Famous Bangkok boat service to limit passengers

Famous Bangkok boat service to limit passengers

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration plans to limit seats per each boat on Klong Saen Saep to 50 passengers per trip. (Photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb)
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration plans to limit seats per each boat on Klong Saen Saep to 50 passengers per trip. (Photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb)

The popular canal boat service on Khlong Saen Saep canal will impose social-distancing measures by limiting the number of passengers sit in each boat.

The policy was ordered by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to readjust Bangkok’s mass transit transport to align with “the new normal” amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Sakoltee Phattiyakul told the media on Friday he asked service operator Krobkrua Khon Soeng 2002, or Family Transport Company 2002, to comply with social distancing measures by limiting seats per each boat to 50 passengers per trip.

Khlong Saen Saep transport services are known for highly congested boats which sometimes lead to accidents. Before the pandemic, each boat carried up to 120 passengers.

Before Covid-19, up to 60,000 passengers boarded the boats per day. Now the number is reduced to 6,000 daily.

Yet under the “new normal”, the number of passengers will be light to provide ample space between passengers.

“Passengers need to wait for another boat if the seats are all filled up,” Mr Sakoltee said.

BMA also ordered the operator and city officials to introduce social distancing measures at 28 piers along Saen Saep canal and make sure passengers must at least one metre from others.


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