Bangkok To Get 2,000 Modern Air-cond Buses

[george]

City to get 2,000 modern vehicles

BANGKOK: -- The Transport Ministry plans to serve commuters in Greater Bangkok with 2,000 modern air-conditioned buses, equipped with a global positioning system and contactless transfer ticket readers, in nine months. Opas Phetmunee, acting director of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), said yesterday that the 2,000 new buses would be environmentally-friendly natural gas vehicles, and would collect a flat fare of only 10 baht that will allow passengers to change buses on newly designed web-like routes without being repeatedly charged.

He said the new buses will have wider doors and they will have sensors to prevent passengers from being squeezed.

A global positioning system will allow bus supervisors to check the frequencies of buses on individual routes and their speeds, particularly to discipline drivers.

The buses will have electronic signs to display bus route numbers and details. The signs will be useful when the BMTA needs some additional buses on particular routes because it will able to change route numbers and details on buses and move them to new routes that need more buses.

Along with the redesigned routes, the BMTA will renovate bus terminals where commuters can park their vehicles, eat, shop and get on buses.

A highlight of the new buses will be their electronic ticket card readers. Passengers will have ''radio frequency cards'' (RF cards) instead of conventional paper tickets.

The electronic ticket card system would allow the BMTA to reduce its staff, Mr Opas said.

Kamropluck Suraswadi, deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, said the RF card system would be ready for use in eight months.

Transfer tickets will allow commuters to catch not only passenger buses but also trains and boats.

State-owned transport agencies will join the new ticket card system in the first place and the ministry will encourage private operators, especially those who run electric trains, to participate.

A private company will be invited to introduce the ticket system and earn 5-7% of fares in return.

Such RF cards cost 30 baht and a card reader 6,000-7,000 baht.The new ticket system would be worthwhile regarding the end of printed paper tickets, Mr Kamropluck said.

--Bangkok Post 2006-01-07

[stumonster]

travelling to pattaya in early december I saw a fleet of brand new buses parked in a yard near bangna - wonder if they are the ones due to be added to the streets. they were all white single deck , articulated buses

[george]

4,000 new buses, shorter routes

Transfer ticket plan should cut congestion

BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will start revamping bus routes this month and deploy 4,000 new air-conditioned buses in a major exercise to provide Bangkok commuters with a more convenient and safer bus service. Opas Phetmunee, BMTA acting director said routes will be shortened from 35-40 kilometres to 20 kilometres each to form a web that will consist of inner, central and outer loops as well as routes to link the loops, the network of expressways and other mass transit services.

Nodes or bus terminals will be established to function as connecting points of the shortened routes to enable passengers to change buses at terminals without being repeatedly charged.

Terminals for the inner loop will be developed at Mor Chit 2, Victory Monument, Sanam Luang, Wong Wian Yai and Klong Toey.

Those for the central loop will be at Bang Khen, Happy Land, Bang Na, Keha Rama II, Bang Khae and Rama V, and those for the outer loop at Rangsit, Pakkret, Bang Buathong, Om Yai, Samut Sakhon, Paknam, Samrong, Suvarnabhumi and Min Buri.

The city bus state enterprise will acquire 4,000 air-conditioned buses to implement the re-routing scheme. It will deploy 592 buses in the inner loop, 768 in the central loop, 751 in the outer loop, 640 on expressways, 402 on circular routes and 847 on old routes.

Passengers will be charged a flat fare of 10 baht once and can change buses at will for one-way trips.

Mr Opas said that the re-routing plan will reduce the duplication of bus routes, thus cut the number of buses on streets and relieve traffic congestion.

Shortened routes will lead to safe service because drivers will not have to endure long routes. The conditions of new buses will also contribute to passenger safety.

The re-routing system will keep passengers waiting for only five minutes for a bus thanks to the shortened routes that will improve the frequencies of arriving buses.

Passenger convenience will also result from the freedom to change buses with the 10-baht flat fare and from re-routing because there will be new routes to reach suburbs and send commuters to electric train systems.

