The promotion is over! Today, trains and buses are no longer free.

The measure to encourage people to use public transportation to reduce the PM 2.5 dust problem, or free electric trains and buses, has ended on January 31, 68. People have been found to be using electric trains and buses more and using cars less, while PM 2.5 dust in Bangkok is still above the standard. The government has confirmed that there are 3 phases of measures ready to cope.

February 1, 2568, reporters reported that since the end of 2567, continuing until now, Thailand, especially Bangkok, has been facing the problem of PM 2.5 dust exceeding the standard in every area continuously. Some areas are at the orange to red level, which is a level that affects health. The government has started asking for cooperation from various agencies to use the Work From Home measure to prevent impacts on public health.

While in January 2568, the PM 2.5 dust problem has not improved, especially in the middle of the month, the PM 2.5 dust problem in Bangkok is more severe than in the past. On January 24, 2568, Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, the Prime Minister, ordered the Ministry of Transport to negotiate with BTS Group Holdings Public Company Limited and Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited.

By allowing the public to use the BTS and MRT trains for free on all lines for 7 days from January 25 to January 31, 2568. In addition, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) also allows the public to use the bus service for free for 7 days as well, in order to promote the use of public transportation and reduce the use of private cars and help reduce the PM 2.5 problem.

For the private sector's lost income, the government will compensate based on a 7-day average, totaling approximately 140 million baht, from the central budget.

On January 25, 2568, the first day of the free electric train service, there were a total of 1,634,446 electric train users/trip, an increase of 45.29% compared to the average Saturday in the three weeks of January 2568.

While on January 28, 2568 Mr. Suriya Juangroongruangkit Deputy Prime Minister and MinisterMinistry of Transport The Cabinet has requested an additional budget of 329.82 million baht from the original 140 million baht to pay compensation to electric train operators and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA).

Stating that the reason for requesting an increased budget was because the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) had not requested a budget, but later the MRTA announced that it would request a budget of 144 million baht to be used in other projects.

Similarly, the BMTA requested an additional 51 million baht, and when combined with the 133 million baht it had to pay in compensation to the BTS, the Ministry of Transport had to submit an additional budget request.

Mr. Suriya said that after implementing the dust reduction measure in Bangkok, which allowed people to ride the electric train and buses for free for 7 days, it was found that approximately 500,000 people used the service, which is 60% higher than normal, especially on the first 2 days, which were Saturday and Sunday.

As for the case where many parties have objected that the increase in the number of passengers did not come from car users, Mr. Suriya said that the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) has estimated the figures from the CCTV cameras of Bangkok (BMA), which normally uses about 10 million cars per day, half of which or about 5 million cars are private cars. It was found that from the said measures, the use of private cars has decreased by 10% or about 5 cars.

However, the Prime Minister insisted that using the budget to support people to use the free electric train is an urgent measure to solve the PM 2.5 problem. As for the WORK FROM HOME measure, it is a measure that can be done. It will help reduce travel more.

While the smog problem is not an ordinary national agenda, it is an ASEAN agenda, which the Ministers of Foreign Affairs under the ASEAN framework have discussed and requested cooperation. Thailand has prepared short-, medium- and long-term support measures.

For the PM 2.5 dust situation in Bangkok on February 1, 2568, the measurement was 46.9-74.5 µg/m60.2, with the average in Bangkok at 2.5 µg/m37.5. The PM69 value tends to decrease, but still exceeds the standard value (the standard value does not exceed XNUMX µg/mXNUMX) and is at the orange level (starting to affect health) in XNUMX areas.

The factors that caused PM 2.5 dust were from February 1-9, 68, the ventilation was at a “weak” level, along with the continuous occurrence of inversion near the surface, causing air pollution to spread limitedly, resulting in the concentration of dust particles tending to be stable (increasing and decreasing alternately).

Read all economic news throughout Thailand here.