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Published on January 4, 2008

He asked the boards of the Bangkok Metropolitan Transit Authority and state-owned Transport Co to reconsider fare hikes and whether they could still put up with high fuel prices for the best interest of low-income earners.

Bunchai Rungruengphaisalsuk, head of a citizens' network opposing the fare hike, said he had supplied the Central Administrative Court with more information to prove that the Transport Ministry allowed holders of bus route concessions to raise fares secretly by three satang per kilometre without the ministry's permission.

He said the Land Transport Department had lied to the court by saying it had informed all concession-holders to postpone fare adjustments, and that it could not produce evidence that those private operators had received its notice barring the raise.

The department had fined bus companies only Bt500 for violating fare regulations although the maximum was Bt50,000, he said.

The department's decision to impose the light fine had encouraged concession-holders to risk breaking the law while earning much more money than the penalty they would have to pay, he added.

The Nation