Thailand’s Bus Coach Operators | Hitting commuters where it hurts
Hitting commuters where it hurts
Furious they can’t raise fares, private operators will park over 8,000 buses in front of the Transport Ministry in protest against ‘losses over soaring diesel prices’
Nearly 10,000 buses will go on a major strike in Bangkok and its adjacent provinces today.
They are angry the Central Administrative Court ordered an injunction against bus-fare hikes.
“We can’t bear it any longer,” Private Bus Operators’ Asso-ciation president Chatchai Chaiwiset says. “We can’t absorb the losses from soaring diesel prices any more”.
Diesel now costs more than Bt38 a litre.
According to Chatchai, private bus operators will park most of their buses - more than 8,000 - in front of the Transport Ministry. They want top government officials to know petrol woes are unbearable.
Frustrated with business losses, private operators do not fear government cancellation of their licences if they strike and fail to provide normal bus services. “Let the government do what it wants,” Chatchai says “We will only dispatch natural-gas vehicles.
Private operators run about 1,700 gas buses in Bangkok and nearby.
The strike is direct retaliation against the people’s network that brought the injunction action. It argues fare increase are not justified because most buses are now natural-gas powered.
Chatchai will ask the Transport Ministry to help operators by stopping collection of daily concession fees.
“We will reduce the frequency of our bus services in a bid to survive. Passengers will have to wait longer,” Chatchai says.
Deputy Transport Minister Songsak Thongsri says the government will punish concessionaires who fail to honour contracts. “If the number of buses falls under the minimum stated in the contract, they will face legal action,” he says.
‘Monitor bus services’
Land Transport Department acting director-general Chairat Sanguanseu is instructing the authority to monitor bus services on all routes.
“If there are fewer buses, the authority must send its own buses,” he says.
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Tens of thousands of commuters were left stranded at bus stops throughtout Bangkok while trying to get to work Thursday morning, as private operators took 10,000 buses off the streets to back demands for a fare hike.
Citing expensive prices of fuel, the owners of 63 authorised bus lines which supplement the regular government services went on strike on Thursday morning as threatened.
They drove more than 100 vehicles to the transport ministry for an afternoon protest to insist on higher fares or better subsidies to help pay for higher fuel costs.
Operators said that in lieu of higher fares, they would call on the government to waive concession fees they pay to the government for operating their routes.
The government announced it will try to work with the bus operators to help them out of the energy crisis.
The initial plan is to provide Bangkok city buses with cheap fuel at special fuelling stations, said deputy permanent secretary to the Transport Ministry Piyapan Champasut.
Officials were to hold a press conference to announce an emergency six-month package of help.
Ministers meanwhile said they would hold talks with board members of the Bangkok Metro Transit Agency on a request by private operators to waive concession fees to the government.
Chatchai Chaiwiset, President of the private bus operators’ association, said he didn’t expect so many buses to go on strike. If negotiations cannot be reached with the government by today, he threatened to file a petition calling on Transport Minister Santi Promphat to resign.
Bus fares to increase
This is good news for private bus operators in Bangkok, but bad news for passengers.
The Supreme Administrative Court on Wednesday cancelled the injunction issued by the Central Administrative Court against the increase of bus fares in Bangkok.
The today’s ruling will allow the private bus operators in Bangkok to increase their fares, which is expected to start Thursday or Friday.
The injunction by the Central Administrative Court had put on hold the increase of the bus since May.
Following the injunction, the private bus operators went on strike for a day, causing chaos in Bangkok particularly for students and commuters.