Bmta To Use 6,000 New Ngv Buses

[george]

BMTA to use 6,000 new NGV buses: Samak

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Sunday that the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority would replace its bus fleets with 6,000 NGV buses and may result in cheaper fares.

Speaking during his weekly TV programme, Samak said after the new buses were in use, the BMTA would come up with monthly or daily tickets, which give deduction to commuters.

He said the government would learn about details of the special ticket prices in one or two days.

-- The Nation 2008-05-25

[stoneman]

BMTA to use 6,000 new NGV buses: Samak

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Sunday that the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority would replace its bus fleets with 6,000 NGV buses and may result in cheaper fares.

Speaking during his weekly TV programme, Samak said after the new buses were in use, the BMTA would come up with monthly or daily tickets, which give deduction to commuters.

He said the government would learn about details of the special ticket prices in one or two days.

-- The Nation 2008-05-25

I would be willing to bet that this is another case of "Saying it is so, makes it so"...I would not stand around the bus stops waiting to see these 6,000 buses..

Stoneman

[bino]

I wonder if he stands to make as much on this as he did on the fire truck deal ?!

On the positive side, I think this is great news because the archaic fleet of existing buses are definitely the worst polluters on the road!

[jumnien]

The military junta and its poster boy Apirak will oppose this vociferously. Don't be surprised if Sondhi is spouting off about it right now!

[Briggsy]

Actually the worst polluters by far are the buses run by private contractors. Here the PM is referring to the BMTA.

It is interesting to note the line about special ticket prices. True to form, new buses mean price increases in Thailand.

[billd766]

If you figure the price of a new bus at 5,000,000 baht, just a guesswork figure then SOMEBODY will have to put up 30,000,000,000 without any interest payments and this will be paid from what fund?

This will be paid for in the long term by cheaper fuel and higher ticket prices.

If you think about it the Skytrain has been running for a few years and they still haven't paid off the principal loans yet.

It is a fine idea but it needs a lot of work on the planning side to make it a viable proposition.

[ovenman]

It is interesting to note the line about special ticket prices. True to form, new buses mean price increases in Thailand.

This also begs the question of whether the fleet of new buses would be aircon or non-aircon considering the gap in fares between the two types of buses.