Thimphu Thromde will now manage the city bus service within the city. To this effect, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Thromde and Bhutan Post on Monday. This shift in management is for efficient use of Thromde services and also to furnish the efforts to minimize the number of vehicles in the country.
The government issued an official order to hand over the city bus service to Thimphu thromde since the public transport facilities and infrastructure within the city are under the thromde’s jurisdiction.
Karma Donnen Wangdi, the Information and Communications Minister said this is being done not because of shortcomings of Bhutan Post in the provision of city buses. “This decision of the government is primarily aimed at restructuring the mandates of relevant agencies, to provide better coordination and to ensure convenient and efficient services since the thromdes are responsible for developing the urban transport infrastructure,” Lyonpo said.
Thimphu Thromde is already working on making public transport within the city more efficient.
Kinlay Dorjee, the Thimphu Thrompon said the thromde will again import more buses to provide efficient service to the public. “The government already allocated almost Nu 100 M for this project. We plan to bring in 20 more buses soon,” he added.
He also said, for the convenience of commuters, the city bus operating hours in the evening will also be extended from 7 PM to 11 PM.
Today, there are 49 city buses in Thimphu plying through more than 10 routes every day.
Tshering Dendup
