Bangkok Mass Transit Authority
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Ministry of Transport |
| Locale | Bangkok , Nonthaburi , Pathum Thani , Samut Prakan , Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon |
| Transit type | Service metro bus in Bangkok and boundary province |
| Number of lines | 118 Routes |
| Daily ridership | 3 Million people per a day |
| Headquarters | 131 Thian Ruam Mitra Rd. Huai Khwang District Bangkok |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | October 1, 1976 |
| Number of vehicles | 3,526 Buses |
Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (Thai: องค์การขนส่งมวลชนกรุงเทพ), also known as BMTA (Thai: ขสมก. ), is the main operator of public transit buses within Greater Bangkok area. It is the largest city bus system in Thailand. The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority offers bus and van routes throughout the city and its suburban provinces.
The BMTA is a state enterprise that started operations on October 1, 1976 upon the purchase and combination of the transportation assets of private bus companies, most of which had faced crisis due to sharply rising oil price since 1973. The government, in 1975, solved the crisis by trying to set up a public-private joint venture called the Metropolitan Transit Company, Limited (Thai: บริษัทมหานครขนส่ง จำกัด), but the effort failed to materialize. It tried again in 1976 by setting up BMTA as a fully state-own enterprise under the control of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
Since then, the organization has been the main operator of city buses. However, some private bus companies opted to continue their service on certain routes under joint service contracts with BMTA instead of selling their assets to the state. Despite government subsidy, BMTA has been suffering a loss of profits from day one, resulting in deteriorating quality of service.
The BMTA service area covers Bangkok Metropolis and its suburban areas in the adjacent provinces of Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, and Samut Sakhon. It serves approximately 3 million passengers per day. The service hours are 05:00-23:00 hrs, except 24-hr night-owl service on some routes. In September 2005, BMTA owns a fleet of 3,579 buses—comprising 1,674 ordinary buses and 1,905 air-conditioned buses. In addition to BMTA-owned buses, there are 3,485 private-own contract buses, 1,113 contract minibuses, 2,161 side-street songthaews, and 5,519 vans. In total, there are 15,857 buses and vans over 427 routes across 8 zones.
...
Wikipedia