The five routes Bangkokians want to see constructed first are the red line (Rangsit-Mahachai); the light red line (Taling Chan-Suvarnabhumi); the blue line (Bang Sue-Hua Lamphong-Bang Khae); the yellow line (Lat Phrao-Samrong); and the light green line (Prannok-Samut Prakan).

According to the survey, people want to see all 10 projects completed by 2012 and the ticket fares should be in the range of Bt10 to Bt30 per trip.

Maitree Srinarawat, director-general of the OTP, said to get people to participate in the planning of the proposed railway projects - part of the government's Bt1.7-trillion mega-project scheme - the office conducted a survey by distributing questionnaires, of which 20,000 were sent back.

Anat Arbhabhirama, adviser to the broad of directors of Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTS), operator of the Skytrain, said BTS has been undertaking a technical study along with Bangkok Metro Plc (BMCL), operator of Bangkok's subway, to settle on an identical ticketing system. This followed the government's policy to facilitate the convenience of public transport.

He said BTS is preparing to invest in a change of its ticketing system to the more modern one used by BMCL.

"The company expects to spend Bt110 million to Bt150 million to change its ticketing system," said Anat.

He said the new system would be in place by the end of this year. Anat said the Skytrain, now in its sixth operational year, was

currently catering to 430,000

passengers a day during the

week and 300,000 a day at the weekend.