Bangkok cracks down on smoky buses amid pollution crisis

[webfact]

Photo courtesy of Pattaya Mail

 

by Puntid Tantivangphaisal

To tackle Bangkok’s escalating air pollution, city officials inspected public buses for black smoke emissions at the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority’s (BMTA) Sathuphradit Depot on Tuesday, January 14.

 

The initiative, led by Phonprom Wikitset, Advisor to the Governor of Bangkok, and Prapat Luangsirinapa, Director of the Environmental Office, aimed to address the city’s fine particulate matter (PM2.5) crisis.

The inspections covered five buses from BMTA’s Zone 2 and Zone 4 operations. While four buses met the legal emission standard of 30% opacity, one exceeded the limit and was ordered to undergo repairs before returning to service.

 

Advisor Phonprom highlighted the urgency of stricter measures.

“Although four buses passed, they still emitted visible white smoke, which is concerning. We aim to lower the legal opacity limit to 15% in the short term.”

Phonprom also revealed BMTA’s long-term plan to replace polluting diesel buses with electric vehicles (EVs).

“The transition to EVs will significantly reduce air pollution in Bangkok once implemented.”

The inspection is part of a broader effort by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to combat PM2.5, a hazardous pollutant linked to severe health risks. The city has been grappling with dangerously high pollution levels, prompting city officials to step up initiatives targeting major contributors like vehicle emissions.

 

With electric buses on the horizon and stricter emission standards in the pipeline, Bangkok’s push for cleaner, greener public transport signals a critical step toward reducing its pollution burden. However, the move also underscores the immediate need for enforcement and infrastructure upgrades to address the city’s pressing air quality concerns, reported Pattaya Mail.

 

Photo courtesy of Pattaya Mail

In related news, schools in Thailand may transition to online classes if fine dust pollution reaches critical levels, according to the Thai Education Ministry. Teachers are advised to monitor students’ health as PM2.5 haze pollution affects several provinces, including Bangkok.

 

Source: The Thaiger 

-- 2025-01-17

 

 

[Highball]

Didn't they experiment with EV buses? Didn't one burn up??

 

Yeah, it still emits plumes of white smoke, but ftw - pass

 

555

[Will B Good]

 

3,000 buses and they checked (probably hand picked) five.

 

What a complete and utter farce.

 

"We aim to lower opacity to 15%" …..whatevs.

[petedk]

I've lived here 25 years and I remember when I first came I read a headline similar to this one and for 2 or 3 days I saw on TV that the police were stopping some buses and measuring the amount of black smoke being emitted.

 

25 years and still the same headlines while nothing has been done.

 

At least it will be easy to copy and paste the story again in 5, 10, 15 years

[Liverpool Lou]

2 minutes ago, petedk said:

I've lived here 25 years and I remember when I first came I read a headline similar to this one and for 2 or 3 days I saw on TV that the police were stopping some buses and measuring the amount of black smoke being emitted.

 

25 years and still the same headlines while nothing has been done.

Er, yes it has, most of the buses are now fueled by LPG/NGV and cannot emit black smoke, the white "smoke" is water vapour.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Although four buses passed, they still emitted visible white smoke, which is concerning.

Oh, yes, water vapour is so concerning!

[Liverpool Lou]

30 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

3,000 buses and they checked (probably hand picked) five.

What a complete and utter farce.

Statistically, 80% pass is a pretty good result.  Who knows, the rest of the buses may have scored even higher!   So much for your "utter farce".

[Will B Good]

13 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Statistically, 80% pass is a pretty good result.  Who knows, the rest of the buses may have scored even higher!   So much for your "utter farce".

 

An utter farcical response for anyone who has ever lived in or spent anytime in BKK……so if you have never lived there or visited for any length of time….you have no idea what you are talking about or you have  lived there I assume you are blind (and almost certainly dumb).

 

Go and troll someone else who CBA to entertain your pathetic attempts to annoy.

[ikke1959]

Last week I saw totally new blue busses.... I was shocked, never expected that as all over in Thailand the busses and especially in Bangkok are soo very old and so black fuming or because of the old engines polluting the air, that it was possible to have modern probably Electric busses.. So change them all and also make old car free zones as in many other cities

[black tabby12345]

Do they still use diesel bus in BKK?

I thought they already implemented the mandatory change(from diesel to NGV) more than a decade ago.

And the old type of buses(as the photo below) failed to comply with, were forced out of service in early 2010s.

 

[black tabby12345]

Ever worsening BKK air quality.

Mostly fault of the Buy-Car Campaign by Thaksin and his successive regime earlier in 21th century.

Because of that stupid policy, once eased smog(and traffic congestion) problems came back again.

Looks like a transfer of responsibility; from Pheu Thai Party to public transport.

[Purdey]

The emphasis should be on badly maintained diesel buses. There is no reason for them to emit loads of smoke other than poor maintenance.

[Will B Good]

Just now, Purdey said:

The emphasis should be on badly maintained diesel buses. There is no reason for them to emit loads of smoke other than poor maintenance.

