Too expensive to ride

What if you are a single mum who earns a daily minimum wage of 331 baht in Bangkok? You might find it hard to make ends meet and save for a rainy day. However, a plan to raise the electric train fare ceiling on the Green Line to 104 baht per trip could especially be a heavy blow. Fortunately, you can breathe a sigh of relief — at least for now — because the plan was suspended last week. Nevertheless, this controversy is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the city’s public transport problems.

On Feb 8, Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang issued a statement postponing the price hike after the government instructed the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to review the policy amid an outcry. Last month, it had announced that the fare hike would take effect from today. Aswin provided brief respite by…