Among them is the operator itself, Bangkok Metro Plc (BMCL), with a poster drawing attention to the company's upcoming share offering, though this is not in the advertisement area but on a stand that all commuters must see before taking the escalator down to the trains.

It says now's the chance for all Thais to own the first Thai subway.

This may well puzzle passers-by, coming as it does from BMCL and not the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, which actually owns the subway: how is owning a share of the operating company, which has a 25-year concession, equivalent to having your own little bit of the subway?

Environmentalists could also be forgiven for being awestricken at how many watts of electricity the subway consumes each day. You can't very well argue with the necessity of air-conditoners to keep the air cool and breathable, given that the subway is by its nature underground, and of course the stations must be kept lighted day and night for safety reasons.

What worries me is the way all the escalators are programmed to work from the minute the subway starts to the minute it stops.

I don't know for sure how many escalators there are in the system. A rough estimate of four for each of the 18 stations would give a total of 72, all of them working virtually around the clock, though at some stations, at some times of day, you scarcely see 100 people. BMCL could have saved on its electricity bills, and thereby boosted its income, if it had programmed the escalators to work only when there were people on them.

Overall, the service is impressive. BMCL really cares for its passengers. In the carriages there are little stickers suggesting people offer their seats to those in need, children and the elderly in particular, and as the trains draw in a nice announcer tells everyone in two languages to mind the gap between the carriage and the platform.

What amuses me is that in English she says "Phra Ram Nine" for Rama IX station, named after the road named after King Rama IX, who in Thai is indeed called Phra Ram Kao but is Rama in English. Saying "Phra Ram Nine" is a bit of a linguistic mishmash.

Somehow farang commuters seem to understand it. You don't see them milling about lost.

achara_d@nationgroup.com