Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) director Maitree Srinarawat said the key to operating the country's mass-transit electric trains efficiently was establishing a management body to organise the fully integrated multitransport system.

He was speaking at a business forum titled "How Will the Mass-Transit Electric-Train Projects Affect the Economy?" hosted by Krungthep Turakij newspaper.

He said the management body would be aimed at outlining a plan of routing and feeder systems as well as ticketing management.

Maitree said the proposed committee would consist of the finance, transport and interior ministers, Bangkok's governor and representatives from other agencies.

Land Transport Department director-general Silpachai Jarukasemratana said the feeder system's management would be an important factor, because of the large number of mass-transit options.

Last year, public transport in Bangkok and the surrounding area carried 17 million persons a day on a variety of transport, such as hired motorcycles, boats, vans, buses and commuter trains.

Mass Rapid Transit Authority governor Prapat Chongsanguan said having the entire transport modals together would offer the highest value of investments to the economy.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Panich Vikitsreth said another important success of the

mass-transit electric-train projects was the fair price of the tickets.

Anat Arbhabhirama, an adviser to the Bangkok Transit System, said the state should have a clear policy indicating the target group for each line, so that the ticket prices could be set at suitable rates.

Watcharapong Thongrung

 The Nation