Ajeya Acharya

073MSTR252

Public transport vehicles in Kathmandu valley run very crowded during peak hours, while daytime
vehicles have passengers much below capacity. Economists see this situation as demand supply gaps.
Describe the situation with the help of demand and supply curves. Develop your solution based on your
analysis.

Centralization of government system causes urban growth in Kathmandu Valley. Large percentage of
People make trip for work place and education institutes throughout the day in Kathmandu Valley with
few percentage of trips like shopping and personal visit. The number traffic vehicles has increased
enormously in last decade. The public transports cover less percentage in number than that of private yet
carry more than half percentage of daily travel demand.

Demand varies with time. Morning peak hour starts after 8:30 AM, which lasts until 11 AM and again
evening peak hour starts after 5PM, which last until the 7 PM. The demand exceeds supply during morning
peak and evening peak hours and during other time, supply is far above demand. There is no any
difference of Transportation fare in normal hour and peak hour.

Solutions:

a) Optimization of time gaps between vehicles and fare rates:

During peak time, transportation problem is inelastic in demand. Increasing fare during peak hours can
reduce congestion in public vehicles. However, most of the trips in peak hours comprises of work place
and educational trips like school, college, etc. Therefore, adjustment of prices cannot be a suitable
measure to reduce the demand at peak time. The time gaps between adjacent vehicles should be
introduced scientifically so that the vehicles could be used optimally to cater the travel demand during
peak hours.

During off-peak time, transportation problem is inelastic in supply. Decreasing fare during off-peak hours
can attract people for trips like recreational activities, shopping and personal visits in large number at that
time and thus public vehicles will run with almost full capacity. The time interval of adjacent vehicles could
be increased than that of peak periods for reduction of inelasticity in supply in normal periods.
b) Providing Transit Service

The mass transit transportation system like BRT, LRT and Metro can be established at the road network
where there is high demand of travel and number of small public vehicles can be reduced. Instead of large
number of small vehicles, fewer large vehicles can handle the demand efficiently.

c) Flexible work schedule and others Travel Demand Management

Flexible work schedules like compressed work week, staggered work schedule can shift the existing peak
demand to non-peak hours as well as reduce congestion.