The Chief of the Provincial Administration Group, Preeraboon Tongsiriset, said on Friday that reports that a light rail service was no longer being considered for Phuket were not accurate. ''At Tuesday's meeting it was resolved to look at all options and give Phuket the best possible transport system, perhaps in a combination of rail and bus, or even tram. A lot more research has to be done yet.''


PHUKET is seeking a light rail service, more pink buses or some other form of public transport because ''taxis and tuk-tuks rip off the tourists,'' Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob told a meeting this week.

A representative from the Transport Ministry came from Bangkok especially for the meeting at Provincial Hall. Phuket Provincial Administrative Organsiation Chief Executive Paiboon Upatising was also at the meeting, along with representatives from the Highways Department, Public Health, local authorities, senior traffic police and Vice Governor Treerayut Eamtakul.

''Taxi drivers and tuk-tuk woulds be the losers. The loss of jobs and income is a very serious matter,'' the Transport Ministry official said.

Light rail required an organisation to run the system and it was unlikely to run at a profit, the meeting heard. The effects of the introduction of a new system also needed to be studied.

Khun Paiboon asked why a new organisation needed to be set up. He said Phuket City already had a well-regarded network of seoungtau (twin bench) buses and that could be extended to other parts of the island.

The Orborjor provincial organisation was planning to take back control of the buses from the present private contractor, he said. The frequency of the service would be improved and the 16-bus fleet would also be expanded.

''Students currently pay 10 baht and the service is working really well,'' Khun Paiboon said. ''I believe it would be much more effective to expand this service to cater for the needs across all of Phuket.

The buses run from 6am to 8pm on two major routes north-south and east-west, with a 20-minute interval between arrivals. A third route is to be introduced shortly.

''The buses are a symbol of Phuket, very traditional, and tourists seem to like the rides.''

A gps system enabled the bus routes to be controlled and would-be passengers simply had to make a call to know when the next bus would be coming by.

While a light rail service would probably take a decade or more to implement at great cost, the buses (also known as photong on Phuiket) could be introduced far more rapidly at low cost.

Whether Phuket's tuk-tuk and taxi drivers would accept any form of competition remains to be seen.

The tuk-tuks and taxis have had a monopoly on some key west coast routes on the island and usually keep operating long after sunset.

The President of the Taxi Club [of] Patong, Setthasak Bursom, told Phuketwan that his newly-formed club had about 200 tuk-tuks and 300 taxis and minivans represented. There were more than 2000 four-wheel hire vehicles, half of them taxis, in Patong.

''We can't cover them all yet but we do hope to grow,'' he said.

''The price is not high, like you think,'' he said. ''I was in Italy and caught a taxi that cost me about 700 baht.''

While what's reasonable in Italy differs from what's reasonable on Phuket, Khun Setthasak said the club would emphasise service and change the image of tuk-tuks in Patong.

''Many people say there are rip-offs so we we hope to train drivers in giving good service, and impart knowledge about English and traffic laws.''

If drivers, perhaps dressed in uniform, give good service in a comfortable vehicle, people will be happy to pay, he said.

Parking on Patong's beach road was a problem caused by the hire-cars and hire-motorcycles parked on the beach side, he said.

''All the tuk-tuks park on the other side of the road,'' he said. ''Now we try to talk with the tessaban to see if they can remove the footpath to make for more parking.''

There were ''about 100 different spots'' around Patong reserved for taxis, tuk-tuks or hire motorcycles, many of them outside resorts.

While Khun Setthasak is president of this group, he is also vice-president of an even larger group, the Confederation of Transport Services of Patong.

Both groups are talking about parking and other problems in light of the Governor's wish to introduce lower fares and meters.