Electronic transfer ticket cards will be introduced to allow commuters to change buses smoothly.

As the new buses will be natural gas vehicles, the re-routing scheme will also be an environmentally-friendly project.

Mr Opas plans to try the re-routing system this month.

The BMTA supervises the service of almost 16,000 buses that operate on 430 routes. They consist of 3,623 buses of the BMTA as well as 3,485 ordinary buses, 1,113 minibuses, 2,179 small-street minibuses, and 5,512 passenger vans of concessionaires.

The BMTA has 4.9 billion baht in assets in the form of its own buses, land, garages and depots while suffering an annual loss of over five billion baht.

Along with the re-routing project, the BMTA plans to gradually replace its ailing 1,969 buses including ordinary buses that charge less than 10 baht with the new air-conditioned buses.

It plans to stop asking for a government subsidy of four to five billion baht a year to support its loss-making operation because it expects the re-routing system to make money.

To implement the re-routing scheme, the bus agency will require the government to pay about 8-12 billion baht to buy 2,000 air-conditioned buses or half the number designated for the new scheme.

The agency plans to gradually introduce the new buses on streets, with the first 500 to be deployed within eight months.

The new buses will have door sensors to prevent the mechanical doors from closing on passengers. They will also be equipped with global positioning system equipment to allow supervisors to manage the appropriate number of buses on duty on particular routes and monitor bus speeds.

The BMTA will let their concessionaires operate on the inner and central routes that do not duplicate its routes.

It will also open new routes on the outskirts of Bangkok for private operators. Suburban routes will also be assigned to its staff who may be interested in buying ailing buses from the BMTA and operating them.

The BMTA will encourage its staff to do the business because it will reduce its workforce through the introduction of the electronic ticket card system.

--Bangkok Post 2006-01-09

[markuk]

City to get 2,000 modern vehicles

BANGKOK: -- The Transport Ministry plans to serve commuters in Greater Bangkok with 2,000 modern air-conditioned buses, equipped with a global positioning system and contactless transfer ticket readers, in nine months. Opas Phetmunee, acting director of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), said yesterday that the 2,000 new buses would be environmentally-friendly natural gas vehicles, and would collect a flat fare of only 10 baht that will allow passengers to change buses on newly designed web-like routes without being repeatedly charged.

He said the new buses will have wider doors and they will have sensors to prevent passengers from being squeezed.

A global positioning system will allow bus supervisors to check the frequencies of buses on individual routes and their speeds, particularly to discipline drivers.

The buses will have electronic signs to display bus route numbers and details. The signs will be useful when the BMTA needs some additional buses on particular routes because it will able to change route numbers and details on buses and move them to new routes that need more buses.

Along with the redesigned routes, the BMTA will renovate bus terminals where commuters can park their vehicles, eat, shop and get on buses.

A highlight of the new buses will be their electronic ticket card readers. Passengers will have ''radio frequency cards'' (RF cards) instead of conventional paper tickets.

The electronic ticket card system would allow the BMTA to reduce its staff, Mr Opas said.

Kamropluck Suraswadi, deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, said the RF card system would be ready for use in eight months.

Transfer tickets will allow commuters to catch not only passenger buses but also trains and boats.

State-owned transport agencies will join the new ticket card system in the first place and the ministry will encourage private operators, especially those who run electric trains, to participate.

A private company will be invited to introduce the ticket system and earn 5-7% of fares in return.

Such RF cards cost 30 baht and a card reader 6,000-7,000 baht.The new ticket system would be worthwhile regarding the end of printed paper tickets, Mr Kamropluck said.

--Bangkok Post 2006-01-07

Lets hope they get rid of the small green buses and actually train all drivers to drive properly, fed up of being cut off and / or the road being blocked by a bus cutting across 3 lanes of petchburi. Its about time bus lanes were enforced.

[frenchFARANGbkk]

ahahahahah! 9 months! ;-)