Still pissed off about missing work — or showing up hours — late during last month’s Skytrain meltdown? You’ve got about three weeks to get a little something for your trouble.
BTS chairman Siri Karnconpal today announced that from July 7 to 31, BTS passengers whose lives were upended during the “signaling” mayhem of June 25-27 can seek refunds or compensation at all stations.
Single-journey ticket holders can contact stations’ ticketing offices for refunds or credit they can apply to trips within 14 days of their purchase date, according to information released at a press conference.
Prepaid Rabbit card holders, meanwhile, will receive three extra trips while 30-day pass holders will receive six. Passengers must present their cards at stations to claim extra compensation.
There is a ticking clock on usage of those journeys, however. The first extra trip must be used within 45 days of the date it’s added, and once you’ve swiped your card for the first make-good trip, you then have just 30 days to use the rest.
Kind of a complicated way to “make up” for the annoyance or even financial loss they’ve caused some people, but it’s something … we guess.
The same rules will apply for single-journey ticket holders in future cases involving delays of more than 30 minutes caused by “reasons out of train operator’s control.” Things like — oh, we don’t know — giant storks slamming into trains.
For Rabbit card holders, refunds for delays will be applied to your card on the spot provided you exit stations through specified gates. A BTS hotline representative assured Coconuts that announcements will be made at stations — allegedly in both Thai and English — specifying precisely which gates to go to.
Admittedly, the fact we were put on hold for three minutes while hotline representatives dug up that answer for us didn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence.
BTS skytrain also announced today that a free “BTS Skytrain” app will be available for download via Apple app store and Google play store, starting August 1.
The app will offer real-time “crowd reports” — so passengers will know how many commuters are currently on a particular platform — as well as announce delays and offer updates on breakdowns.
For what it’s worth, that’s one of nine suggestions we offered up just last week for ways the BTS can improve service. Here’s hoping for the other eight next.
If they start addressing customer service issues, maybe people will back down on the change.org petition that’s pushing to put control of the system back in the hands of the government.
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