A group of researchers sent by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) are circling the Sathon-Narathiwat intersection, knocking on car windows, to get the views of commuters on whether it's finally time to put the loss ridden Bus Rapid Transit service to bed.
The BMA is seeking the opinions of commuters since it announced two weeks ago it was going to chop the under-used service.
The apparent diplomacy of the BMA follows a somewhat embarrassing order made by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon's in which he told City Hall, via the media, to find a solution to keep the service running rather than scrapping it entirely and forcing commuters who use the service to find alternative means of travel.
Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang ordered the survey in response to Gen Prawit's directives.
Led by the Bangkok governor's chief adviser Vallop Suwandee himself, a team of researchers from Kasem Bundit University (KBU), hired by the BMA, hit the streets at 8am Tuesday and started surveying pedestrians and motorists at the intersection and Sathon BRT station.
Initiated by the BMA, the BRT was originally created as a feeder service, linking the Sathon and Ratchaphruek areas, for BTS skytrain users.
It runs on a 3.5km reserved lane on Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Road and uses a 12.4km High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) lane on Rama III.
Speaking at a media briefing on Feb 6, deputy Bangkok governor Amnoy Nimmano said the BMA's executives decided to scrap the bus service at the end of April because of the BRT's loss of 1.2 billion baht in the first six years.
The buses serve only about 25,000 passengers a day, falling short of its original target of 35,000 a day.
According to KBU academic Watcharapong Suriwong, a member of the research team, the survey will be conducted until next Monday and aims to gather the views of 2,000 to 2,500 respondents from nine different categories.
The nine groups of respondents are BRT users; car owners who share the road with BRT buses; shop owners and residents near 12 bus stations; residents in Sathon, Yannawa, Bang Kholaem and Thon Buri districts where the buses run through; and residents living near the bus route including those from Bang Rak, Klong Toey and Klong San districts.
The respondents also include police officers who direct traffic along the route; the drivers of BRT buses; city officials at bus stations; and cleaners.
Respondents will have different questions posed to them in a multiple choice questionnaire.
Mr Watcharapong didn't elaborate on why each group of respondents will be asked different questions.
The collected data will be analysed and the results submitted to the BMA for consideration, Mr Watcharapong said.
Some of the questions in the survey seek to determine how often commuters use the service, when they usually use the service, why they use the service, and how they might be affected if the project is scrapped.
While questions for car owners ask how often they usually use the same road as the BRT buses, and whether they think the traffic situation in the area will improve after the bus service is stopped.
During the survey, 20 researchers read out questions to respondents and jotted down the answers for them; respondents did not write down answers themselves.
Many observers pointed out the survey was not carried out properly as it was done while people were on their way to work, meaning they had little time to spend on the survey and give it their full consideration.
Mr Vallop dismissed claims about survey bias, saying city officials were not involved in drawing up the survey.
"We want do a survey to find out what the public think about the idea of stopping the service. But we try not to bother them by asking them to write down answers," Mr Vallop said.
Tuesday's survey could be described as "chaotic" as researchers stepped into the road and asked drivers waiting for a green light to answer questions.
Asked if the traffic situation would likely ease if the service was terminated, Mr Vallop said it wouldn't feel any different.
City Hall this month decided to chop the under-used service, saying its loss of 1.2 billion baht after seven years in service was too much to bear.
The service was originally announced during former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin's electoral campaign in 2004.
But the project was delayed and finally kicked off in May 2010, during the first term of former Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra.
The BMA invested 2 billion baht in the BRT project and paid Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTS) 535 million baht to run it for seven years, until April 30 of this year.
The original flat rate of 10 baht was cut in half to attract more commuters.