BRT service in Bangkok to be suspended

BANGKOK, February 7 (TNA) - The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will stop its Bus Rapit Transit (BRT) service, linking between Sathon and Ratchapruek areas in the capital, or along the Chong Nonsi and Ratchapruek route, as of May 1, 2017 due to public opposition and its accumulated losses over the past seven years. Bangkok Deputy Governor Police Lieutenant General Amnuay Nimmano told journalists that the decision was made at Tuesday's meeting of BMA executives. The Bangkok deputy governor explained that the operation of the BRT service requires the use of one lane on the road surface, which has caused public opposition to the system, as it takes up traffic space, while some drivers drove in the BRT lane, making it impossible for the special bus service to gain any speed and to, thus, become unpopular among passengers. Besides, most passengers have been students and the elderly, who can ride the BRT buses for free, causing an annual loss of about 200 million baht to the system over the past seven years. According to the Bangkok deputy governor, the Office of the Auditor General of Thailand (OAG) has also proposed twice so far that BMA review the continuation of the BRT system, as it should not be run by BMA, as well as has not truely served and benefited its targeted groups and has not solved traffic congestion, but having affected BMA's fiscal and financial disciplines. The Bangkok deputy governor acknowledged that the management of the Bangkok Transit System (BTS) Group has already approved the termination of the BRT system once the contract comes to an end on April 30, 2017, after which the revocation of BRT buses will be announced to the public. The deputy governor stated that the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will then be asked to provide buses in the suspended route to serve the public instead, while BMA will return the traffic surface back to the public. Funded by a budget of over 2 billion baht, the BRT route was introduced during the tenure of former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayothin in 2000. (TNA)