[sustran] Fwd: Kathmandu anti-public transport even-odd rule during SAARC s ummit

[Paul Barter]

An interesting item seen in 
Clean Energy NEWS
Vol. 2, Number 6, January 8, 2002
...

Even/Odd Rule: A Discriminating Transportation Policy

During the recent SAARC Summit, held in Kathmandu, the government introduced
the even/odd system, where vehicles with even number plates are allowed to
enter the city on even numbered days and odd numbered vehicles in odd days,
to control the number of vehicles within Ring Road. Although similar systems
have been successfully introduced in many other cities where congestion is a
problem, the one in Kathmandu was different in that only public vehicles had
to follow this new rule while private vehicles were free to enter the city
whenever they wanted. Usually it is the other way around. Restricting the
access of private vehicles encourages the use of public transportation and
thus reducing congestion and pollution while ensuring that people have
access to affordable transportation services. In Kathmandu, however, the
system caused a lot of inconvenience to people who have to depend on public
transportation services. 

A recent study conducted by the Kathmandu Valley Mapping Prorgramme of
Kathmandu Metropolitan City, estimated that public transport vehicles
accounted for only about 17.5 percent of the total vehicle kilometer
performance on the urban road network in Kathmandu but they carried 60
percent of all passengers. This indicates that the new policy reduced the
congestion by only about 17.5 percent while causing inconvenience to 60
percent of the commuters. 

The Coalition for Clean Environment (CCE), a network of 12 environment
groups, has lodged a letter of protest in DoTM and Traffic Police Office
against the new system, which discriminates against public transportation.
Initially the government had announced that the new even/odd rule would be
applicable to all vehicles. This is logical, but later private vehicles were
spared from the rule probably to satisfy the rich and powerful sections of
our society. Even the environmentally friendly vehicles like Safa Tempos
have been restricted to ply on the occasion of SAARC Summit. CCE strongly
feels that this is discriminatory rule and should not be continued in its
present form. 

The Department of Transport Management is studying the possibility of having
the even/odd system in Kathmandu permanently even after the SAARC summit.
...

Edited by Bhushan Tuladhar, Anil K. Raut, and Bimal Aryal
Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) and Martin Chautari (MC) are independent,
not-for-profit organizations working in the field of Energy and Environment.


CEN: 254 Sahayog Marg, Anamnagar, Kathmandu, Nepal
P.O. Box: 8846, Tel: 977-1-242381 E-mail: cen at mos.com.np 

MC: Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal
P.O. Box: 13470, Tel: 977-1-256239 Fax: 977-1-240059 E-mail:
chautari at mos.com.np