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| Anti Fare Rise Group Threatens to File Petition with Court |
| UPDATE : 17 May 2008 |
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The leader of the Anti-Fare Rise Group Bunchai Runreongpaisarn , commented on the Transport Ministry's initial approval for the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority or BMTA to increase bus fares, saying that the bus operators' complaints about the diesel price rise is unreasonable as most of the BMTA buses use NGV, not diesel.
Bunchai states that NGV engines have already been installed in more than 2-thousand buses out of all 3-thousand 3-hundred BMTA buses. In addition, the affiliated bus operators spent more than 2 billion baht of their budget approved by the government for the NGV engine installation.
After the Transport Ministry gave the green light for the bus fare increase, the Board of Land Transport started preparing to hold a meeting on May 20th to make a final decision on the bus operators' request. If the proposal is approved, the new bus fare rates will be effective within 5 days, or on May 25th.
Regarding the Transport Ministry's initial approval, the fares for city buses run by the BMTA will rise from seven baht to 8.50 baht and private city buses will go up to ten baht.
Air-conditioned city buses will have their fares increased by one baht for a specified distance.
If the Board of Land Transport approves the fare increase proposal, Bunchai says the group will file a suit with the Administrative Court against the unfair fare increase, together with 20-thousand signatures to sack the transport minister.
The group also demanded the transfer of Piyapan Jumparsut from the position of Transport Ministry's deputy permanent secretary, explaining that Piyapan chairs many boards of transport and has a huge conflict of interest.
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