Monday Malfunction: MRT Blue Line strands rush-hour riders, again

A very crowded MRT station. Photo: Twitter / pipe_rk_
A very crowded MRT station. Photo: Twitter / pipe_rk_

Another Monday, another malfunctioning MRT irking Bangkok commuters.

Raging, tardy employees were blowing up social media with less than kind words about the rail system after it was experiencing significant delays for at least the second time in two weeks.

Just before 8am and then again before 9am, the MRT tweeted that the Blue Line was experiencing delays due to some unspecified “malfunction.” 

“Passengers will spend 15-20 minutes longer at some stations. Passengers please allow for extra travel time. We apologize for any inconvenience caused,”it tweeted just before 9am. 

Read: Train to Nowhere: Monday morning misery for Bangkok MRT riders

Frustrated passengers flocked to comment on the post saying the reality was far worse than 20 minutes, however.

“Why not tell truth??? l spent 90 mins more.. huaikhwang station,” user @Kaihuacao2233 commented around 9:20am.

Meanwhile, @PKesby pointed out that good infrastructure does not equate to good service:

“The experience you provide every day is appalling. You have such great infrastructure yet fail to add extra carriages on your trains. Can you help me understand why you don’t care for your customers?”

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Still, poor communication is an improvement over no communication. When the train ground to a halt two weeks ago, the operator maintained silence, leading riders to speculate it was related to testing of new lines. Indeed, the subway system, which turned 15 in July, has been bringing online new stations in its second service expansion ever.

Read: Visit 2 more MRT Blue Line stops free starting Saturday

Other frustrated commuters demanded to know the specific cause of the malfunction. Just after 9am, @Maemodnoiii tweeted that MRT Huai Khwang was so busy that people couldn’t enter the station along with a photo showing passengers lining up on the second floor outside the entrance to the station. The same happened at MRT Hua Lamphong station around 8am, according to @Mookiiemookk.

Related stories:

Visit 2 more MRT Blue Line stops free starting Saturday

 



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