Bangkok's skytrain system welcomes holders of government welfare cards

BANGKOK, March 19 (TNA) - Holders of welfare cards issued by the Thai government are now welcome to use the welfare cards of all types for their skytrain rides in Greater Bangkok, thanks to a joint public-private initiative. Suttirat Rattanachot, Director General of the Comptroller General's Department under the Ministry of Finance, Payong Srivanich, President of state-run Krung Thai Bank (KTB) and Surapong Laoha-Unya, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited (BTS), jointly presided over a ceremony to launch the joint public-private initiative in Bangkok on Tuesday. Under the newly-launched initiative, a total of about 1.46 million low-income holders of the Thai government's welfare cards under the Pracharat Project of all types, including the universal Mangmoom Card and the EMV Contactless Card (EMV 4.0), who have registered with the government over the past two years, can use the welfare cards for their free rides aboard the skytrain in Greater Bangkok at all stations as of March 15, 2019. The officially-registered low-income earners can each use their welfare cards for the BTS skytrain free rides at the maximum of 500 baht monthly, by, like other commuters, putting their cards into any electronic data capture (EDC) machine at BTS stations. The newly-launched joint public-private initiative is aimed to ease the costs of living of the low-income earners, who live in Bangkok and its adjacent provinces, including Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon, and have officially-registered with the Thai government since 2017 and 2018. (TNA)