BANGKOK, Thailand – Phonprom Wikitset, Advisor to the Governor of Bangkok and Sustainability Executive of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), along with Prapat Luangsirinapa, Director of the Environmental Office, the Yan Nawa District Office, and representatives from the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), conducted inspections on public buses for black smoke emissions, January 14.
The inspections took place at BMTA’s Sathuphradit Depot, Route Operations Zone 2, Zone 4, Ratchadapisek Road, Yan Nawa District, as part of efforts to control and reduce air pollution caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Bangkok and its surrounding areas.
Out of the five buses inspected, four met the legal black smoke emission standards, while one exceeded the acceptable limit of 30% opacity. Officials instructed BMTA to repair the non-compliant vehicle and ensure its emissions meet the standard before returning it to service.
“The other four buses that passed the standard were not entirely clean either, as they emitted visible white smoke. However, they still met the legal opacity limit of 30%. In the short term, we are pushing to lower this standard to around 15%. In the long term, BMTA is in the process of procuring electric vehicles (EVs), which we hope will become a reality and significantly reduce air pollution in Bangkok,” said Advisor Phonprom.
