Pheu Thai’s challenge to reduce electric train fares to 20 baht max

[webfact]

 

The Department of Rail Transport believes that, if the Pheu Thai party’s policy to reduce the fare for electric train services in Bangkok and its suburbs to 20 baht, to travel the entire distance of a route, the government must allocate a special fund to subsidise the operators for their loss of revenues, as specified in the concession contracts.

 

The 20-baht electric train fare is one of the Pheu Thai party’s election manifesto promises.

 

According to a study, conducted by Thailand’s Development and Research Institute (TDRI), electric train fares in Thailand are about 20% higher than in Singapore, even though the per capita income of Singaporeans is much higher than that of Thais.

 

The average train fare for a trip in Bangkok is estimated to at 11% of the minimum wage, compared to 1.5% in South Korea, 2.9% in Japan or 3.5% in Singapore, according to TDRI.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/pheu-thais-challenge-to-reduce-electric-train-fares-to-20-baht-max/

 

-- Thai PBS 2023-08-28

 

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[Purdey]

Maybe ask Singapore how they do it?

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, Purdey said:

Maybe ask Singapore how they do it?

Price cut..... never.

[brommers]

Why should the average low income Somchai living outside BKK and not using these trains be asked to subsidise those who do live in the capital? The ridiculous system adopted for building and operating the lines are open to massive profiteering, corruption of course, and price gouging. Cities like Singapore and Seoul regard rail commuting as an essential service in a coordinated multi modal plan and operate their systems with the commuter in mind, and not in the interests of profit skimming and other corrupt practices.

[kingstonkid]

They also will have to increase the number and size of trains.  

 

Lowering the cost will just mean that trains will be over packed.  Imagine what victory monument will look like or siam paragon and they are already overcrowded 

[Searat7]

They better think about settling a very large long-standing debt with the BTS first since Prayut kicked the can down the road. Will be interesting to see how the new government finances all of their goodies. 

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, brommers said:

Why should the average low income Somchai living outside BKK and not using these trains be asked to subsidise those who do live in the capital?

It would seem intuitive that the farther one travels on the train, the more cost efficient it is. So maybe charge less for longer commutes (ie., GT 3 stations) than shorter commutes ( ie., LT 4 stations). Help finance the former by higher rates on the latter. However, such a plan must be justified by rider statistics rather than by intuition.