To a layman, such a fanciful idea seems very pleasing at the first sight. Double-decker busses are popular in some cities of Europe and in parts of Asia like Hong Kong and Singapore. It is also used for site-seeing tours for tourists in foreign countries. However, while the two-storey long-distance coaches are in widespread use around the world, these buses are less common for city use. Although the idea in it itself looks attractive, the luxury buses like decks and low-floor ones are sustainable only in those cities which have modern and well-built roads. We must look at our reality first.
And the reality is that our roads are in worst conditions with potholes, cracks and uneven structures everywhere. The durability of any stretch of roadway must be 10 to 15 years, but in Nepal any new road gives way within six months’ time. Repair works move at snail’s pace as bureaucratic hassles obstruct fast service delivery. There are no proper bus stops or footpaths in the city, the wires of electricity, cables and telephone lines hang haphazardly around the capital posing a major hurdle to the pedestrians and obstructing traffic. Road contracts are rife with corruption with local contractors (in collaboration with politicians and bureaucrats) making a mess of projects. The nexus has totally weakened our road infrastructure development. Therefore, in lack of proper infrastructure will it be feasible to bring in luxury vehicles?
We must learn from our past experiences as well. The Sajha Yatayat and Trolly bus services did not fail on its own to provide effective services. It was the incompetence and apathy of the authorities that was responsible for the actual failure of the services. When roads are bad, any vehicle will lose its warranty. And not to forget, the import duty on vehicles is one of the highest in the world in Nepal. What we need at the moment is connectivity which gives access to larger number of people so that consumer products become cheaper and many people get easy access to agricultural products. In the cities, we more urgently need overhead bridges and flyovers. Even a metro link is a much welcome idea. We need to clean and repair our roads for tourism promotion.
Yes, the doubledeckers have volumes to offer to the public, but given the poor road infrastructures Nepal does not seem to be prepared for it yet. Unless there is an effective and efficient service delivery and better roadways in place, it will be futile to make bigger plans.
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