More Thais travel by planes than buses and trains during Songkran



BANGKOK: -- The recent Songkran festival has encouraged more than 10 million Thais to journey from homes to celebrate the Thai traditional New Year, with over a million travelling overseas.

Air travel was chosen by Thais more than buses and trains.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Transport yesterday after a survey of Thai travelers using public transportation during the Songkran festival.

The survey found that 10.5 million Thais travelled from homes to tourist destinations in the country and abroad to celebrate the long Songkran festival, an increase of 3.42% from the Songkran festival last year, or 3.69% increase from the 2015 New Year festival.

It said air travels by Thais came top with 1.941 million travelers, followed by 1.75 million on public buses, and 1.1 million on trains.

Of the 10.5 million Thai travelers, 45.54% or 4.79 million traveled in the country and overseas, and 54.45% or 5.73 million traveled in Bangkok.

Among those travelling by planes, over a million travel overseas.

The Transport Ministry says it is well prepared to deal with influx and exodus of holiday revelers in the upcoming long holiday from May 1-5 and it is confident that there will be no transport-related problem during the period.

It also said during the Songkran festival from April 9-19, 316 people were killed and 1,894 were injured in road mishaps on its highway networks, am increase of 14.49% from the last Songkran festival.

Over speeding, jumping red lights, drunk driving were main causes of all mishaps while motorcycles ate the vehicles which were engaged in most fatal accidents.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/more-thais-travel-by-planes-than-buses-and-trains-during-songkran


-- Thai PBS 2015-04-23

' MISHAPS ' ?

Is this the latest euphemism for road accidents, which aren't really accidents either, caused by drunk and crazy driving and total inconsideration for other road users, traffic laws, traffic lights and signs etc. ?

Over speeding, jumping red lights, drunk driving were main causes of all mishaps while motorcycles ate the vehicles which were engaged in most fatal accidents.

As the government introduces their latest road safety measure- Cannibalistic autobot Yamaha Finos.

' MISHAPS ' ?

Is this the latest euphemism for road accidents, which aren't really accidents either, caused by drunk and crazy driving and total inconsideration for other road users, traffic laws, traffic lights and signs etc. ?

I recall flicking through a Loney Planet some years back and it said that many Thais were " notorious scofflaws" or similar when it came to road rules and regulations.

I suppose saying that many Thais are a word that rhymes with a term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates and a word that rhymes with the verb used when you propel a boat with a pole when it came to road rules and regulations might not have made it to print.

Quite obviously at this juncture in Thai aviation, it possibly wouldn't matter if you flew or went by road the risk factor is about the same

Is this some sort of lame deflection to prove that air safety isn't a problem and Thais have no problems with flying ?

Just another BS load of stats. 1.9 million Thais flew away over Songkran.. in what? There are not enough seats on all the planes in Thailand to move 1.9 million people in 10 days

Just another BS load of stats. 1.9 million Thais flew away over Songkran.. in what? There are not enough seats on all the planes in Thailand to move 1.9 million people in 10 days

Exactly.

Complete bullshit statistics. 190k Thai people flew by plane per day on average? Even if we were to say that every plane was a massive A380 carrying 550 passengers each, this would still mean that an average of 345 completely full plane loads of only Thai people, would have had to flown each day. Just over 14 an hour, 24 hours a day. One every 4 minutes!

How stupid to publish ''facts' that can easily be disproven by anyone who can perform basic arithmetic.

More Thais travel by planes than buses and trains during Songkran

... while motorcycles ate the vehicles which were engaged in most fatal accidents.

I suppose that's one way of disposing of the wreckage.

The woman who owns the big bus companies in Bangkok will once again be complaining that planes are getting too cheap and taking away her business.

Although the "statistics" are the purest BS, my impression is that flying is fast becoming the preferred alternative to buses for many Thais. Certainly the vast majority of farangs would surely choose air over road most of the time.

Just another BS load of stats. 1.9 million Thais flew away over Songkran.. in what? There are not enough seats on all the planes in Thailand to move 1.9 million people in 10 days

Strange stats, to say the least. Of the 1.9 million that travelled by air, over a million travelled overseas. They could hardly do that in a bus or train could they?. Unless of course the submarines had been commandeered.

Just another BS load of stats. 1.9 million Thais flew away over Songkran.. in what? There are not enough seats on all the planes in Thailand to move 1.9 million people in 10 days

Strange stats, to say the least. Of the 1.9 million that travelled by air, over a million travelled overseas. They could hardly do that in a bus or train could they?. Unless of course the submarines had been commandeered.

Whose submarines, Emily?

The navy boys are pleading with their army counterparts to ante up a few billion to buy them new submersibles.

And yet the Thais were successful in setting a new record for road fatalities! Fewer drivers but higher death rate. Gotta love this place.

'... 316 people were killed and 1,894 were injured in road mishaps ...' Mishaps? That's an interesting understatement.

'... drunk driving were main causes of all mishaps while motorcycles ate the vehicles which were engaged in most fatal accidents.' One way of efficiently disposing of the scrap metal.

In 2013, annual domestic traffic at Don Meaung was about 11 million passengers, and at Suvarnabhumi, about 9 million. Total 20 million for the year.

I think these are the only 2 hubs in Thailand, excepting for some very low volume regional carriers like Kan Air (out of Chiang Mai)

So, even allowing for some business growth to 2015, say 25 million projected for the year, the normal daily traffic would be 68,500 domestic, per day. Around 500,000 per week. Maybe it could be ratcheted up a bit with some extra flights.

Songkran at 1.94 million?

Just a wee bit exaggerated.

The ministry of complete twaddle!

Should be a separate section on TV forum, buried and virtually inaccessible,just for the endless stream of massaged statistics released by the various ministries.

In fact just fill the whole site up with a deluge of banner advertisements...................as an alternative to ministerial statistical sewerage.

How do you celebrate Songan if you leave the country? Most of the preposterous figures are made up by farangs fleeing the madness.

I guess the numbers here confirm another topic from a few days ago

"Few Thais can make ends meet: Survey"

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/819057-few-thais-can-make-ends-meet-survey/