Government Halts New Public Vehicle Registration

Kathmandu. The government has stopped the new registration of public transport vehicles.

On Thursday, the Department of Transport Management issued a circular to all transport offices in the provinces requesting to stop new registration until further notice. With this, transport offices have stopped the registration of black number plate vehicles from Friday.

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There are four reasons mentioned behind stopping registration like this - excessive air pollution, vehicle congestion, traffic jams, and rising fuel prices. This means the government seems to be trying to stop the registration of vehicles without mentioning any specific reason.

The Transport Management Act 2049 gives the government the authority to stop vehicle registration. Section 24 of the Act states that if the department deems it appropriate to stop registration in the public interest due to environmental pollution, vehicle congestion, road conditions, difficulties in vehicle movement, or other similar reasons, it can order the transport management office to stop vehicle registration.

Director General of the Department of Transport Management, Rajiv Pokharel, says that new registration has been stopped until a scientific study determines how many public transport vehicles are needed in which place.

"We have clearly stated the reasons in the notice as well. New registration will be opened only after determining how many public transport vehicles are needed where," Pokharel says, "It is not possible to say at this time when such a study will be completed."

• Happy from Transport Entrepreneurs to Workers

Transport entrepreneurs and workers have not made an official statement about this decision of the government. However, they seem happy with this decision of the government. Saroj Sitoula, Chairman of the Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs, says that they will clarify their stance after discussing the matter with entrepreneurs and the government.

"Our demand is also to manage public transport. However, we need to understand more from the concerned bodies whether stopping registration was necessary or for how long the registration has been stopped," Sitoula says, "We are in internal discussions about this, and we will make our official stance public."

Even though Sitoula said this, transport entrepreneurs and workers have openly praised it. Vijay Swanr, the immediate past president of the Federation, says that considering the condition of the roads and the number of vehicles, the ban on new registration is welcome. However, he says that the government should conduct a scientific study to determine how many and what type of vehicles are needed where.

"The biggest problem right now is the lack of a public transport database. Now, provincial and local levels are also registering public transport arbitrarily," he says, "First, this should be prepared, and then new registration should be opened based on where it is needed."

Bhimjawala Rai, Chairman of the Nepal Transport Independent Workers' Union, also fully supports this matter. He says that this decision is correct in a situation of unhealthy competition in the public transport sector.

"We have been demanding that registration should be stopped for a long time, but it could not be done by the previous governments," he says, "At least this government has shown the courage to do it."

• Government's Contradiction on Public Transport

Although stakeholders have welcomed it, this decision of the government regarding public transport appears contradictory.

The government has set a standard that public vehicles older than 20 years cannot operate, citing increasing pollution and accidents. This means vehicles registered before Jestha 2063 BS are ineligible for operation.

In other words, the government's goal is to ban the operation of old vehicles. However, while maintaining this standard, the government now seems to be encouraging the operation of old vehicles by not allowing new vehicles to be imported. On the other hand, if both the standards and directives are strictly enforced, the number of operable vehicles will decrease.

Moreover, the government, citing increased fuel prices, increased pollution, and chaotic traffic management, has not stopped the registration of private vehicles. Currently, there are approximately 250,000 public transport vehicles in the country, while the rough estimate of private vehicles is over 5.6 million.

On the other hand, this decision of the government will create problems for importers who sell large vehicles. According to the data from the Customs Department, 872 minibuses, 1226 microbuses, and about 4,618 auto-rickshaws were imported in the first ten months of the current fiscal year.

Currently, there is a legal provision that any vehicle must be registered at the concerned office within 15 days of import, so while there may not be difficulty in selling imported vehicles, it has created an uncertain situation for hundreds of vehicles whose import process has already begun with opening LCs.

Currently, local levels have the authority to register three-wheeled auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, and tempos, as well as small electric and non-electric vehicles operating within their respective municipalities. Since the department's circular also applies to local levels, those who want to buy and operate such vehicles will also be deprived of this.