BMTA Board nods for rehabilitation plan

BANGKOK, October 12 (TNA) - The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) Board has initially approved a business rehabilitation plan to become a new restructured framework for its more efficient operations in the coming years. BMTA Acting Director Prayoon Choygeo told journalists that the BMTA Board approved the rehabilitation plan at its meeting on Friday, after which the plan will be submitted to the Ministry of Transport and the Thai Cabinet for further consideration and a final decision in the near future. Prayoon said the rehabilitation plan includes the procurement of 35 electric vehicles (EVs), 489 natural gas for vehicles (NGV)-driven buses and 1,453 hybrid buses, as well as the improvement of another 323 existing NGV-driven buses and routes to reduce organizational maintenance costs. Besides, new modern technological systems will be adopted for the BMTA's operations, including the e-ticket through the QR-Code system, as well as the enterprise resource planning (ERP), the global positioning (GPS) and the on-bus wifi systems. According to the BMTA acting director, a cut in the number of his agency's workers by a total of more than 5,000 over the next four years and an increase in bus fares for a new fleet of buses to boost organizational revenues will also be included in the rehabilitation plan. The BMTA acting director revealed that for a remaining huge organizational debt, it will be shouldered by the public sector. (TNA)