The operator of Bangkok’s MRT announced yesterday Thai welfare card holders — all 11.4 million of them — will be able to ride the MRT for free, from July 20 onwards.
The decision by the MRT’s operator, Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited (BEM), follows the government floating the possibility that people with low incomes would be able to ride the sky train and subway for free. Yesterday’s announcement makes it official that the economically disadvantaged will be able to ride the two existing MRT lines — the Blue and Purple lines — for free.
However, to do so, they must first register to have their welfare cards activated to work with the MRT ticketing system, from July 6 to Sept. 30 at any MRT stations. Registration is only required once.
The new benefit is available to those over the age of 18 who are unemployed or have an annual salary of less than THB100,000 (US$3,100).
There are currently 11.4 million approved card holders in Thailand.
While there was surprisingly little chatter online about the move yesterday, when the government first mooted the idea last year, plenty of people seemed unhappy, pointing out that the trains could barely handle the current influx of paying passengers.
Most were worried specifically that poor folks might be joining them on the already crowded BTS, something which to this point has not been mentioned as included in the new deal.
Less-than-generous clapbacks at the time included such comments on the Pantip forum as: “Free bus is enough for the poor. The government has been issuing enough policies to fleece taxpayers,” and “Free BTS, is that too much? If you’re poor, wake up early to catch a free bus, so you don’t have to be society’s burden and waste the tax money.” Yikes.
READ: Govt considers letting poor people ride BTS for free, and netizens are pissed
The expat community, meanwhile, seemed to take a more charitable view, though even they suggested that the pragmatic side of things may not have been that well thought out.
“I’m happy that they provide for the poor. I just question the wisdom of adding the poor to the already overcrowded BTS unless they add more trains per hour or add extra carts,” said one comment on ThaiVisa forum in response to Coconuts Bangkok’s previous report.
“Now I understand the need for the poor to travel too and that suggestion sounds smart. The only problem I have with it is that the BTS is full enough already and non-poor people are paying enough. Surely, it’s not a smart idea to add to the amounts there already are and taking a bus would be better. It’s either that or increase the amount of BTS carts,” another comment said.
Coconuts will keep your posted on any further announcements.
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