Published on January 04, 2006

Transport Co yesterday offered a 50-per cent discount for its passengers holding bus tickets for Bangkok yesterday and today if they can postpone their trips through Monday. Thawatchai Phaoluengthong, general manager of the state-run inter-provincial bus company, said the move was aimed at easing the busy schedules of buses that had to head out to their upcountry destination to bring passengers back to the capital.

The total number of returning passengers was likely to reach 1.1 million – close to the count of passengers leaving Bangkok last Friday, he said.

Many passengers who need to work outside Bangkok queued up at Mor Chit bus terminal for north- and northeast-bound coaches as well as at other bus terminals in the morning to reserve their tickets.

All conventional and air-conditioned buses travelling from Khon Kaen were packed while later trips were also fully booked. Two more runs of Bangkok-bound buses have been added to support the existing five-a-day service.

An estimated 100,000 people are visiting the highly-revered Luang Phor Sothorn Buddha image at Luang Phor Sothorn Temple in Chachoengsao province everyday since Saturday, according to temple officials.

The worshippers caused heavy traffic congestion in and around the temple compound. The main road at the front saw an unusual bumper-to-bumper back-up of cars for more than three kilometres everyday.

The temple is usually open to the public only on weekends between 9am-4pm but for the New Year the opening time was advanced one hour and it has welcomed visitors everyday since Saturday.

The visitors in Phuket now are mostly foreigners, as almost all local tourists began their journeys to Bangkok. The island province saw a record low of only one death and 75 injury cases from 59 road accidents as of yesterday.

Many riders were impressed by the management of traffic, road safety measures and improvement of bus services.

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