 

Maybe the drivers have them chipped to get that 1% extra power and 10% reduction in fuel efficiency like the morons in their Ford Rangers.

[Purdey]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Oh, yes, water vapour is so concerning!

Water vapor is a greenhouse gas apparently. 

Why do we blame climate change on carbon dioxide, when water vapor is a much more common greenhouse gas? | MIT Climate Portal

[lordgrinz]

2 hours ago, Will B Good said:

 

3,000 buses and they checked (probably hand picked) five.

 

What a complete and utter farce.

 

"We aim to lower opacity to 15%" …..whatevs.

 

"See, we did something"  ......Ok, now time to move on and forget this until next year.

[petedk]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Er, yes it has, most of the buses are now fueled by LPG/NGV and cannot emit black smoke, the white "smoke" is water vapour.

 

That's probably true, but where I live I only see the old red and yellow buses daily and they emit black smoke. 

[sungod]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Statistically, 80% pass is a pretty good result.  Who knows, the rest of the buses may have scored even higher!   So much for your "utter farce".

 

I was on Rama 1 yesterday watching black smoke coming out the back of  many buses, so I'd agree its an utter farce.

[hotchilli]

This years crackdown, expect the next I Jan 2026

[OneMoreFarang]

Always those stupid crackdowns.

It's just another way to say that most of the time nobody enforces any laws. And then, on very few occasions, there are very limited crackdowns, where some officials enforce some rules for a short time - and obviously for some pictures to show how diligent they are.

TiT

[OneMoreFarang]

Just now, hotchilli said:

This years crackdown, expect the next I Jan 2026

Maybe two or three more crackdowns, and then they will say Thailand is the hub of crackdowns. 

[Thingamabob]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Er, yes it has, most of the buses are now fueled by LPG/NGV and cannot emit black smoke, the white "smoke" is water vapour.

 

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Er, yes it has, most of the buses are now fueled by LPG/NGV and cannot emit black smoke, the white "smoke" is water vapour.

Er, I'm 40 years in the oil business and I can assure you that what is being emitted from most of those buses is not water vapour.

[bkk6060]

Filthy polluting POS.  Should all be thrown in a junk pile

 

[Liverpool Lou]

4 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

6 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Er, yes it has, most of the buses are now fueled by LPG/NGV and cannot emit black smoke, the white "smoke" is water vapour.

Er, I'm 40 years in the oil business and I can assure you that what is being emitted from most of those buses is not water vapour.

Er, I don't need your "assurance", what is the main emission from LPG-fueled vehicles' tailpipes?

[The Old Bull]

I would never ride in a tuk tuk again after because you are looking tight into the exhaust pipe of these green busses that puke out black smoke, when you are stopped along side them at the lights.

[Deserted]

Could they not replace old buses with trams, hot air balloons and rollerskating for rent perhaps? Maybe skateboards too? Less pollution and more of a laugh.

[BumGun]

On 1/17/2025 at 4:52 PM, Purdey said:

Water vapor is a greenhouse gas apparently. 

Why do we blame climate change on carbon dioxide, when water vapor is a much more common greenhouse gas? | MIT Climate Portal

It is but CO2 leads to higher holding capacity for H2O in the atmosphere as vapour. (7% extra per degree of warming approx) that leads the logarithmic heating of CO2 to be mostly linear heating because of the forcing from the water vapour added to the forcing from the CO2 (and CH4 and N2O). The atmosphere cant hold more vapour (from any source be it buses, boiling your kettle or evaporation) as there is a carrying capacity in the atmosphere and it comes out eg rain, snow etc  which is why storms are stronger (more water to condense as rain) under a warmer climate and then droughts are worse (it's hotter and the water quickly evaporates ie "green droughts")

 

As a side note Gas buses still emit CO2 (colourless and odourless)  etc, just less of it then diesel and the big advantage in cities, way less particulates (the black crap coming out the back of a diesel bus that's toxic to your lungs) E-buses are way better again.

 

I was assuming you were unaware and that's a brief explanation but if you're being disingenuous, carry on.

[Purdey]

1 hour ago, BumGun said:

It is but CO2 leads to higher holding capacity for H2O in the atmosphere as vapour. (7% extra per degree of warming approx) that leads the logarithmic heating of CO2 to be mostly linear heating because of the forcing from the water vapour added to the forcing from the CO2 (and CH4 and N2O). The atmosphere cant hold more vapour (from any source be it buses, boiling your kettle or evaporation) as there is a carrying capacity in the atmosphere and it comes out eg rain, snow etc  which is why storms are stronger (more water to condense as rain) under a warmer climate and then droughts are worse (it's hotter and the water quickly evaporates ie "green droughts")

 

As a side note Gas buses still emit CO2 (colourless and odourless)  etc, just less of it then diesel and the big advantage in cities, way less particulates (the black crap coming out the back of a diesel bus that's toxic to your lungs) E-buses are way better again.

 

I was assuming you were unaware and that's a brief explanation but if you're being disingenuous, carry on.

Thanks. I really appreciate the explanation.