The State Railways of Thailand (SRT) board agreed yesterday (Thursday) to cut the fare on the Taling Chan-Bang Sue-Rangsit Red Line train service to 20 baht, from a maximum of Bt42, tentatively by the New Year.
SRT Governor Nirut Maneephan said today that the fare reduction will cost the SRT about 80 million baht in lost revenue annually, which means that the SRT will have to seek compensation from the government.
Currently, about 20,000 commuters are using this suburban train service each day, which is 25% of the 80,000 commuters originally estimated, said the governor, adding that he expects the number of commuters using the service will pick up by up to 20% each year.
The SRT will submit the board’s decision to the Transport Ministry, to be forwarded to the cabinet for approval, said the governor, adding that he expects the new train fare to become effective around the New Year.
Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit has previously said that the government will cut the train fares on the Red and Purple lines to 20 baht as a pilot project, as the government will have to negotiate with the operators of the other mass transit systems to cut the fare prices to 20 baht.
Since the Red Line is owned and operated by the SRT and the Purple Line is owned by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand and operated by Bangkok Express Metro Company, it is not difficult for the Transport Ministry to convince them to cut the fares.
