The public in public transport

The former Bogota mayor Enrique Peñalosa who implemented a successful bus rapid transit system for his city once said: “Democracy can be measured by the width of a country’s sidewalks.”

To this, we could add that the state of democracy in a country can also be measured by the quality of its public transport system. Going by that criteria, Nepal is not doing very well.

“We forget that the first word in public transport is public,” says urban planner Bhushan Tuladhar. “Public transport in Nepal needs a complete reform from route structuring and information management to building an ecosystem for electric mobility.”

In Kathmandu the government does not support or subsidise public transport, which are run by over 55 private operators and the semi-government Sajha Yatayat.  

The government does regulate bus fares, and the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) issues driving licenses and route permits, but it is regarded as a snake pit of corruption. The Department of Roads is more interested in building roads than managing public transport. 

Since the 1990s there have been over 15 studies on public transport in Kathmandu Valley, but zero results. The proposals range from a fanciful underground metro, impractical overhead cable cars, or trams and light rail transit.

But experts at a regional symposium on public transport this week organised by Sajha Yatayat point to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) modelled after Bogota’s transformative TransMilenio as the best mass mobility strategy for Kathmandu and other cities.

A BRT uses high-capacity articulated buses on dedicated lanes and elevated subway-style stations with priority passage at intersections for uninterrupted commutes in traffic-clogged cities.

The main advantage of BRT systems is that they are more reliable and convenient than current bus routes, they are cheaper than trains to build, and help reduce traffic and air pollution, especially if the buses are electric. Besides Bogota, BRT serves cities like Jakarta and Istanbul.

According to former senior superintendent of Police Jagatman Shrestha there are 163 public transport routes in Kathmandu Valley while there are 495 big buses plying just on the 27.2km Ring Road. 

Of the 1.8 million registered vehicles in Kathmandu Valley, only 3% of them are public vehicles. Most of them are two-wheelers, and they are a major contributor to odourless and toxic gases like carbon monoxide and ozone.

A high frequency and reliable rapid bus transit system in Kathmandu would encourage commuters to use public transport and improve air quality and public health. Tax incentives to convert diesel buses to electric would make public transport even cleaner and greener.

The government has proven that it can be done with the tax rebates on smaller electric vehicles, and similar incentives could transform public transport in Kathmandu and other cities.

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Prominent signs along the BP Highway from Kathmandu to eastern Nepal announce electric vehicle fast-charging stations every few kilometres on some stretches. On routes like Kathmandu-Dharan, or Kathmandu-Bardibas, there were as many electric public vans as there were petrol ones. Every few private car was a battery-powered BYD or Nexon. 

Indeed, 75% of new car sales last year in Nepal were electric, and the country was only behind Norway where EVs now make up 90% of total sales. The encouraging part of this is that it is not just private cars that have gone electric, but also public vehicles like vans and three wheelers.

But instead of building on this trend by announcing tax rebates for bigger battery-powered buses, Nepal Rastra Bank last month increased the ‘Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratio’ for electric vehicle financing to 40%, up from 20%. Insiders see this as a calculated move to appease the diesel and petrol vehicle lobby. 

The history of electric transportation in Nepal has often been one step forward and two steps back as governments have flip-flopped on incentives. Nepal was making progress to achieve its own target of making 20% of all vehicles on the roads electric by this year, but heftier down payments on car loans is not going to help.

The government works at cross purposes with itself, undermining its own authority and with no clear strategy to implement its own green transport goal of ensure that 90% of all private vehicles and 60% of public transport will be battery powered by 2030.

“This is a regressive move which will have people reverting to diesel and petrol vehicles, it will especially hurt electric e-buses and e-vans,” says urban planner Bhushan Tuladhar of the Rastra Bank down payment policy revision. “Electric buses are already much more expensive than similar size diesel ones, but increased down payment means some private operators who were planning to bring electric buses are rethinking their decision.”

Meanwhile, Thee Go SriBiT which is behind Nepal’s best-selling electric micro van ‘TheeGo’ has a rental solution for both passenger and cargo vehicles for short trips and long-term leases which can help potential businesses bypass Rastra Bank’s revised loan down payment ratio. It also provides vehicles under a leasehold model for low-income customers.

