Ahead of Dashain, advance bus ticket booking starts in Nepal

Kathmandu [Nepal], September 27 : Ahead of Dashain festival, transport operators of Nepal on Monday started window of advance booking of tickets to facilitate students and people involved in various professions in Kathmandu to travel to their home districts outside the capital.
The fortnightly festival celebrated will fall on October 7.
Passengers who will be travelling to the far edged nooks and corners of the Himalayan nation reached the ticket counters to book their seats in advance. The advance booking has started from today.
Scores of people seen waiting in queue in front of the ticket counters selling tickets to places like Dhangadhi, Tikapur, Bajhang, Bajura, Salyan, Rukum, Pyuthan and Rolpa in the west and Siraha, Saptari, Udayapur, Jhapa, Ilam and Taplejung in the east.
Last year, the advance ticket booking was not opened due to the high risk of COVID-19. However, this year it has been opened well in time in the run-up to the festivals.
"Currently the flow of passengers to take the tickets in advance isn't that high. It possibly could be because of COVID-19. In the earlier years, we had to sell tickets from morning to late evening without taking breaks or rest. But this year, pressure has been managed earlier in the morning," Dilli Raj Bhusal, a transport entrepreneur told ANI.
Bringing onto changes from this year, passengers have been issued both hand-written and e-tickets. Health safety protocols as social distancing and the like have been followed while issuing the tickets to passengers.
"I came here to book seats for myself. Advance booking has opened from today to go to Pyuthan for the upcoming Dashain," Bijay KC, a passenger planning to go his home told ANI.
At present, bus tickets are being issued from 32 ticket counters through the computerised system.
According to the Department of Transport Management (DoTM), transport entrepreneurs have opened the service for medium-distance and long-distance travellers. It has set up help desks at 14 locations in the valley to provide necessary information to the service seekers.
The DoTM has started providing services from its unit offices located in New Bus Park, Machhapokhari, Swayambhu, Kalanki, Nagdhunga, Balkhu, Dakshinkali, Satdobato, Koteshwor, Jagati, Chabahil, Gaushala, Sundhara and Old Bus Park.
According to the DoTM, the authority has not changed the fares of transport service during the festival. The government body has already raised the transport fares of passenger vehicles by 28 per cent since mid-July this year. Similarly, the charges of cargo trucks have been increased by 20 per cent in the hilly region while the fares in the Terai region have been hiked by 26 per cent.
At the new rates, the ticket price has been fixed at NRs 2,568 per individual on the route of Kathmandu-Attariya-Chainpur (Bajhang), one of the longest journeys for domestic travellers.