Bus labour union urges govt to put off e-ticketing system

The labour union board of the city bus agency is calling on the government to defer the introduction of an e-ticketing system on city buses.

The vice-president of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority labour union, Weerapong Wongwan, said yesterday the board had agreed to ask the government to delay the scheme which could "adversely affect staff".

The e-ticketing system would come with a new fleet of buses the BMTA is hoping to buy. The purchase is now before cabinet but has long been delayed.

Mr Weerapong said e-ticketing should only be introduced if an early retirement scheme for staff proved successful.

The e-ticketing system would make retrenchment of some of the staff necessary. The system should be delayed until the early retirement scheme was launched, which would reduce the number of staff to be made redundant.

He said the labour union was not opposed to the early retirement project, but the BMTA should not force the staff's hand.

"The labour union wants them to join voluntarily," he said.

"The BMTA should also provide some kind of occupational training for the staff."

Mr Weerapong said that the board disagreed with the Transport Ministry's plan to lease 4,000 natural gas-powered buses.

It would submit its position to Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwannakhiri, who is looking into the bus purchase, and distribute materials to the public to explain the shortcomings of the lease scheme.

Mr Weerapong said that while an overhaul of BMTA buses was a must, the government should opt for a lease-purchase or purchase scheme.

It depended on the government if it wanted to replace the entire bus fleet with air-conditioned buses or maintain non-air-conditioned buses.

He said the BMTA needed new buses for its operations to ensure passenger safety and service efficiency.

Between 500 and 700 non-air-conditioned and air-conditioned buses are now out of service, he said.