PHUKET: A new contractor is being sought for Phuket's ''pinkie bus'' service, one of the few successes in public transport on the holiday island.
With tourists on the west coast forced to pay extortionate fares for taxis and tuk-tuks - often hundreds of baht just to go a few hundred metres - Phuket City's pink songtaews have won the affection of many.
This year, after six years in the role, the private contractor is moving on. No tender has been submitted yet for the new contract, which leaves the ''pinkie buses'' in limbo from October 1.
The songtaew service was a bright idea introduced by the late President of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation, Paiboon Upatising, after it became obvious that the larger buses being used under a project instigated by the previous president obstructed traffic flow and were not economical.
So the ''pinkie buses'' came into being, combining modern efficiencies with a traditional look.
The ''pinkie buses'' crisscross Phuket City north to south, east to west. Children and the elderly travel for free, and the standard fare is 10 baht.
The administrative organisation currently invests 12 million baht to cover the cost of the service.
The old contractor, who prefers to remain anonymous, says he's proud that the service works so well and that the introduction of GPS has enabled the system to be monitored in a much more effective way.
''Keeping the service running on time can be a juggling act if a driver reports in sick,'' he said. ''I've enjoyed my time running the service and hope someone else sees the virtue in continuing it.''
Phuketwan continues to urge transport officials on Phuket to ban large buses across the entire island. By deploying only minivans and somgtaews, traffic flow improves, the west coast becomes more accessible and the danger of deadly crashes is reduced.
With tourists on the west coast forced to pay extortionate fares for taxis and tuk-tuks - often hundreds of baht just to go a few hundred metres - Phuket City's pink songtaews have won the affection of many.
This year, after six years in the role, the private contractor is moving on. No tender has been submitted yet for the new contract, which leaves the ''pinkie buses'' in limbo from October 1.
The songtaew service was a bright idea introduced by the late President of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation, Paiboon Upatising, after it became obvious that the larger buses being used under a project instigated by the previous president obstructed traffic flow and were not economical.
So the ''pinkie buses'' came into being, combining modern efficiencies with a traditional look.
The ''pinkie buses'' crisscross Phuket City north to south, east to west. Children and the elderly travel for free, and the standard fare is 10 baht.
The administrative organisation currently invests 12 million baht to cover the cost of the service.
The old contractor, who prefers to remain anonymous, says he's proud that the service works so well and that the introduction of GPS has enabled the system to be monitored in a much more effective way.
''Keeping the service running on time can be a juggling act if a driver reports in sick,'' he said. ''I've enjoyed my time running the service and hope someone else sees the virtue in continuing it.''
Phuketwan continues to urge transport officials on Phuket to ban large buses across the entire island. By deploying only minivans and somgtaews, traffic flow improves, the west coast becomes more accessible and the danger of deadly crashes is reduced.
Key words are that the service is SUBSIDIZED.
Most of public transport in modern cities is subsidized, otherwise it is unable to deliver coverage of the whole territory and during the whole day,as just few roots are profitable and so are just few periods over the day at a price tag that populus may afford,so that transport would circulate enough frequently to be taken seriously by a consumer.
Municipalities and central governments are spending huge amounts of money on public transport subsidies.
I see the need for subsidies as a major impediment to develop public transport infrastructure on Phuket,as it will inevitably require regular subsidy, and only increasing over the expanding network - that will bring consideration on policy "What?! Should be spend so much money on subsidizing also use by tourists of public transport infrastructure??" - giving a proportion of tourist vs. population, and that leaning toward cheaper end of tourist market only decrease both a ratio number of tourists to staff,and ability of tourists to use more expensive transportation solutions.
Posted by Sue on September 18, 2015 09:28