The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is preparing to enforce a new order banning vehicles from entering the inner city and limiting their passenger pick-up spots to bus terminals to better keep them in check by state agencies.
Most of the 4,205 registered passenger vans currently occupying traffic lanes at Victory Monument are consequently expected to disappear.
"The new order will take effect from Oct 25," permanent secretary for transport Darun Saengchai said, adding the vans will be only allowed to park at Mo Chit, Ekamai and Sai Tai Mai bus terminals.
The three are currently main stops for inter-provincial buses from the North and the Northeast, the East and the South respectively.
Authorities are aware the change will cause some inconvenience to van passengers at the Victory Monument, so "we'll talk with the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority to provide them with shuttle buses" taking them from the monument to the three bus terminals, Mr Darun said.
"They won't need to wade through traffic to the monument. They'll spend less time to travel and the fares," deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck, who has asked the Transport Ministry to calculate new fare rates.
The new parking for passenger vans, which has been jointly backed by both transport officials and security officers, sees authorities settle on an idea that inter-provincial passenger vans should park away from central Bangkok to avoid causing traffic congestion.
It also reflects another attempt by the NCPO to pursue its goal of managing passenger van services and stamping out illegal vans.
The military regime first stepped in to solve the problems almost immediately after the coup in May 22, 2014. It wanted to put an end to mafia-style operations both in passenger vans and taxi motorcycles.
With the vans, it was believed police officers were bribed to allow some van operators to operate their services illegally.
The 2nd Cavalry Division was assigned to look into the problem. It launched measures to reduce the number of passenger vans at Victory Monument by providing new parking areas near the Makkasan Airport Rail Link station, came up with a name list of suspected influential figures and encouraged unlicenced vans to register with the Department of Land Transport.
While the registration achieved some success in reducing illegal, sub-standard vans, the parking measure could not attain the same result.
Many passenger van drivers complained the new parking area was too far away and made it difficult to operate on schedule, so they solved the problems by driving around the monument while waiting for passengers. But this simply worsened traffic congestion.
The NCPO is reviving the strict parking regulation and will this time use it along with the NCPO's order issued in March this year to authorise military officers to help strengthen law enforcement, which will see them detain law violators and limit their van use for seven days, said 2nd Cavalry Division chief Maj Gen Chaloemphon Sisawat.
The new measure to put their services in order will pave the way for the NCPO's plan in 2021 to scrap inter-provincial passenger vans and allow only vans transporting passengers in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces within a distance of 100 kilometres, according to NCPO spokesman Col Winthai Suvaree, citing safety concerns.