The sale of private electric cars has soared in Nepal, and this has reduced air pollution and petroleum imports to some extent, but there would be much bigger advantage to encouraging diesel bus operators to go electric while benefiting more people. Fewer people can afford electric cars, and their increase has added to traffic congestion in Kathmandu’s city core.  

Nepal’s installed capacity for electricity has now crossed 3,000MW, although the generation is nearly a third of that at present due to low water level in rivers. During the monsoon, however, there is surplus electricity even after exporting to India and some of the energy is wasted due to low domestic consumption.

Energy experts have recommended increasing domestic demand, starting with more rapid electrification of public transport so that it reduces petroleum imports from India, and improve Nepal’s balance of trade. The added benefit would be better air quality that will increase the average lifespan of Kathmandu’s residents.

One 42-seater bus can replace about 19 private cars or 35 motorcycles on the road. And if that bus is electric, the benefit is multiplied.

There are operators running electric buses and vans on 16 routes: 40 buses, and 258 micro vans, with 355 more on the way. There are 10 EV inter-city routes in which 62 buses and vans are electric-powered.  

Lack of state investment or subsidy is the main reason behind the limited growth of electric public transport. That makes it much cheaper to buy diesel buses. In China, all the city buses are already electric while India adopted the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) in 2015 and is now in its second phase. 

In 2024, there were 3,616 electric buses in India, with the government planning to add 50,000 more by 2027.

“The initial cost of electric buses is very high, and not all governments have that kind of money,” said Alok Jain, international Nepali export on public transport (see profile, right). “But those that have done the transition know that the total cost of ownership of EV is actually cheaper, whatever you pay upfront you recover quickly and you make a profit because operating and maintenance costs are much lower.”

Most young people in Kathmandu have no memory of the Chinese-donated Kathmandu-Bhaktapur trolley bus service which was way ahead of its time when it started in 1975. There were 22 electric buses covering the 13km distance one way, and carried up to 10,000 passengers daily.

The line was operated by the Nepal Trolley Bus Service, a branch of the Nepal Transportation Corporation (NTC). However, government bureaucracy, overstaffing and cronyism led to deteriorating service. Private bus operators were rumoured to have a hand in wrecking the electric trolley bus service. 

NTC was dissolved in 2001, and the trolley bus operations were halted in 2009. The rusting hulks of the buses can still be seen at the trolley terminal in New Baneswar which is now occupied by a government agency.

After Sajha Yatayat was revived, it started plying trunk routes in Kathmandu Valley and 40 buses in its fleet are battery powered. The company is planning to add 100 new electric buses with a government-to-government grant from China. 

The Chinese company CHTC KINWIN in Nanjing supplied the first 40 buses during the pandemic, and will also be bidding for the new lot. Since the manufacturers had not seen Kathmandu’s road conditions which are different from ones in China, the buses had low clearance and could not be used on certain routes. 

“Since the first buses were sent here two years ago, we now have a lot of experience with Kathmandu’s road conditions, and we have also seen that the EV market is booming in Nepal,” says Zhu Xiansong, Director of Overseas Sales at CHTC KINWIN.   

Zhu adds: “Nepal was the biggest buyer of electric vehicles from China last year, and this country is definitely a viable market for China. We plan to hire Nepali technicians to work for us so that they can further promote our business as well as bring back to Nepal technical know-how to maintain electric vehicles.” 

The public transport symposium also heard that even if long range buses convert to battery power, the condition of national highways at present is so poor and road travel is so dangerous that most travellers are forced to gamble with their lives. 

This week alone, at least 12 people have died on Nepal’s highways. There is a spike in fatalities during the monsoon due to landslides and floods. Three buses were buried by a mudslide in Dhading last year during September floods killing at least 35 people. Two intercity buses were swept down to the Trisuli River at Simaltal killing at least 60 people. The buses were never found. 

Haphazard engineering on steep slopes combined with reckless driving and poor vehicle maintenance are to blame. Highway accidents are now the major cause of death of young Nepalis — more than natural disasters and other diseases.

Brett R C Molesworth, Professor at the School of Aviation in the University of New South Wales Sydney says that air transport safety practices should be seen as an exemplar when improving road safety. He says: “Over the past decade Nepal has made strides to improve its air safety, it is near the world average, it is just that plane crashes get so much more news coverage than road accidents ever do.”