E-ticket cards available in 7 provinces tomorrow

BANGKOK, Oct 16 (TNA) -- The Comptroller-General’s Department has confirmed that Mangmoom (spider) e-ticket cards, the single card covering all transport networks, will be distributed in seven provinces on Oct 17 and the cards will include e-government subsidies. Comptroller-General Suttirat Rattanachot said her department delivered the cards to Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Samut Prakan, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon and the poor people who registered in the seven provinces would be able to receive the cards at their registration venue from Oct 17 onwards. According to Miss Suttirat, the Comptroller-General’s Department tested Mangmoom e-ticket cards with the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) and the cards proved to work properly on BMTA buses. The poor who hold the cards can use them on BMTA buses from Nov 1 onwards. The application of the cards on electric trains will start mid next year. Card holders can use their cards as welfare cards to seek discounts on cooking gas as well as consumer products and the fares of interprovincial buses and trains right away. Residents in other provinces than the seven provinces can ask the Comptroller-General’s Department to issue Mangmoom cards for them if they live in the seven provinces. “The government intends to offer relevant assistance to target groups of people through electronic welfare cards. The project will be evaluated regularly and improved for the best public interest,” the comptroller-general said. (TNA)