'No plan' to ease public transport woes
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Although forecasting that the flood waters will hang around Bangkok for at least a month, the government has no idea of how to meet the urgent need of affected people for public transport services, according to a well-placed source.
“There are no plans for public transport, logistics or any remedial measures to help people,” a high-level official at the Transport Ministry, who asked not to be named, said yesterday.
Transport Minister Sukampol Suwannathat has not issued any instructions to officials to prepare a transport plan to cope with the flood crisis, the source said.
All the ministry is doing is ordering agencies to carry out their current responsibilities, so they are working individually without a good overall management plan.
No one knows how seriously the country’s transport system has been crippled, or how to provide public transport to the large numbers of flood victims both in Bangkok and nearby provinces.
The ministry should draw up an integrated plan to serve people during the flood, the source said. “The ministry focuses on solving immediate problems rather than drawing up any long-term solution.”
For instance, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority has provided buses for people as requested, while Transport Co has moved its inter-provincial bus terminals to dry areas to evacuate flood victims.
The State Railway of Thailand has only informed the public of its train schedule, while Airports of Thailand just managed Don Mueang Airport as the Flood Relief Operations Centre before the FROC had to relocate to the Energy Complex.
The Highways and Rural Roads departments are now working only to inform people of which flood-damaged roads should be avoided while preparing a budget proposal for post-flood restoration. Also, they arrange for people to get toll-free access to motorways.
“Most of the transport of both people and goods depends on private management rather than the ministry, so there has been no special order for agencies to design a comprehensive plan,” the source said.
Flood victims have complained that the ministry has shirked its responsibility to provide public transport services or any boats to carry people.
For example, some have asked for a free ferry service on Saen Saeb Canal to take commuters to work.
However, Tawalyarat Onsira, director-general of the Marine Department, said yesterday that his agency would provide free boat transport for people affected by flooding in Bangkok and surrounding areas.
“We are coordinating with the private sector to ask for free boats after receiving complaints about high prices for boat service,” he said.
The department has gathered 70 boats, some of which are being sent to several flooded districts in Bangkok as well as Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom and Nonthaburi, Tawalyarat said.
Sukampol has said an initial assessment of the flood damage to highways and roads estimated the repair cost at Bt10 billion.
As of Monday, the flood waters had washed out 88 of the total of 103 roads in 15 provinces.
The ministry has warned that 75 roads in 10 provinces are out of service.
