Plan to cap BTS fares for the next 10 years

[snoop1130]

Plan to cap BTS fares for the next 10 years

By The Nation

 

File photo: The BTS route, also known as the Green Line. // NATION PHOTO / Supakit Khumkun

 

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is trying to ensure that a BTS ride will cost no more than Bt65 until at least 2029.

 

Bangkok Governor Pol General Aswin Khwanmuang has been pushing for this ceiling ahead of the introduction of the Mo Chit–Khu Khot extension route. 

 

The maximum fare is already Bt65 but there are widespread concerns that BTS fares may rise to Bt158 if the longer route opens and there is no ceiling in place. 

 

The BTS route, also known as the Green Line, has already expanded its network significantly. 

 

At its inception it covered just the On Nut–Mochit route and On Nut-Saphan Taksin.

 

But with the state’s financial support, BTS services have already extended from On Nut to Samut Prakan’s Kheha station and from Saphan Taksin to Bang Wa.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30368156

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-22

[shady86]

Be prepared to protect your balls getting hit by the ticket gates! No money to maintain the sensors.

[ChrisY1]

They have issues finding operators of new lines....there's 3 new routes opening in the next 2-3 years and more planned....with ticket prices frozen for 10 years, there's more than likely big trouble ahead.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

With the rump of Bangkok's population on unskilled, minimum wage of 325 Baht/day or thereabouts, most of these unfortunate troglodytes cannot afford the BTS, and are thus forced onto the chaotic, steamy bus system. Any increase in BTS fares will only lead to more having to take that course. Despite some making comparisons with developed nations' systems, the BTS is expensive vis-a-vis national wage levels, and likely to become more so. Very few, if any, public transport systems worldwide are profitable; most have to be supported/subsidised through taxation at a local or central government level, in order to provide a semi-equitable service to the population at large. Sad to say, large portions of the developing BTS network in Bangkok have been handed to private companies who will fight tooth and nail to protect their profits, at the expense of ordinary citizens.

[Searat7]

19 minutes ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

With the rump of Bangkok's population on unskilled, minimum wage of 325 Baht/day or thereabouts, most of these unfortunate troglodytes cannot afford the BTS, and are thus forced onto the chaotic, steamy bus system. Any increase in BTS fares will only lead to more having to take that course. Despite some making comparisons with developed nations' systems, the BTS is expensive vis-a-vis national wage levels, and likely to become more so. Very few, if any, public transport systems worldwide are profitable; most have to be supported/subsidised through taxation at a local or central government level, in order to provide a semi-equitable service to the population at large. Sad to say, large portions of the developing BTS network in Bangkok have been handed to private companies who will fight tooth and nail to protect their profits, at the expense of ordinary citizens.

Would you rather see the SRT running the BTS network ? 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

Just now, Searat7 said:

Would you rather see the SRT running the BTS network ? 

Why do you suggest that? I said no such thing.

[hotchilli]

I've often looked down from BTS at the traffic jams below & wonder how people suffer from that everyday, in relation to wages the BTS fares are just to much for many to afford on an everyday basis traveling to & from work.

A few stops on BTS in any direction plus a bus ride or taxi ride at the start of the day & again at the end of the day can add up to half their daily wage, that's ridiculous, only forcing people down to street levels, increasing traveling times along with all the associated accidents & pollution. BTS should look at the alternative of reducing fares to entice more passengers and make profit from sheer volume of customers, alleviating issues on the roads!

 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 minute ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

Why do you suggest that? I said no such thing.

You complained about the system being in the hands of private companies. The alternative is the government-run SRT. Ipso facto, that is what you did say. What other alternative do you see other than private or state-run?

[MikeN]

7 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

 BTS should look at the alternative of reducing fares to entice more passengers and make profit from sheer volume of customers, alleviating issues on the roads!

 

Considering that the BTS is jam packed already for much of the day, where are these extra passengers going to fit in ?

 Is the governor and the BMA going to subsidize the BTS in order to keep the fares capped cheaply ? If so, where is the money going to come from ? Directly or indirectly it will come from the residents of Bangkok that do not use the BTS.....is that fair ? Is it fair that the residents of Bangkok pay for the cheap fares of Samut Prakan province residents who get on at Kheha ?

