First "Bus Simulator" facility opened in Thailand

PATHUM THANI, THAILAND, June 11 (TNA) - The Transport Co., Ltd., under the Thai Ministry of Transport, has opened its Bus Simulator facility in Bangkok, the first of its kind in the country, aimed to help produce professional bus drivers and reduce road accidents consequently. Accompanied by a team of executives and staff members, the company's board chairman Lieutenant General Surapon Tapnanont on Tuesday presided over a ceremony to inaugurate the Bus Simulator facility, located at its bus maintenance center in Rangsit area on the outskirts of Bangkok. Lieutenant General Surapon then told journalists that the newly-opened facility is now a place where new bus drivers will be properly trained to become professional ones, as it is equipped with modern technologies for their training, instead of real buses, to not only help reduce accidents, but also save energy and ease the air pollution problem during the training. The Transport Co., Ltd. has spent its budget of about 12 million baht to develop the Bus Simulator facility, where new bus drivers will also be trained on necessary skills to deal with emergency incidents on the road, similar to real circumstances, in order to help reduce road accidents in the future and to create more public confidence in the company's service. Besides, the Transport Co., Ltd. has cooperated with Bangkok-based Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University's College of Logistics and Supply Chain, to develop a course on the training of bus drivers' professional skills, paving the way for the establishment of the company's public bus institute in the future. (TNA)