Bus fares rise after pre-election postponement

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

Fares for both Bangkok and inter-province buses will be increased on Monday, following a three-month, pre-election postponement, the Transport Ministry announced.

 

The fares were supposed to be increased on January 21 but the government decided to postpone the increase for three months until after the general election.

 

The fare for a private, non-air-conditioned bus operated under a concession from the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will increase from Bt9 to Bt10.

 

The fare of BMTA’s non-air-conditioned buses will rise from Bt6.50 to no more than Bt10. The BMTA has yet to announce the new rate.

 

The air-conditioned buses in the capital will see their fares increase from Bt11 to Bt23, depending on the distance, to Bt12 to Bt24.

 

The ministry also allowed increased fares for its new NGV air-conditioned buses to Bt11-23. The new rates will be Bt15 for the first 4km, Bt20 for 16km and Bt25 for more than 16km.

 

New non-air-conditioned buses belonging to the BMTA and its private operators under its concession will be allowed to collect the flat rate of Bt12.

 

The inter-province buses of the Transport Company and private buses running under its concessions will see no more than a 10 per cent increase.

 

The rates of inter-province buses are divided into four distances. The inter-province bus operators will be allowed to charge Bt0.53 per km for the first 40km, compared to Bt0.49 previously.

 

For the next 60km, the new rate will be Bt0.48 per km, instead of Bt0.44. The rate for 100-200km will be Bt0.44 per km, compared to the previous Bt0.40, and for 200km, the rate will be Bt0.39 per km, compared to the previous rate of Bt0.36.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30367900

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-18

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

The fares were supposed to be increased on January 21 but the government decided to postpone the increase for three months until after the general election.

 

These officials are more clever than we give them credit for.

But the delay was in no way trying to court favor for the current administration and the delay was not politically motivated