been adjusted as per the decision taken on July 13.

The department has informed that the fare of public vehicles running in two or more than two provinces has been increased. Spokesperson of the department Dr Loknath Bhusal said that they have decided to increase the fare of freight vehicles along with the public transportation. According to him, the department has decided to increase the fare of passenger vehicles up to 28 percent, while freight vehicles operating in routes of Terai and hill districts have been increased by 26 and 20 percent respectively.

“We have adjusted the fares based on the investment and expenditure of public transport, market analysis, consultation with the concerned bodies, the wages of the transport workers, tires, lubricants, parts, fuel, etc,” he said.

The transport entrepreneurs have been pressurizing the government since a long time demanding an increase in public transport fare. A study committee on fare adjustment was formed on April 20 under the coordination of the director of the department Ram Chandra Poudel. Concluding that the fare should be increased, the committee had sent a report to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport on May 4.  The ministry had approved the decision to adjust the fare on July 13 after the government was sure to collapse.

Although the new fare will apply to vehicles plying in two or more provinces, the decision will not apply to short-distance vehicles.

“Currently, we have adjusted the fares of inter-province vehicles. The decision to adjust the fares of short-distance transport can be made at the local level,” said Poudel.

The Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs has welcomed the decision of fare adjustment but said that it was not as per their demand. The president of the federation Yogendra Nath Karmacharya said, “It is a good decision to adjust the fare as there has been no adjustment for the last nine years. However, as it is not scientific fare, we expect it to be adjusted by studying in the coming days.” He informed that a circular has been issued to the entrepreneurs on Wednesday to implement the new fare from Thursday.

Although the transport entrepreneurs say that there has been no fare adjustment since 2069 BS, the last time the fare of public transport was increased by 10 percent was in 2075 BS.