My campus, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Rampur Nepal is nearly 5.5 kilometers away from my current residence. With adoption of green living style I have avoided personal transportation means like bikes, scooter and I use public vehicles for getting to and from my campus. But the public transportation service in Nepal is troublesome, I rarely get a seat to sit on. More than that sometimes I consider myself fortunate when I get to step my feet in the crowded bus, no any space even to stand up. Elevating the trauma are the ill managed roads, water lodged without proper drainage and the ride is adventurous like a roller coaster ride even in the so called geographically plain area. This is just an example, and there are many more tragedy of transportation in Nepal.

Nepal is a landlocked country with nearly twenty eight million residents. Roadways, Airways, Railways and Ropeways are the modes of transport in Nepal. However, as the ropeways and railways have limited service available, one each and airways are not accessible everywhere and costly one the other hand. Thus, Road transport is the only reliable, affordable and accessible mode of transport in most of the places in Nepal. Road transport includes buses, jeeps, motorbikes, bicycles, rickshaws, tractors, tempo, draft animals (donkey, mules, yak, and horses) and so on. But the question here is how sustainable is the road transport in Nepal?

With growing population at the rate of 1.35% the need and demand of vehicles are increasing each day and nearly all vehicles depend on fossil fuel i.e. petrol and diesel. Lack of efficient public transportation has led to upsurge of private vehicles mainly motorbikes. For instance, Public transport vehicle represents less than 3% of total registered vehicle fleet in Kathmandu but their travel mode share is almost equal to that of private vehicles (cars and motorbikes), which constitute 93% of total vehicle fleet. Motorbike alone accounts for 79.71% of the total registered vehicles in Kathmandu valley (Source: Department of Transport Management 2013). Rarely, we can find the separate bicycles lanes. Recent Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2016 by Yale University ranked Nepal as fourth worst performing country in terms of air quality, poor road networks and vehicular emissions were the prime contributing factors.

Various efforts have been made time and again to improve the transportation service but none worked efficiently and effectively. In April 2013, Sajha Yatayat resumed its services with 16 large 55-seater buses with Euro 3 emission standard. 30 new such buses will be introduced in roads of Kathmandu from this September. Also, nearly 600 Safa- Tempo (Clean Three- wheeler) run in seventeen different routes of Kathmandu valley. Outside the Kathmandu valley, eco- friendly rickshaws are common. The Nepal Transport Policy 2001 was formulated to develop a transport system that is sustainable, dependable, less expensive, safe, comfortable and self-reliant. But all these policies with feeble implementation has no concrete bases for establishing sustainable transport in the country.

It is utmost that government adopts a holistic approach of transport management and not merely focus on road infrastructures. Provision of subsidy and waving tax on eco- friendly vehicles can promote their uses. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which combines best features of metro rail with the flexibility and cost advantage of road transit system needs to be prioritized. Bicycle friendly lanes and declaration of car- free space will encourage public towards clean and green transportation means. Small and outdated vehicles having higher emissions need to be phased out systematically. Hopefully in the long run, transport in Nepal becomes more convenient, efficient and sustainable.

Photo sources:

kathmandupost.ekantipur.com (Govt implements odd-even number plate system)

Elizabeth Waind (Nepal: The Public Transport Experience)

RSS Nepal

Setopati.net

Chin Cabrido