Mayors of municipalities may form a body for traffic management
Kathmandu, June 11
The Legislation Management Committee of the National Assembly has suggested that the Government of Nepal make necessary amendments to the Kathmandu Valley Public Transport (Management) Authority Bill, registered by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport in the Upper House.
As per the suggestion, the government should name the proposed law as the Urban Area Integrated Public Transport (Management) Bill. The bill stipulates a provision of easy, accessible, passenger-friendly, cost-effective and safe public transport by maintaining balance between demand and supply of public transport service. The amended bill envisages establishment of a seven-member Public Transport Authority led by the mayor of the concerned municipalities to implement the regulation and operation of public transport service in one or more municipal areas. If more than one municipalities are involved in formation of the authority, it shall be headed by the mayor of the municipality having higher number of population. The authority will be an autonomous body and will make the mobility of passengers easy, accessible, reliable, cost-effective and safe within the concerned municipal areas.
The federal government shall appoint a chief executive officer through open competition to carry out daily business of the authority. A person having obtained master’s degree in engineering, management or law from a university recognised by the government, with at least five years of work experience in the concerned field would be eligible to be appointed the CEO.
Age limit of the CEO is between 45 and 60 years. The term of office of the CEO shall be five years. However, the government may remove him or her from the post at anytime if his or her performance is not found satisfactory.
The bill has defined the public transport as bus, taxi, light rail, mono rail, cable car, sky rail and ride sharing that provide public service after being registered under the existing law.
As per the proposed amendments, functions, duties and powers of the authority are to develop policies, plans and strategies relating to public transport; prepare integrated transport system appropriate to the municipal areas; introduce and implement cashless electronic fare system; operate and manage public transport; determine the standard of public transport service; develop real-time base transport service information system; manage public transport bearing in mind the interest of passengers; fix format of passenger tickets; make arrangements of toilets for passengers in and around bus stops; designate bus stops, passenger waiting sheds and parking areas and fix the fare rate.
The authority shall also coordinate with the concerned agencies for developing roads to facilitate mobility of cyclists, pedestrians and differently-abled persons and coordinate with the Government of Nepal, concerned provincial governments and local levels for effective management of public transport service.
The original bill tabled at the upper house was solely focused on public transport management in Kathmandu valley.
However, the government has been directed through the proposed amendment that a 23-member Federal Capital Public Transport Council may be established for the valley.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 12, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
The post ‘Revise public transport management bill’ appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
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