Thai-Lao cross-border microbus service to be launched late 2017

BANGKOK, October 10 (TNA) - A new Thai-Lao cross border microbus service will be launched for the first time next month. Major General Surapon Tapananont, Chairman of the Transport Co., Ltd. Board, under the Thai Ministry of Transport, told journalists on October 9 that his company is scheduled to operate the new cross-border microbus service by November 2017, linking Nan Province in the Thai North with Luang Prabang Province in neighboring Lao PDR. Major General Surapon said that the new 373-kilometer cross-border microbus service has been set to also pass through Lao PDR's Xayaburi Province. Besides, his government-run company will cooperate with a private firm to first run an inter-provincial, 21-seat microbus service, linking Bangkok with Buddha Monthon in Nakhon Pathom Province and Ratchaburi Province, as of October 11, replacing the earlier van service. Major General Surapon revealed that his company will gradually replace the inter-provincial van service with mini buses for the improved safety of passengers, with a batch of 55 leased mini buses set to first serve the passengers on the no-more than-300-kilometer inter-city routes by mid-2018. (TNA)