Bus fares in Bangkok will go up by between one and two baht on Jan 21, the Land Transport Department says.

The fare hike was approved by the Central Land Transport Committee (CLTC) on Dec 14 last year. However, it was put on hold pending consideration of the impact from oil price fluctuations.

While volatility in oil prices has been observed since December, there have been "no significant changes" for some time, which means that there are no reasons to delay the hikes any further," said Land Transport Department chief Phiraphon Thawonsupphacharoen yesterday.

Bangkok commuters will have to pay one to two baht in additional fares for ordinary and air-conditioned buses run by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), as well as rot ruam buses which are privately operated on state concessions.

BMTA-owned red-cream ordinary buses will charge passengers an 8-baht flat rate, up from 6.5 baht from Jan 21.

Meanwhile, BMTA's air-conditioned blue-cream buses will charge between 12 and 20 baht, up from the current rate of 10-18 baht.

The orange and white buses will charge between 13 and 25 baht, up from between 11 and 23 baht.

The fares for the new NGV blue buses will start at 15 baht for the first four kilometres. The fares will go up to 20 baht for the subsequent 16km, and to 25 baht for trips exceeding 16km.

For ordinary rot ruam buses, the fares will increase from 9 to 10 baht.

Companies are allowed to charge passengers a premium for air-conditioned bus services.

Starting fares for such services will be raised to 13-14 baht from the current 12-13 baht, depending on the bus model.

The CLTC also agreed to allow interprovincial buses, both state and privately owned, to raise fares by 10%, Mr Phiraphon said.