Mr Somchart was called on by the Move Forward Party on Tuesday (Sept 12) to respond to the new Cabinet’s transport policy, which he heavily criticised as focussing only on ‘mega-projects’, such as the high-speed rail project, and not addressing public transport issues faced by average people throughout the country.
The government’s transportation policy ‒ now headed by Minister of Transport Suriya Juangroongruangkit, a former member of the military-aligned Palang Pracharath Party, but now a member of the Pheu Thai Party ‒ made only a broad statements and focussed on big investment, but lacked public transportation development, Mr Somchart, MP for Phuket District 1, said.
“The problem lies here: It can be seen that government policy focuses on investing large sums of money in large projects, but we do not see any policy that invests in public transportation systems that will really help with people’s travel,” Mr Somchart noted.
“So there is a question: Why is the tax money of the whole country to invest in large transportation infrastructure that they do not use. And why isn’t there more investment in public transport that they actually use every day?” he added.
“If public transportation is of good quality It will help reduce daily travel expenses. causing tourism to reach local areas, and not only concentrated only in large cities,” he said.
Mr Somchart said the lack of public transportation forced people to have to struggle to have their own cars. “It does not reflect the prosperity of the country. It is people’s desperation in dealing with the country’s public transportation system.
“Some people even look down on rural people, saying that when they have money, they use it extravagantly to make a down payment on a motorcycle and pay it off in instalments, without understanding how difficult it is to not have a motorcycle in the countryside.
“And in some families having only one motorcycle is what they have to carry the lives of many people, the whole family,” he said.
“The government must have a new attitude that a developed country doesn’t mean a country where poor people have cars. It is a country where rich people use public transportation.” he added.
PHUKET WOES
Mr Somchart pointed out that in Phuket there are only three bus lines that can be said to be of the same standard as buses in Bangkok. “All three lines originate at the airport to focus on serving tourists,” he said.
In comparison, while recognising the difference in population density, Singapore covers a similar area to Phuket in terms of size, but has ‘more than 100 times’ the standard bus routes that Phuket has, and has more than 5,000 bus stops. “In addition, there are many mass transit routes,” he said.
Referring back to Phuket, Mr Somchart noted, “Decades ago Phuket people saw schoolchildren riding the backs of songthaew. Fast forward to today, and those schoolchildren have become fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, and they still see children ‒ their grandchildren ‒ riding on the back of a songthaew. Disabled people and elderly people with limited mobility can’t even use the service.
“The fact is that the public transportation system does not support all groups of people, it is not comprehensive, and it is insufficient.
“Plus, taxi and motorcycle taxi fares [in Phuket] are many times more expensive compared with Bangkok. As a result, Phuket people need to have their own cars, and this has resulted in problems with traffic jams. Parents waste work time to take their children to school, or they have to buy a motorcycle for their children to use to go to school, and that increases the risk of accidents,” Mr Somchart said.
RISE OF TAXI APPS
Mr Somchart in a post later yesterday (Sept 13) raised concerns of people going into debt to get a car in the hope of making a living by being a taxi driver through a taxi app.
“The most important problem with traffic jams right now is the availability of cheap apps, causing people to buy cars to use the app. Previously, there were already enough taxis. They all suffered from not having work to support each other,” he said.
In a post earlier this week, the Phuket Info Center cited official statistics from the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO), marking that as of Aug 31, 2023, there were 4,300 ‘green plate’ taxis registered in Phuket.
There were a further 6,800 “non-regular buses” (public service vehicles with no fixed route, meaning cars, vans and buses issued ‘yellow’ licence plates), as well as 600 metered taxis, 514 tuk-tuks and now 1,100 private vehicles permitted to provide taxi services through taxi apps.
Mr Somchart noted that even making fares cheap might not be enough to support local people, and that even though fares may be cheap, they might not encourage more people to use them.
“Look at the Patong bus. How many Thai people are there in the city? The fare is 40 baht, but only Myanmar and Russian people use it,” he said.
“And the fact that people in Phuket have their own cars is not because there are no public buses, but because they have the power to buy. And if you have a personal car, it’s convenient. It’s the same everywhere in the provinces,” he said.
”The mention of Phuket is for illustrative purposes only. As for the issue of taxis, it will be another issue that must be resolved in another agenda,” Mr Somchart said.
“Public roads are shared by everyone. The traffic jam problem is therefore not caused by any one person. Building additional roads, expressways and underpasses are only short-term relief. In the future, there will be traffic jams on expressways and underpasses, such as seen in Bangkok,” he added.
“A sustainable long-term solution is to make the mass transit system of high quality and comprehensive so that all groups of people can use it, even the rich, like examples in Singapore and Hong Kong,” he said.
FREELANCERS BEWARE
Mr Somchart earlier today also reshared a warning by Adcha Buachan, Chief of the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO), warning that the PLTO will pursue the maximum penalty of up to five years in prison or a fine from B20,000 up to B100,000, or both, against any person found operating an illegal taxi.
The notice, originally signed and dated by Mr Adcha on Sept 5 last year, was later shared today by the Phuket Info Center.
The notice was the same warning reissued in April, in Thai and English, ahead of the Songkran holidays.
The resharing of the warning followed a private taxi driver on Monday hitting a luggage cart on the exit road at the airport, then backing up and quickly driving off.
Airport officials reported they had filed a formal complaint for Sakhu Police and the Phuket Tourist Police to track down the driver so that legal action could be taken against the driver, who airport authorities insist was an “illegal driver” using the Bolt app to pick up passengers at the airport.