The Transport Ministry is pushing ahead with its proposal for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to exercise his special power under Section 44 of the interim charter to scrap 111 public bus service concessions held by private operators in a radical overhaul of the structure.
The Department of Land Transport (DLT) will take over the authority to manage concession allocations and direct the public bus concessionaires from the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) as approved in a cabinet resolution reached on Sept 27.
The cabinet resolution also granted the DLT the power to direct the BMTA as another public bus operator, not the sole regulator which it used to be.
Speaking after a meeting Thursday of the government's central committee for land transport control, Darun Saengchai, a deputy permanent secretary for transport in his capacity as chairman of the committee, said the ministry was in the process of presenting the proposal to Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith and seeking his approval.
If the minister agrees, Mr Arkhom will forward the proposal to Gen Prayut for approval, and to the cabinet for endorsement, a process that is required before the plan is published in the Royal Gazette, said Mr Darun.
"Section 44 is required here because those concessions expire at different times, so its power is needed to cancel them all at once," he said, adding that an exact time frame for the public bus service revamp has yet to be set.
When all the concessions are aborted, the DLT will automatically assume the direction of all public bus services in Bangkok and its suburbs, he said, adding the BMTA will become one of the bus operators.
The holders of concessions that are to expire in three to five years probably will be compensated by possibly being allowed to continue operating their services on the same routes until the end of 2018, he said.
"A total concession cancellation should bring about fairer competition among the potential operators [who will have to compete for a new concession]," he said.
A source at the Transport Ministry said the BMTA will have to apply for a licence to operate its public bus services when the new system begins.
One concession among the 111 has up to seven years still to run, said the source.
In a pilot phase, the DLT will allow private operators to contest for concessions to operate services on bus routes 113 and 115. This will be turned into a model for concessions on the other routes, said Mr Darun.
These two routes were selected for the pilot project because the concessions granted to the private operators had already expired, he said.
When all operators, including the BMTA, are under its supervision, the DLT believes it will be able to force all to strictly comply with its regulations, particularly concerning bus fares and service punctuality, according to Mr Darun.