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KATHMANDU: The government has opened advance ticket booking for long and medium-route vehicles today targeting passengers going to their homes in districts outside Kathmandu Valley and vice-versa for the upcoming Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals.
The ticket booking for short routes will be opened from Ghatasthapana, the first day of the 15-day Dashain festival, which falls on October 15 this year, said authorities.
The ticket booking has been opened targeting those who are leaving Kathmandu Valley for festivals. With the opening of the advance ticket booking, passengers have flocked to the New Bus Park to buy tickets since this morning.
The number of passengers at the bus park has increased this year in comparison to previous years. Ticket counters at the bus park have been crowded with passengers going to places like Darchula, Dadeldhura, Dhangadhi, Tikapur, Bajhang, Bajura, Salyan, Rukum, Puythan and Rolpa in the west and Taplejung, Ilam, Kakarbhitta, Udayapur and other places in the east.
Dipak Rawal, who was heading to Darchula with his four family members, reached the bus park from Lalitpur at 3 am to book a ticket. He wanted to book a ticket for October 19. But he could only get one ticket at 8:30 in the morning. "As there are few buses going to Darchula, there is a problem getting a ticket. Buses should be added during Dashain," he said. One-way transport fare from Kathmandu to Darchula has been fixed at Rs 4,600 per person.
Devraj Ojha, who reached the bus park to book a ticket for Dhangadhi, was waiting to buy a ticket. Ojha, who works for Universal College in New Baneshwor as a supervisor, wants tickets from Kathmandu to Dhangadhi for five persons. He had been in a queue since 5:00 am. If the government had made arrangements for booking tickets online, it would have been easier for passengers, he viewed.
However, Punya Prasad Sitaula, Senior Vice President of the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE), claimed that passengers easily get tickets during Dashain. "Due to damaged roads, it takes some time for public vehicles to reach their destinations. But no passengers are left behind without a bus," he said.
The government is at work to open road permits for traffic in all areas of the country for Dashain. Every year, around 2.2 million passengers leave Kathmandu for their hometowns during Dashain.
Meanwhile, Lhotse Multipurpose has added 24 booking counters at the bus park in collaboration with transport entrepreneurs. It has also opened advance ticket booking.
The counters have been added to systematically provide tickets to the passengers going home for Dashain, said the Lhotse spokesperson Pankaj Malla. "Now, we have added 24 counters. We can add more as per need," he said.
From the bus park, around 1,000 public vehicles commute between Kathmandu and more than 68 districts outside the valley on a daily basis, said transport entrepreneurs.
