The Department of Rail Transport believes that, if the Pheu Thai party’s policy to reduce the fare for electric train services in Bangkok and its suburbs to 20 baht, to travel the entire distance of a route, the government must allocate a special fund to subsidise the operators for their loss of revenues, as specified in the concession contracts.
The 20-baht electric train fare is one of the Pheu Thai party’s election manifesto promises.
According to a study, conducted by Thailand’s Development and Research Institute (TDRI), electric train fares in Thailand are about 20% higher than in Singapore, even though the per capita income of Singaporeans is much higher than that of Thais.
The average train fare for a trip in Bangkok is estimated to at 11% of the minimum wage, compared to 1.5% in South Korea, 2.9% in Japan or 3.5% in Singapore, according to TDRI.
One of the reasons…
