AN ANCIENT form of people-mover and a vibrant color are both being given a second chance as public transport on Phuket.

Mix one with the other . . . and perhaps there's a way ahead in overtaking Phuket's traffic solutions.

Could the answer to gridlock and road rage be the Shompoo Seong Taew (pink two-bencher)? The Pink Special made its debut on Monday, as the new Phuket City bus.

It certainly is a 16 million baht bright idea. And pink is clearly a color that Orborjor Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation CEO Paiboon Upatising loves.

He was decked out in a pink jacket for the launch of the new vehicles, and so were plenty of others, too.

Pink is, after all, a robust and strong color in Thailand, much-loved since HM The King left hospital a little while back decked out in a splendid shompoo jacket. He is, as they say in the West, definitely ''in the pink'' now.

The first two of eight new pink seong taews were on display today. They will combine with eight more conventional buses on routes criss-crossing Phuket City from north to south and east to west.

If the pinkies prove to be popular, expect to see more of them.

Rides will be free to students and cost everyone else just 10 baht, which in a tuk-tuk would get you a couple of rotations of the wheels.

Each vehicle can hold 22 people and services will run from 6.20am until 8pm.

Phuketwan has a theory that we are all destined to go back to the village way of life, leaving behind the failing cities. The Pink Special is the perfect vehicle for that return trip.


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