Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will provide free bus service starting  September 1 for city  commuters to encourage them to avoid travelling through areas where construction of three mass transit lines is underway.

Construction of the Yellow, Pink and Orange train lines is now underway, causing heavy traffic jam in the areas of construction as well as adjacent areas.

The three bus routes arranged by the BMTA to bypass the construction zones are Route 168 Suan Siam-Victory Monument covering a total distance of 32 km; Route 145 Praeksa Garage-Mor Chit 2 covering a total distance of 50 km and Route 32 Tha It Garage-Wat Po covering a total distance of 47 km.

Pol Lt-Gen Kraiboon Suadsong, commissioner of Police Strategic Office, said that, during the initial stage of the trial run of the three bus routes starting on September 1, six airconditioned buses will be put into service for Route 168.  Travelling time from the starting point to the destination is estimated at 2-3 hours.

For Route 145, six airconditioned buses will be put into service and travelling time is estimated at about two hours.  For the third route, 5 hot buses will be put into service and travelling time is about two hours.

He said that free bus trial run for the three routes will last about a month during which an assessment of public response to the service will be made.

This shuttle bus service will be another alternative for commuters to avoid using Ramkhamhaeng road, he said, adding that, in the future, the number of buses travelling along the Ramkhamhaeng road will be reduced.

BMTA’s director for operations Mr Prayoon Chueykaew said the costs for operating free bus service for the three routes are 8,000 baht/day for each airconditioned bus and 4,000 baht/day for each hot bus.

He said BMTA was discussing with Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority to waive expressway fees for the free buses.