Minibuses to substitute old vans

BANGKOK, Sept 25 (TNA) - The Land Transport Department plans to deploy minibuses in place of about 1,800 Bangkok passenger vans that will go on strike on Oct 1. Cherdchai Sanansrisakhon, deputy director-general of the department, said his department, Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) and Transport Co discussed possible solutions to the threatened service stoppage of by operators of passenger vans as the department would not extend the services of 10-year-old passenger vans. BMTA buses and minibuses would be deployed on passenger vans’ routes to prevent negative impacts on commuters especially on rush hours, Mr Cherdchai said. Any operators who run passenger vans, the registration of which expires, would be fined 20,000-200,000 baht and face a jail term of 2-5 years and land transport officials were inspecting passenger van services on all routes, he said. Mr Cherdchai admitted that most owners of passenger vans did not want to invest in new vans as new electric railways would be completed on many van routes in Bangkok. (TNA)