Phuket's New Bus Terminal Set To Open April 21

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Phuket's new bus terminal set to open April 21

Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: -- Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) chief Teerayut Prasertpol has announced that the long-awaited Phuket Bus Terminal 2 will open on April 21.

All buses arriving from and departing to Bangkok and other provinces will operate from the new terminal, located on Thepkrasattri Road in Rassada.

Buses serving Phuket and Phang Nga will continue to use Bus Terminal 1, located on Phang Nga Road in Phuket Town.

“The first bus will depart Bus Terminal 2 to Chumphon at 5am. The last bus of the first day will be at 10:30pm to Sungai Kolok, in Narathiwat province,” he explained.

“Passengers arriving at Terminal 2 can buy tickets for taxis, tuk-tuks and motorcycle taxis from booths to reach their local destination,” he added.

“Terminal 1 will be used for buses from Takuapa and other areas in Phang Nga, as well as local buses that run within Phuket Town and to Kata, Karon, Kamala, Patong and Pa Khlok only,” he said.

Chief Teerayut observed that Phuket is an important economic location for trade and tourism within Thailand and an adequate public transportation is a necessary part of that.

“The current bus terminal opened in 1983 on the two rai of land [on Phang Nga Road]. There are only 14 parking bays for buses, but currently all the buses to Bangkok and further north, those operating throughout Southern Thailand and local buses serving routes within Phuket and to destinations in Phang Nga – 33 routes in total – are using the terminal,” he said.

“We need to a bigger and better facility like Bus Terminal 2,” he added.

The new bus terminal in Rassada occupies 9.3 rai of land. The Department of Land Transportation spent 80 million baht on buying the land and more than 47mn baht on building the terminal and its facilities.

The project was completed at the end of 2009 but failed to open due to administrative complications between Rassada Municipality and the PLTO, explained Chief Teerayut.

The Phuket office of the Highways Department informed the PLTO on October 22 last year that they intended to modify the median strip in front of the new terminal and install traffic lights to control the traffic so buses could safely enter and leave the facility.

Former Rassada Mayor Surathin Lianudom publicly campaigned against the break in the median strip, which is directly in front of his house. His wife filed for an injunction with the regional courts in Surat Thani. However, the work continued and was completed before the court was able to make a ruling.

Chief Teerayut also explained that local residents filed a complaint against the project with the Phuket Governor via the Dumrongtham Center on October 27 last year.

“The median strip has been removed and the traffic lights were installed on February 23. All we have to do now is complete the interior of the terminal, which will be done by April 21,” he said.

Source: http://www.facebook....118499681560616

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-04-05

[stevenl]

If there are booths setup for local transport that would really be an improvement.