Bid to boost public bus service

PHUKET TOWN: Monthly passes and additional buses are to be introduced to counter complaints that Phuket Town’s public bus service has failed to live up to expectations in its first month of operation. The most frequent complaint by passengers was over the frequency of service. As a result, the Vice-President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, Samroeng Chaison, told the Gazette, four additional buses would come into service when the new school term begins in mid-May. “With the new buses we hope to improve the service,” he said The new monthly passes, which will be sold aboard the buses, will cost 400 baht for adults and 200 baht for children in school uniform. He said that the bus service had fallen short of its targeted goal for passengers. “We had hoped for about 7,000 passengers a day but the actual figure is about 5,000,” K. Samroeng said. “However, we are confident the figure will increase over time.” K Samroeng admitted that there had been mechanical problems. “The first batch of buses, 12 of them, were all secondhand units that had been restored and refurbished,” he said. The four extra buses will be new ones. However, he denied rumors that as many as six buses had been off the road for repair at the same time.