Congestion sales may be responsible for money, but how strict is it?
PUBLISHED: 27 Aug 2024 at 17: 26
Former deputy governor of Bangkok says he backs the proposal to have the government repurchase agreements for electric trains in order to keep charges at 20 baht per journey that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has suggested.
Suriya Jungrungreangkit, the commission’s secretary of transportation, previously said he concurred with Thaksin’s suggestion because it was in line with the agency’s policy of capting train service fares at that level. Samart Ratchapolsitte responded with the statement on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
The transportation and finance ministries do collaborate under the proposed plan to buy up concessions from private companies before hiring them to run the services until the original agreement terms are up.
Mr. Suriya previously stated that the government wanted to implement a 20-baht cover on all Greater Bangkok rail lines by March 2026. The State Railway of Thailand and the Mass Rapid Transit Authority ( MRT ) are currently the only companies that pay the 20-baht price cap, currently only for the Purple and Red lines.
Tickets on the two most widely used mass-transit devices vary by range, ranging from 17 to 43 baht on another MRT roads and 15 to 62 ringgit on the BTS Skytrain program.
Mr. Samart remarked that the purchase of up rail concessions is not a recent concept. Five years after the Skytrain’s opening, the government considered repurchasing Bangkok Transit System Plc ( BTS )’s first concession in early 2004 in order to keep fares at 15 baht.
However, the plan not moved forward despite there only being one range in operation at the time: the Green Line comprising the Mor Chit-On Nut and National Stadium-Saphan Taksin areas.
One way to reduce energy train prices is to “buy up the concessions,” Mr. Samart wrote on Twitter.
” Now, there are eight energy train ranges in service, covering a total length of 274 miles. Where will the funds be located? So the concept for finding the money came from the collection of fees in the business district, also known as a congestion charge or congestion pricing, in which case it was collected.
Singapore was the first state to introduce a congestion fee, called the Area Licensing Scheme, in 1975. At that time, the city-state did not have an electronic mass transit company, but it did include effective government cars.
There were concerns when the fresh service first launched because it had an impact on how people used exclusive vehicles. Yet, due to the strict enforcement of the program, everyone had to fall in line.
Police in Thailand is another issue, however.
Thailand has examined the application of traffic congestion cost measures numerous times, but it has never put them into practice. Now we will examine it once. But, I do have some concerns about the use of visitors congestion costs”, said Mr Samart.
Second, there must be electric carriages in the area where the congestion charges are to be collected, he said. He added that efficient public transportation that could get people to and from teach channels is also required.
Additionally, there must be a parking lot close to the location where the gridlock costs are collected. The government should decide whether the fees may be waived for local residents and businesspeople in the area, as well as other details like the time and date of the toll collection, the passenger counted in the vehicle, the collection method, and the particular penalties.
Lastly, Mr. Samart questioned whether the government would encourage businesses to invest in energy train services in the future and what would happen if the state were unable to recoup the concessions for the trains.
In a final point, he brought up the idea of the state relinquishing road concessions in order to lower toll costs.