BMTA gears up for big jump in number of bus users

Recently, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reduced the curfew hours from 11pm to 4am from the current 10pm to 4am and allowed department stores to resume operations from 10am to 8pm, starting from Sunday (May 17).
Surachai Iamwachirasakul, BMTA director, said that as of May 15, the number of people who used bus services was approximately 500,000.
“Therefore, we expect the number of passengers to increase by approximately 100,000 people per day to 600,000 after the lockdown easing,” he said.
He explained that BMTA would increase the number of buses to 2,855 per day, up 5 per cent from the current 2,705 buses per day, especially during the morning rush hour (5am to 8am) and before the curfew hour (9pm to 10pm).
“We will extend service timings from 5am to 10pm from the current 5am to 9pm,” he said. “The last three buses will carry messages on how many more trips will be made that day.”
He asked people to follow measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, such as wearing face mask and sitting or standing at designated areas.
“We will allow up to 10 passengers to stand inside the bus,” he added. “Also, we would like to ask people to return to their homes before 7pm to reduce congestion inside the bus.”