The Ministry of Transport might seek to delay a plan to raise toll rates on the Don Muang Tollway and could even reduce the current fees, minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said on Friday.
Under the original plan, the rates were due to be scaled up from 115 baht to 130 baht per trip this year.
Mr Suriya said he had ordered the Department of Highways, which granted the concession to operate the tollway, officially known as the Utraphimuk Expressway, to explore the possibility of making life easier for motorists by cutting their costs.
The 21-kilometre road runs from the Din Daeng area of Bangkok to the National Memorial in Lam Luk Ka district of Pathum Thani. The operating concession granted to Don Muang Tollway Plc, which runs through 2034, allows for tolls to be reviewed and adjusted every five years.
On Thursday the company said earlier it intended to increase toll fees by 5 to 15 baht per section. The new rates would be effective from Dec 22 this year to Dec 21, 2029.
Tolls for four-wheeled vehicles would rise from 80 to 90 baht for the Din Daeng-Don Muang section and from 35 to 40 baht for the Don Muang-National Memorial section. That would take the cost of travelling the entire route to 130 baht.
The concession, first granted in 1989, allows for tolls to be raised one more time, covering the period from 2029 to 2034.