Bangkok gets free public transport for a week in smog crisis


Thailand transport

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered public transport in Bangkok to be free for a week from Saturday (Jan 25), as authorities try to reduce traffic and ease the smog that has choked the city for days.

Buses and electric train lines in the capital will be free, Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said in a briefing in Bangkok on Friday (Jan 24), noting the directive came from the prime minister. The government will compensate operators BTS Group Holdings Pcl and Bangkok Expressway & Metro Pcl, along with the state-controlled bus operator.

The move underscores the seriousness of the pollution problem in Bangkok, a tourist hotspot where officials earlier this week shut many schools and called on people to work from home if possible. The prime minister has been criticised by the opposition for visiting the World Economic Forum in Davos while the city chokes at home.

The worsening haze situation comes on the eve of Lunar New Year holidays in much of Asia, which could mean thousands more tourists descend on the city and its nearby beaches.

The economic cost from the worsening air quality, which results from unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, is projected at a minimum 3 billion baht (US$89 million) a month, Bangkok-based Kasikorn Research Center said in a research note Friday. That’s calculated based on health expenses and related costs.

Apart from free rides in Bangkok, the prime minister ordered agencies to step up efforts to battle the smog problem by encouraging people to work from home, inducing artificial rain and tightening surveillance to reduce smoke from cars and dust from construction sites, according to various posts on X.

"The government won’t be complacent and will take every possible action to quickly improve the situation,” Paetongtarn tweeted, describing 2.5 smog as a "national” issue.

While some of the smog is domestically generated, the country is also seasonally affected by smoke from fires lit by farmers across Southeast Asia, including in Cambodia and Laos. Still, the Thai government hopes the free public transport will make a difference.

"We expect that this should help reduce the use of personal cars by 20 to 30 per cent,” said Suriya, who is also transport minister. "We will evaluate again whether we need to extend this measure.”

Smoke from cars is just one of the key reasons for worsening air quality in Bangkok. Higher crop burning this year from surrounding provinces as well as poor air circulation are the other causes, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

As of Friday, 81 per cent of 437 schools under the BMA were closed due to pollution. Bangkok ranks as the seventh-most polluted city by air quality monitor IQAir as of 12:32pm local time on Friday. It’s the second-worst in Southeast Asia nations after Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

"The air pollution today is worse than yesterday,” Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said in a statement Friday. "The situation may improve on Jan. 27-28.” - Bloomberg

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Next In Aseanplus News

South Korea orders all airports to install bird detection cameras, radars
Dee Hsu refutes claim Wang Xiaofei hired jet to bring ex-wife Barbie Hsu's ashes to Taiwan
Anger over US deportations
China is ‘resolutely opposed’ to US tariffs
Building a shared future
Ministries block access to China’s DeepSeek
When tradition meets innovation
China-aided landmine clearing benefits 2.5 million people
OpenAI chief willing to collaborate with tech sector
Seoul: N. Korean troops taken off Russian frontline

Others Also Read