Sajha and public transport
The best way to minimize traffic and ease people’s movement is not to widen the roads—although this might help—but to improve the state of our public transport. Likewise, the best way to persuade people to desist from owning two- and four-wheelers, which are the main culprits for traffic jams (and air pollution) everywhere, is to have cheap, comfortable and reliable public transport systems they can bank on. New Delhi’s streets are still chockablock with vehicles of every kind, but its traffic problems would be a lot worse without its stupendous metro rail system on which hundreds of thousands of people rely on to take them to work and back every day. New Delhi also has a dependable, albeit a little crowded, passenger buses. In fact, all important cities in Asia—Beijing, Tokyo, New Delhi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur—rely heavily on their public buses and metro systems to ferry people about these busy places. Kathmandu is perhaps decades away from having a metro rail system of its own. But it can now at least boast of one of the best run bus services in South Asia. The now ubiquitous green buses of Sajha Yatayat are indeed fabulous.
On Sunday, there was more good news for Kathmandu residents as Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal unveiled 30 new Sajha buses, which means the cooperative now has a fleet of 46 buses. There is good news for those living outside the valley as well, with eight Sajha buses now plying on long routes. Sajha Yatayat is proof that our public enterprises can also do well if they have capable and visionary leaders. For Sajha offers a stark contrast to the way our other public enterprises are run. Its buses are timely, clean and disable-friendly. Its leadership is oriented towards public service, rather than milking the entity dry for personal profit. The management is also at arm’s length from politics, which has otherwise doomed many of our other public services. Sajha is as such a source of hope that good things can happen in Nepal despite its messy politics. Perennial political instability has, in fact, become a handy excuse for delays and disarray in nearly all our vital public initiatives. Again, Sajha has achieved so much because its management was determined that it would make the scheme work come what may.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the successful Sajha model could be copied at other major urban hubs in the country, so that locals there would also stop being harassed by rude bus staff and being packed like sardines? And what if we could have long-route buses that ran on time and were safely driven? Reportedly, Sajha is planning on adding 10 more deluxe, long-route buses. It now has Nepalis dreaming of finally being able to travel on Nepal’s often rocky roads safely and conveniently. We can only hope that Sajha Yatayat continues to make new strides and to expand its fleet all over the country. Perhaps time is also ripe to seriously think of that long-delayed metro system for Kathmandu. Perhaps the people behind Sajha could be trusted with this project of public interest as well.