Syndicate in transport

There are so many drawbacks in the sector of public transportation in Nepal. Consumers could not choose the service that they want to use. They need to travel by the bus, taxi or any other means of transportation that is managed by the entrepreneurs.

In the context of Pokhara entrepreneurs forge an umbrella committee that make the rule of plying their public vehicle and consumers should follow the committee rules. For example there is Pokhara Bus Entrepreneur Committee which is one of the organizations that runs dozens of city buses under their own rules. Government sector can hardly regulate them.

Till last few months ago, there was a monopoly and syndicate of that committee but as another new bus committee tried to ply new buses, the existing committee protested it however the issued was sorted out later. Now new Bindhyabasini Transportation Committee is also providing public bus service in Pokhara.

The protest occurred as the old bus committee’s monopoly was going to be broken. This is an example of syndicate but even in taxi services and other long route bus services are also following syndicate. They all say they are providing good transportation services to the public but in reality most of the buses and taxi are old and seats are not neat and clean.

We could see syndicate even in building materials fetching service. We could not choose the truck or minivan to transport the materials. Entrepreneur committee decides which vehicle should go first for the service from the queue system.

Nepal’s Supreme Court earlier declared the syndicate as a illegal activity. But the transport entrepreneurs have been defying the verdict of court for ears. Even no government body has come up with punishment and fines to the syndicate followers. In such case consumers should be aware of their rights. On the other part, entrepreneurs should also be responsible to their passengers.

So, the government needs to be helpful on the case of new bus service starting. Entrepreneurs who support and follow the syndicate should be punished and the route permit of the vehicle should be scraped who break the government rules and regulations.

Entrepreneurs always say, the number of vehicles is going high in proportion to the required route.The public transportation vehicle that can’t provide service because of unhealthy and high competition. The matter of investment is secondary part, from the consumers’ point of view, they need good service but don’t concern the investment part.

So, the syndicate in public transportation services should be ended and punished. Consumers need to be provided good service in competitive fare.  New buses and taxis should be welcomed.