NATIONAL10 [RELIGION (Spotlight Weelky)]

Space Matters

Commuters find themselves squeezed between overcrowding and shrinking leg room

BY AKSHAY SHARMA

Kathmandu Valley has made a bumpy transition from hippie-era minibuses to electric-powered three wheelers to today's sleek microbuses. On the long-distance routes, rickety and dusty buses have largely given way to so-called 'super coaches.' But how satisfied are the people who travel in them?

In a way, the problems of forms of public transport -- long and short distance -- are the same. There have been many visible changes in ambiance over the years. There used to be a time when the Ratna Park-Bag Bazar area was the hub of public transport inside and out of the valley. While the long-distance buses have been relocated, microbuses, minibuses and three-wheelers still stop at Ratna Park, just long enough to fetch a couple of passengers before the traffic cops whistle them away.

A crowded bus : Transport overload

The growth of passengers on the long-distance routes has led to more buses on the highways. But the interiors don't seem to have taken account of the changing physical dimensions of the travelers. "The rows of seats are so close that it is difficult to get yourself comfortably placed on the seat," says a wary and wobbly legged Stephen Lipert, a Sanskrit student in Benaras, who took a ride from the western city of Nepalgunj to Kathmandu.

"A person with a large build would not normally fit in some of the seats," he says. "And then a few rows ahead there was one lady with a boy in one arm, clinging desperately to the bar on the side of the seat."

Roshan remembers an interesting sight on the bus while coming from Dhulikhel to Kathmandu. ěA foreigner tried to crawl into an empty seat beside me, the only vacant one on the bus. I pretended to be asleep. But from the corner of my eye, I could see the big guy still struggling to sit."

Some commuters complain of bad behavior on the part of the conductors. "Conductors have been seen to be rude especially to women passengers," says Samjana, who is a regular traveler on the Dulikhel-Kathmandu route.

The replacement of smoke-belching Vikram tempos by electric- and gas-driven two-wheelers and microbuses was intended to allow all residents to breath a bit easier. Nobody has a conclusive reading on whether the pollution levels have declined.

But for many, the local transport system remains much in the same state. ěThe engines of some microbuses radiate noxious substances, which shows that they have not been serviced well," says Uttam Nepali, an automobile mechanic.

"Some of the microbuses continue to carry more people than the Traffic Police rules allow," says Amrit Bohara, who commutes from Budhanilkantha to his job in the city center every day.

"This kind of overloading blocks the driver's view which creates a major safety hazard," says Nepali.

Amrit, a frequent microbus commuter who lives in Balaju was having an interesting conversation with Diego Mambio, a Chilean on his first visit to Nepal. Diego was complaining of the lack of floor space for his bag, which he was balancing under his feet. The driver screeched to a halt at the Maitighar turning, abruptly terminating their conversation. "This is one of the scariest moments in all my travels on public transport,î Diego later told Amrit.

The shortage of space prompted another passenger to draw parallels with his occupation. "I'm in the cattle business and we have rules and regulations on the number of cattle that can be crammed into a particular space," said Wolfgang Patterson.

"That means human beings in Nepal donít have the kind of space your cattle have," exclaimed Amrit.

Then he turn to Diego in a philosophical vein. "The crowd on the bus probably tells you how crowded that country is."