The board of Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) has agreed to postpone bus fare hikes for the old fleet as recommended by the State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo).
Nattachat Jarujinda, the BMTA board chairman, said the fare increases for the BMTA-owned buses, scheduled to take effect on Jan 21, will be put on hold.
However, the decision does not cover planned fare hikes for the new NGV blue buses and for rot ruam buses which are privately operated on state concessions. According to Mr Nattachat, BMTA-owned red-cream ordinary buses will charge passengers the same rate of 6.5 baht.
Also, the authority's air-conditioned blue-cream buses will charge between the current rate of 10-18 baht, while the Euro II air-conditioned orange buses and the NGV white buses will charge the current rate of 11-23 baht.
BMTA did not say how long the hikes will be put on hold.
However, Bangkok commuters will be charged the new rate for the new NGV blue buses, he said.
The fare will start at 15 baht for the first four kilometres, before going up to 20 baht for the subsequent 16km, and to 25 baht for trips exceeding 16km.
The fare hike was approved by the Central Land Transport Committee (CLTC) on Dec 14 last year but Sepo, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, recommended the increase be postponed out of concerns about the rising costs of living.
Phattarawadee Klomcharoon, head of the association of private bus operators, said the operators of rot ruam buses will proceed with the fare hikes on Jan 21 as planned.
The fares for the rot ruam ordinary buses will go up from the current 9 baht to 10 baht, while the fares for air-conditioned bus services will be raised to 13-14 baht from the current 12-13 baht, depending on the bus model.