Old Bangkok buses made new again, 10-year life extension
20-22 year-old buses given 10 more years of life for 1.1-1.7 million baht to delay purchase of new 3-5 million baht buses.
20-22 year-old buses given 10 more years of life for 1.1-1.7 million baht to delay purchase of new 3-5 million baht buses.
CITY BUSES
Bangkok to use refurbished buses for another decade
12/07/2016
Aekarach Sattaburuth and online reporters
The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will refurbish roughly a quarter of its public buses to reduce costs.
The Bangkok bus operator on Tuesday showed some of its refurbished buses at Government House.
The programme is in accordance with the government's policy to save costs and delay new purchases.
Red old-style Bangkok public bus trudging through the rain.
The management of the loss - ridden state enterprise showed some refurbished diesel-engine buses in both air-conditioned and regular models to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha before the cabinet meeting.
The vehicles had been in service for 20-22 years.
The refurbishment, costing 1.1 million to 1.7 million baht each, should prolong their service life by another decade.
View from the window of an old Bangkok bus.
REFURBISHING BUSES DELAYS PURCHASES & SAVES MONEY
The programme, which involves 672 buses, could delay the need to buy many new buses that would cost 3-5 million baht per unit.
Inspecting the refurbished buses, Prime Minister Prayut said it was good to improve 20-year-old buses to relieve the financial burden.
The notoriously fast & unsafe bus number 8.
WILL TAKE 10 MONTHS TO COMPLETE PROJECT
Buses and trucks line up for rationed fuel at Sanam Luang during the 1973 oil crisis. 13 November 1973.
BMTA director Surachai Eamvachirasakul said the programme involved 500 air-conditioned buses and 172 regular buses and would take 10 months to complete.
The BMTA currently operates about 2,700 buses.
However, in the near future it will buy 489 gas-fuelled buses and 200 electric buses to replace old ones.
The BMA intended to have a fleet of 3,000 buses, Mr Surachai said.
CITY BUSES ALWAYS LOSE MONEY, WHY?
The BMTA had accumulated debts worth 96 billion baht last year.
Since Bangkok city buses are essentially subsidised transportation for the poor they lose money every year.
These yearly losses are accumulated as debt for the government agency running the buses, the BMTA.
The debt grows bigger and bigger every year and the state agency is called disparagingly the "loss-ridden state enterprise" even though it is providing subsidised public transportation for the poor.
Why the losses are not written off as the subsidy they are, each year in the government budget is not clear.
Of course, there are many private bus companies that do not lose money, or they would not remain in business, and these private bus companies also provide cheap transport for the poor. It is not clear why private companies can turn a profit and the government buses cannot.
These questions, of course, would constitute a good research project for an enterprising university student.
Bangkok city bus with passengers getting on bus at bus stop.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1033929/bangkok-to-use-refurbished-buses-for-another-decade
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