PHUKET: A decision about whether Phuket will gain bus services from Phuket International Airport to the west coast beaches and the island's south will be made in Bangkok, and probably announced in February.

Phuket Transport Director Terayout Prasertphol made it plain yesterday that the solution to Phuket's transport needs is still some time off, that a lot of work still needs to be done, and that the real answer lies with a collective approach.

Once Bangkok approves the request from Phuket for two new bus routes - one from Phuket airport through Surin, Kamala and Patong, and the other from Phuket airport to Chalong Circle and Rawai - the process of seeking a bus service operator can begin.

There will be no buses running with armed guards, and no special request to Phuket's Police Commander, Major General Pekad Tantipong, to somehow ensure the buses and their passengers arrive safely.

If all goes well, the new Phuket bus services could be operating about this time next year. As everyone knows, a few obstacles have to be overcome first.

One of the biggest obstacles is the lack of a master strategy for Phuket public transport.

It may come as news to readers that the first survey of Phuket's transport needs by consultants reported that no light rail link was necessary between Phuket International Airport and Phuket City.

Why not? Well, it's unnecessary, the consultants said. Phuket people already all have their own transport, therefore, no need for public transport

The link between the high number of people killed and maimed on their own motorcycles and the safe alternative offered by public transport appeared to have escaped these ''experts''.

Phuket is killing and maiming its children in large numbers, largely thanks to the selfish and thoughtless monopoly of the tuk-tuk and local taxi drivers.

Phuketwan reckons that each and every one of the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers probably has a child, a relative or a friend who has died on a motorcycle.

Almost certainly, all of them know people who have been seriously maimed or crippled for life, because riding a motorcycle on Phuket is always dangerous.

Who is to blame for this sad carnage? Some of the blame surely rests with the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

They charge extortionate rates that residents cannot afford, and yet they refuse to accept that Phuket needs modern, efficient alternatives.

The public transport debate is not just about the future of tourism and sensible transport alternatives but also about the simple cost of old and young lives, especially the lives of the children of Phuket.

Phuket Transport Director Terayout is right when he says that fingers should not be pointed at him or at Phuket Police Commander Pekad to somehow take responsibility for solving this problem.

It's everybody's problem, and that includes the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

The tuk-tuk and local taxi drivers have to be persuaded that the time has come to cast off their shallow selfishness for the good of Phuket.

What Phuket needs as well as a bus service to the popular Phuket beaches and Phuket's south is a taxi service that meets international standards, a service that provides metered taxis to anywhere on the island through a single call centre, a service that delivers good standards at reasonable fares.

Between now and February, when the two new bus routes are likely to be approved, Phuket's leaders across every field should begin the process of change by doing something they don't usually do - talk to each other.

Once the leaders of Phuket have formulated a plan, then they need to start talking to the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

It's time to stop ducking for cover. It's time to stop pointing the finger and saying: ''This is your job (ie, not mine).''

Talk to the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

Remind them that Phuket's future rests on stopping the needless deaths and the crippling. Phuket's future rests on providing safe and inexpensive alternatives.

Remind them too that any island where driving a vehicle is among the best-paid jobs distorts and ignores the logic that people with an education and real skills deserve to be paid a whole lot more than humble taxi drivers.

Should the drivers be encouraging their children to get to school safely in a bus, to study to be doctors or teachers?

Or is the message they want to keep sending to the youth of Phuket - those that manage to avoid being killed or maimed - all about aspiring to be an overpaid, underworked taxi driver?

In the broader context, Phuket needs an overall transport strategy that delivers a safe island-wide network of buses and metered taxis.

The worst outcome would be for the long-awaited Phuket International Airport extension to go ahead, without sensible provision for buses. The worst outcome would be for nothing to change.

The time is right now for a period of intelligent persuasion to begin. The time is right now to bring the drivers in from the cold, and achieve a consensus.

Phuket has until February.