"Green Line"

The Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) on Wednesday opposed the city administration’s move to start collecting fares on the Green Line’s second-phase extensions with variable rates, starting from 14 baht.

Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC) said it is on track to bid for the Orange Line train project again, but only if conditions are “lawful and just”.

Passengers using the BTS Green Line extensions will have to start paying fares from next month, the Bangkok governor said on Sunday.

The Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC) said on Tuesday that it needs one month to update its fare-calculation software and make other arrangements before it can start collecting fares on the Green Line extension.

New Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sitthiphan said on Wednesday that he planned to discuss with Krungthep Thanakom – a company wholly owned by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) – the possibility of amending the concession contract with Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC) to resolve the debt issue in which the BMA owes BTSC money for Green Line operations.

The Cabinet will still have the last say in the new Bangkok governor’s decision over the dispute with Green Line operator Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC), Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Saturday.

The Transport Ministry has summoned Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) permanent secretary Khajit Chatchawanich for a meeting at the Traffic and Transport Department on March 31 to discuss the BTS Green Line train dispute with operator Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC), a news source revealed on Tuesday.

The dispute over extension of concession for the railway Green Line stems from the city administration’s failure to honour its debt of Bt37 billion owed to the current concessionaire, according to sources in the know.

Palang Pracharath party-list MP Watanya “Madam Dear” Wongopasi said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that seven Bhumjaithai Party ministers who did not show up at the Cabinet meeting to consider extending the concession contract for the Green Line Skytrain should “ask themselves whether or not they should stay in the government coalition”.

Deputy Interior Minister Niphon Boonyamanee has sought two weeks to summarise details of the Green Line, as there were still problems with the installation of two steel bridges, before resubmitting to the Cabinet.

The Cabinet on Tuesday discussed the ongoing legal wrangle between the BTS Skytrain operator and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) over the Green Line extension.

BTS Skytrain operator Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC) is suing City Hall for 12 billion baht it is owed for operating the Green Line extension, BTSC CEO Surapong Laoha-Unya said on Wednesday.