20-baht train fare too heavy a financial burden, warns Democrat
The transport minister should take responsibility for huge losses incurred by the two train lines after their fares were reduced to just 20 baht, said a critic.
Samart Ratchapolsitte, Democrat Party’s caretaker deputy leader, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that after one week of implementing the 20-baht fare on October 16, the Red and Purple lines have experienced a 5.6% surge in passengers but their revenue has dropped by 33%.
Samart said this is based on data collected on the two lines before and after the policy was implemented. The periods covered are October 9 to 15, and from October 16 to 22.
He added that the dates October 13 and October 20 were left out because the former is a public holiday and numbers cannot be compared to the corresponding date in the following week, as it was a normal working day.
In the week of October 9-15, the Red Line earned an average of 0.65 million baht daily, but after the 20-baht fare was implemented, the revenue dropped 23% to 0.5 million baht a day, he said.
Samart said the operation and upkeep of the Red Line cost the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) approximately 1.3 million baht. Hence, he said, the government makes a loss of up to 0.81 million baht daily from the operation of this line.
The Purple Line, meanwhile, earned an average of 1.3 million baht per day, but after the 20-baht fare was implemented, its revenue dropped 38% to 0.8 million baht.
The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, meanwhile, pays the Bangkok Expressway and Metro an average of 7.39 million daily for the upkeep of the Purple Line, he said.
Hence, he said, the government must foot a loss of up to 6.59 million baht daily.
“Based on these figures, those who introduced the 20-baht policy should work to minimize losses until the effort breaks even.”
While campaigning for votes, the Pheu Thai Party had promised voters it would reduce the fare of all train lines to 20 baht to ease the burden on people.
