Anticipated Disclosure of Green Line Research Prior to August
Laying Down the Tracks for Green Line's Future: Thai Council Explores Four Strategies
There's a major shift brewing for Thailand's popular Green Line, all set to unfold post-2029, as the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) is knee-deep into a groundbreaking study, exploring four intriguing operational models to prolong the celebrated 20-baht flat fare policy [1][2][3].
Favoring Unity and Affordability - The Green Line Move
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt has proposed a game-changing move. The Green Line project could land in the hands of the Ministry of Transport, with the hope that centralized management under a single agency would streamline operations and ensure uniform 20-baht fares across all electric train lines [1][2].
However, the TCC isn't resting on its laurels. In a bid to create a fair and safe public transport system for consumers, the council has teamed up with Sripatum University's Sripatum Legal Center, working tirelessly to analyze potential post-2029 operational models and ownership transfers for the Green Line [2].
The resulting study aims to offer recommendations for enhancing the Green Line's concession contract, ensuring continued access to affordable transportation for the public [2]. The power-packed research findings should emerge sometime between July and August, with the TCC set to review and submit them to other agencies [2].
Peeking Under the Hood: Potential Strategies
So, what's cooking? According to Assoc Prof Sanyalak Panyawattanalikit of Sripatum Legal Center, four strategic approaches are on the table:
- Prolonging the Status Quo: By extending the current concession and negotiating terms that reinforce the fare policy and operational sustainability [1].
- Opening Up the Bidding: Launching a competition to select a new concessionaire and potentially reworking terms that guarantee the 20-baht fare [1].
- Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) takes the Helm: The BMA stepping in as the operator, bringing about centralized control and management [1][2].
- Turning over the Green Line to the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA): Transferring ownership to the MRTA, enabling it to maintain the 20-baht flat fare for at least 30 years, thanks to substantial revenues from the project's properties and advertising spaces [1].
According to Assoc Prof Sanyalak, the Green Line's debt comes to a hefty 37.2 billion baht, mostly due to operational and maintenance costs [1]. And while the concession ends in 2029, the management contract stretches all the way to 2042. Plenty of challenges lie ahead, but with these strategic options in play, the future of Thailand's Green Line looks promising.
In a nutshell, as the Green Line's concession comes to an end in 2029, the council is working on a comprehensive study to explore four potential operational models: extending the current concession, initiating a bidding process, transferring management to the BMA, or transferring ownership to the MRTA. Choices range from leveraging public ownership's ancillary revenues to strike a balance between private operation and fare affordability, to contractual enhancements that secure financial sustainability to uphold the 20-baht flat fare policy [1][2][4].
- The Thailand Consumers Council, in collaboration with Sripatum University's Sripatum Legal Center, is investigating four strategies to maintain the affordability of transportation on the Green Line.
- One of the strategies under consideration is the extension of the current concession contract, aimed at reinforcing the 20-baht fare policy and ensuring operational sustainability.
- Another strategy involves launching a competition to select a new concessionaire, potentially reworking terms to guarantee the 20-baht fare and secure financial sustainability in the long run.