 Or are you suggesting that a private company be forced to run at a loss ? Just look at what happened with the SRT running the ARL at a loss.

 The article is scaremongering with it’s suggestions of people paying the maximum fare possible.....how many people are going to travel through 3 provinces from end to end every day ? The vast majority of people will continue living fairly close to their work and only travel a few stations, just like they do now, and only pay about a quarter of what the article suggests.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

1 minute ago, Bangkok Barry said:

You complained about the system being in the hands of private companies. The alternative is the government-run SRT. Ipso facto, that is what you did say. What other alternative do you see other than private or state-run?

You think that a little Latin phrase will somehow make your assertion correct? I repeat, point to me where I mentioned the SRT - I did not. I said that to put public transportation systems in the hands of companies, whether public limited or private, risks just the sort of pressure on fares that has been and is being applied on the BTS, to the detriment of the travelling public. 

There is no easy or completely satisfactory solution to this, because to build such systems and run them efficiently generally costs more than the revenue generated, unless the public is grossly burdened with the cost, which is, in my opinion, the present case. This has been and is the experience worldwide. In Bangkok, there is a huge disparity between what low-wage earners can afford and the cost of using the BTS. Compare, for example, Hong Kong, where fares are more affordable and wages more equitable with them.

Some parts of the BTS are already JVs with the BMA, which also has oversight of certain elements of the system. Since the contracts to build and operate the BTS were awarded almost thirty years ago, I see no possibility that another body such as the SRT could take over the system. There is however room for some form of subsidy to ameliorate the gross expense for low-wage earners, either at a government or company level.

[mike324]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

You complained about the system being in the hands of private companies. The alternative is the government-run SRT. Ipso facto, that is what you did say. What other alternative do you see other than private or state-run?

Umm, MRT Is private own and it cost more to build yet they can offer the fares at much cheaper per km travel. So there you go, the government should cap how much BTS can charge per km.

[mike324]

45 minutes ago, MikeN said:

Considering that the BTS is jam packed already for much of the day, where are these extra passengers going to fit in ?

 Is the governor and the BMA going to subsidize the BTS in order to keep the fares capped cheaply ? If so, where is the money going to come from ? Directly or indirectly it will come from the residents of Bangkok that do not use the BTS.....is that fair ? Is it fair that the residents of Bangkok pay for the cheap fares of Samut Prakan province residents who get on at Kheha ?

 Or are you suggesting that a private company be forced to run at a loss ? Just look at what happened with the SRT running the ARL at a loss.

 The article is scaremongering with it’s suggestions of people paying the maximum fare possible.....how many people are going to travel through 3 provinces from end to end every day ? The vast majority of people will continue living fairly close to their work and only travel a few stations, just like they do now, and only pay about a quarter of what the article suggests.

BTS is only packed at peak hours, where they also run additional trains. By your logic, the BTS is very flawed then, if its already at full capacity. The government should not expand it and redo the whole infrastructure. They can still add at least 2-3 carriages, platforms are still long enough to accommodate the trains.

 

The owner of BTS has a net worth of 1.5 billion dollars. You kind of think he can make a little less and benefit citizens more don't you?

 

Take a look at MRT, the fares there are cheaper per km travel. It is reasonable yet it costs more to build and they are running very well.

 

When the government expands the BTS to outer Bangkok, it is suppose to help those who take cars/buses, but majority of low income will still stick to buses because BTS is still too expensive. 

 

Vast majority who works in Bangkok don't live in the city center.

All of your points don't hold any water.

[shady86]

The main problems are 4 carriages, insufficient ticket gates and coins only one way ticket machines. With gov capping the fees the operator will not invest to solve the problems above. Consumers doesn't have choice so the company is laughing with more profits each year. Why would the operator invest and improve while they don't have competition and consumers don't have choice?

[Darkside Gray]

No profits =no investment = TIT.

[MaxLee]

The worst nightmare of commuters in the long term future: Increasing prices for a worsening service....

[Number 6]

In so many ways, Thailand just doesn't get it. The traffic is not any better than it was 30 years ago. There are no parks or green spaces. The plutocracy outwardly demonstrates it's disdain for the working classes. They don't wonder why there is division in the nation, it's no mystery.

 

Those red busses were oaf when I arrived here in 1992.