Locals give thumbs up to ailing BRT

Helps cut travel time, fares cheap, poll finds

City Hall should press on with the lossmaking Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service, more than 80% respondents in an opinion survey say.

A source close to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), name withheld, said yesterday more than 80% of respondents who are BRT passengers and motorists said they wanted the BMA to carry on with the service, as it helped cut travel time during rush hours and the fare was not expensive.

About 70% of respondents who are car owners and share the same route as the BRT said the traffic situation in the area would not improve even if the project is scrapped, the source said.

Respondents who are passengers on the bus service said they would have no problem if bus fares went up to help offset the scheme’s financial losses, according to the source.

Last week, a team of researchers from Kasem Bundit University (KBU), led by the Bangkok governor’s chief adviser Vallop Suwandee, surveyed pedestrians and motorists at the Sathon-Narathiwat intersection to find out if they want the BRT service to continue.

Hired by the BMA, the KBU survey team gathered the views of around 3,500 respondents among different groups including BRT users; car owners who share the road with BRT buses; shop owners; residents; police officers who direct traffic along the route; BRT bus drivers; city officials at bus stations and cleaners.

Respondents had different questions posed to them in a multiple choice questionnaire. Researchers read out questions to respondents and jotted down the answers for them; respondents did not write down answers themselves.

Based on the survey results, the BMA should reverse its decision to scrap the service, the source said.

The results will be submitted to Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang for consideration.

The BRT was created by the BMA as a feeder service, linking the Sathon and Ratchaphruek areas, for BTS skytrain users. The buses run on a 3.5km reserved lane on Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Road and use a 12.4km High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) lane on Rama III.

Earlier, Deputy Bangkok governor Amnoy Nimmano said the BMA’s executives decided to scrap the bus service at the end of April because the BRT had lost 1.2 billion baht over the past six years.

The buses serve about 25,000 passengers a day, falling short of the original daily target of 35,000.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon told City Hall, via the media, to find a solution to keep the service running rather than scrapping it entirely and forcing commuters who use the service to find alternative means of travel.

Pol Gen Aswin ordered the survey in response to Gen Prawit’s directives.

Originally announced during former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin’s electoral campaign in 2004, the service finally kicked off in May 2010, during the first term of former Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

The BMA invested 2 billion baht in the BRT project and paid Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTS) 535 million baht to run it for seven years, until April 30 of this year.