SRT Board approves Red Line fare reduction
The State Railways of Thailand’s board has approved a fare reduction for the Red Line urban train service to 20 baht per ride. The aim is to increase the number of passengers by 5-20%.
The announcement was made yesterday (September 21) by SRT governor Nirut Maneepan, who explained that the initial proposal for the 20 baht fare for the Red Line mass transit train, which runs from Taling Chan to Bang Sue and on to Rangsit, will be submitted to the Transport Ministry for consideration next week. By law, any fare adjustment proposal must comply with Section 27 of the Financial Discipline Act, which specifies that if any government agency has a measure or project that affects its revenue, it must be accompanied by a budget and expenditure plan, including the implementation timeline and the benefits to be gained.
If the Transport Ministry approves the proposal, it will then be forwarded to the cabinet. The financial scrutiny process under Article 27 will be the responsibility of the Finance Ministry. It is expected that this fare adjustment will align with the policy of Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit, and is intended as a New Year's gift to the public.
Nirut further stated that based on a study of this policy, the SRT would lose revenue, and the government would need to provide compensation of about 80 million baht per year. However, reducing the fare is expected to change the behaviour of the public and encourage them to use the mass transit train service more, resulting in an increase in the number of passengers of 5-20% per year. Currently, the Red Line mass transit train service has approximately 20,000 passengers per day.
Once the cabinet approves the aforementioned policy, the SRT will need to negotiate with the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) and Krung Thai Bank to improve the software systems of the Red and Purple Line train service, specifically the Taopoon-Klong Bang Pai section so they interconnect, Nirut added.
