Good news: The Transport Ministry will be purchasing 3,183 new, natural gas powered (NGV) buses. Bad news: Only half those buses will be air-conditioned.
In an announcement this Friday (covered by both the Nation and the Bangkok Post), the Ministry said that it would purchase the new buses to the tune of THB13 billion—THB3 million for non-air conditioned buses and THB4 million for the air-conditioned variety.
The Ministry also went so far as to claim that this new purchase would make the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) profitable by 2014.
We won’t hold our breath for that particular prediction to pan out, seeing as the BMTA’s track record hasn’t been so hot in the past. Right now, 40% of Bangkok’s bus fleet is under repair, and that percentage doesn’t look like it will be improving anytime soon.
