More than 15 million trips were made via public transport modes during the Songkran festival, up 7.92% from the previous year, according to the Transport Ministry.
Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said on Wednesday that people made 15,035,465 trips during this year’s Songkran holiday between April 11 and 16.
He adding that cooperation between state agencies made the feat possible as it allowed public transport to serve passengers efficiently.
Interprovincial means of public transport included trains, planes, boats and vehicles, with 485,323 people travelling by rail, 543,017 people travelling by air and 822,725 travelling by road.
Mr Suriya also said there were 13,877,651 vehicles travelling in and out of Bangkok during the holiday. In terms of accidents, he said the number of accidents went down day-by-day as all agencies strictly performed their duties well.
During April 11-16, the first six days of the “Seven Dangerous Days” campaign, a total of 1,811 accidents were reported, down from 1,996 cases, or by 9.2% from last year. This year, 1,837 people were injured, down from 2,005 last year, and there were 243 deaths — a bit higher than last year’s 223, according to Mr Suriya.
The six types of vehicles involving the highest number of accidents included motorcycles (684 accidents), four-wheel pickup trucks (608 accidents), private vehicles (517 accidents), lorries with over 10 wheels (47 accidents), six-wheel lorries (39 accidents) and tuk-tuks (33 accidents).
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the fall in the number of transport accidents during Songkran was not a surprise because most accidents came from motorcycles.
