Boat away, boatay

What a fiasco.

The rivertaxi companies were blocking all the major rivers of the valley, trying to push the government to take back its deregulation on river traffic. Anyone --registered or not-- could operate a human-powered floating device of reasonable size, for recreational or transportation purposes, the regulation basically said. There was some leeway for minor commercial operation -- if you're going from Sundarijal to Balkhu anyway, and found two people who were doing the same, it was okay for you to charge them money. Additionally, if the boat was small enough, use of silent electric motors to tow it against the flow was allowed -- it would be pretty ridiculous if all the small boats and kayaks were abandoned in Chobar if the owners weren't allowed to power it back to base.

The rivertaxi association claimed it impinged on their rights as the sole commercial operators of such crafts, and could be a safety hazard. Allowing little kids and young teenagers out in the river on their own, they argued, the government will have blood in its hands if something happened to them, and we will be left cleaning the mess up afterwards. The only reason for their protest was -- if people could operate their own crafts, the demand for their services would go down, and they couldn't make people pay through the nose as they were doing previously. There were some legitimate concerns -- Dhobikhola, Bishnumati, and other tributaries were indeed too small to accommodate a lot of water traffic, but their concerns were solely for very selfish reasons. All the studies done had suggested the deregulation would significantly bring down the costs for consumers without increasing the traffic significantly. They knew that, and they were very much against the former.

The entire kerfuffle became moot eventually. As the apps started coming online, they facilitated 'all you can ride' passes for the valley. Catch a boat or a steamer from anywhere, be dropped anywhere you want to, all for a fixed monthly price. The app companies started seeing considerable usage from regular commuters. It wasn't the price or the convenience as much as the fact that going to the regular boat companies made them feel like they were being taken in for. Even if I'm being squeezed, I want to exactly where the squeezed money is going to, and what I'm being squeezed for. I like the transparency in the apps, the rivertaxi association never explains why the prices are what they are like, and it's hard to predict how much you will pay. Too much tension just to get on a boat to go across the valley, was how an elderly man interviewed by the papers explained. More boats with the apps, and more apps led to more independent boat owners working with the apps. Soon the boat-owners realized that they didn't need the apps anymore if they could create their own network of some kind. As more saw the benefits and savings in owning their crafts, boat ownership in Kathmandu went up by 800% over three years. And that's how the real estate on the riverbanks, otherwise one of the cheapest due to the odors, got to be one of the most expensive in the world.