A national committee and a public-private joint venture will be set up to take care of the joint ticketing system for the city’s public transport, transport permanent secretary Soithip Traisuth said on Wednesday.
The proposal, made by the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, will be forwarded to the Transport Ministry for consideration next week and then to the cabinet for approval, she said.
The committee, chaired by the transport minister, would be tasked with supervising the integrated ticketing system, while the joint venture will take care of the practical aspects such as handling the clearing house, the permanent secretary said.
The integrated tickets are set to be launched from August next year. The tickets will initially be used for services offered by the BTS Skytrain and expressways under the Expressway Authority of Thailand.
The tickets will later be expanded to city buses run by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), the Chao Phraya express boat service, the subway, the Airport Rail Link and the motorway to Chon Buri. The electric trains, which are currently under construction, can be integrated into the common ticketing system when they are up and running.
According to Ms Soithip, the national committee will consist of officials from the Transport Ministry, the National Economic and Social Development Board, the Bureau of the Budget, the State Enterprise Policy Office, the Public Debt Management Office, the Office of the Consumer Protection Board, the Bank of Thailand and business operators. The panel will look at the overall policies of the integrated ticketing system.
The public-private joint venture will comprise government agencies with up to a 50% stake, and foreign private firms with expertise in maintenance and operating electric trains, she said.
The joint venture could be formed within a year, the permanent secretary said
Acting director of the ministry’s Common Ticketing Office, Phadet Praditphet, said the design of the joint tickets will take until July this year.
Installation of the system will take place between August this year and February next year. Test-running of the system will be conducted between March and August next year. After that, the first joint tickets will be launched commercially for the BTS Skytrain and the expressways.
Meanwhile, Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc on Wednesday denied news reports that the BTS Skytrain planned to hike the fare on the Mor Chit-On Nut and Taksin-National Stadium routes.
Soruce: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/494744/public-private-jv-to-run-city-transport-joint-ticketing
