16th August 2021, Kathmandu
Nepal’s National Bus Park New Bus Park, which has been providing bus tickets to passengers through handwritten paper, has started issuing bus tickets through a Computerized system.
The ticket counters inside the new bus park, which came into operation in 2056 BS under an agreement between the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Lhotse Multipurpose Company under the ‘Public-Private Partnership’, have started to cut bus tickets by connecting computers.
The ticket counter inside the new bus park has been brought into operation using commuter system and technology after the second wave of corona ban, which was closed from Baisakh 1 to make it an international level ticket counter.
With the move of the ticket counter to the ‘digital system’, the staff living at the ticket counters are now required to wear uniforms and identity cards.
With the use of technology, passengers can now know which company’s number plate car and how many passengers it carries to which destination at which time.
With the adoption of the computer system, you can easily know whether you have a seat in the car or not, so you can easily buy the ticket you want.
Currently, AC, deluxe, and ordinary public vehicles are plying in more than 65 districts from the new bus park. Thirty-two ticket counters inside the new bus park have started issuing bus tickets through the computer system.
According to the government’s policy, Lhotse has emphasized the use of technology in view of the congestion that occurs after the Kovid-19 infection. The arrangement has been made to pay for the purchase and booking of bus tickets through QR code. Lhotse has operated the service in collaboration with Laxmi Bank Limited.
Engineer Deepak Kunwar, chairman of Lhotse Multipurpose, says that the situation of congestion and passenger tension at the bus park counters will end as soon as the ticket counters are introduced with technology.
According to Chairman Kunwar, emphasis has been laid on the use of technology in counters as per the goal of developing the new bus park as an international level bus park.
Lhotse has also opened hotels and lodges inside the new bus park to accommodate drivers, co-drivers, and passengers at concessional rates. The new bus park in Ward No. 26 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City is spread over an area of 61 ropanis.
Pankaj Malla, Human Resources Chief of Lhotse, said that the hotel and lodge have been brought into operation with the aim of ensuring that long-distance drivers, co-drivers, and passengers are not bothered to eat and stay at night.
Earlier, drivers, co-drivers, and passengers from different districts had to go to hotels outside the bus park for accommodation. In order to provide clean and pure food to the drivers, co-drivers, and passengers moving around the bus park, food houses, canteens, and cafes have been brought into operation within the bus park on the initiative of Lhotse.
The new bus park remained completely closed for eight months in Nepal and other parts of the world due to the first and second waves of the corona. The Lhotse Multipurpose Company has stated that the new bus park has lost more than Rs 200 million due to the closure due to corona.
Millions of rupees are being spent monthly on the interest rates of Lhotse’s banks and financial institutions and on the salaries, services, and facilities of the employees. Similarly, Lhotse has been paying land rent to Kathmandu Metropolitan City annually for the operation of the new bus park.
The new bus park will be handed over to the Kathmandu Metropolitan City after the expiration of the agreement period, which will allow Lhotse Multipurpose Company to operate by 2102 BS. An agreement has been reached to hand over the structures constructed inside the bus park to the metropolitans.
