Siripis Jetanadee carried on by noting that drivers were reporting they were only carrying 10 per cent of the passengers they did before they were evicted from Victory Monument. D-Day for the eviction was 25 October 2016. The central location for passenger vans plying routes to towns and provinces around Bangkok was scrapped and pick-up points set up at three intercity bus stations.
Vetoing the proposal, Suvit Ketsri said the government planned to go ahead with the construction of a dedicated passenger van station close to Morchit Bus Station. The chairperson said a request to allow drivers to pick passengers up on their routes would be permitted but at designated stops.
The drivers also asked for a relaxation of the penalties if they were caught speeding. At present, they are likely to have their licences revoked if caught doing more than 90kph on motorways. Colonel Ketsri stated that the government might replace this with traffic violation tickets and fines.
12GO ASIA sells tickets for popular inter-provincial passenger van routes from Bangkok. Destinations include Hua Hin, Cha Am, Pattaya and Khao Yai.
Government vetoes return of Bangkok passenger vans to old station
News in Asia
A Thai government committee has torpedoed a proposal for Bangkok’s passenger vans to be relocated back to Victory Monument. The secretary to the van operators’ association had submitted a petition to the committee which explained that the original move from Victory Monument had led to drastically reduced passenger numbers.