Setting off by bus into the north or northeast of Thailand will get a little more complicated.
Within two years, the long-distance bus services long found at the Mo Chit Bus Terminal will be relocated to a new station north of Bangkok in Pathum Thani, transportation officials announced yesterday.
The new station in the Rangsit district will be ready to house all the long-haul companies serving the north and northeast by 2017, while the Mo Chit terminal – aka Bangkok Bus Terminal – will be reduced to a quarter of its size to offer local, short-haul bus services within 300 kilometers, according to Thai PBS.
The Mo Chit facility in the capital’s Chatuchak district sits on land owned by the cash-strapped state railway and is chronically overcrowded.
The Transport Ministry announced its intention to move Mo Chit about two years ago but faced opposition from those who said Rangsit was too far and inconvenient. Bus companies have worried they will lose business as inner-city passengers would opt for private van services closer to home.
Officials are currently negotiating with landowners to sell land to build the station, according to the transport company which operates the Mo Chit station. The company said the plan will be forwarded to its board for approval within this month and then go to the ministry to sign off on..
Photo: Transport Company
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