BANGKOK, 9 February 2014 The Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT) has benefited greatly from the ongoing demonstrations by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), as more passengers have opted to take the subway.
The Bangkok Metro Public Company Limited (BMCL), operator of the MRT, has revealed that since the PDRC’s attempt to paralyze Bangkok on January 13th, the MRT has seen an increasing number of passengers, hitting the record on January 23rd, when more than 370,000 passengers used its service.
The BMCL also predicted there would be an average of 300,000 passengers per day for the entire year of 2014, representing a 20 percent growth compared to last year’s figure, which stood at 250,000 riders per day.
After the MRT Purple Line construction is completed in 2016, the BMCL expects up to 100,000 more commuters to avail themselves of its service daily, expecting to break even within 4-5 years for its investment of over 10 billion baht.
