The government's plan to introduce a common ticketing system for all electric train lines in Bangkok in October may be delayed, due to the impact the Covid-19 outbreak has had on a Singapore-based firm hired to develop it.
Phisak Chitwiriyawasin, deputy permanent secretary for transport, warned of the setback on Wednesday after chairing a meeting of the committee managing the project on Tuesday.
Under the common ticketing system, passengers holding either the system's Spider card, an MRT Plus card or the BTS Skytrain's Rabbit card would be able to switch from one service to another without having to acquire another pass card, he said.
But the meeting was told the Singapore-based developer of the new ticketing system was now afraid its introduction might be delayed to until the end of this year, he said.
He said he asked Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc, the operator of the MRT, and Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc, the operator of the BTS Skytrain, to try to persuade the system developer to stick to the October deadline.
Phadet Praditphet, director of the office managing the common ticketing system project, said the October start-up was for the MRT's Blue and Purple Lines and the BTS' Green Line.
The Airport Link wouldn't be ready for the project for another six months after that.
About 1.3 million state welfare cards, which can be used on the MRT, the BTS and the Airport Link and are due to expire in 2022, will be replaced by a new version compatible with the EMV system, he said.
EMV is a payment method based upon a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them.
The Department of Land Transport has also asked for the state welfare card to be used on Bangkok buses on 14 concessionaire routes, he said.