Public transport in Bangkok is going green and clean. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) said it will be receiving 500 electric-powered buses before the end of the year as it begins phasing out its older gas-guzzling vehicles and improving the Thai capital’s environment.

The city has been steadily replacing its older buses with more environmentally friendly ones. The first batch of EV buses hits the roads later this year. The changeover will take place in phases. In the first phase, the city will lease 1,520 electric buses under a seven-year (2025 to 2032) contract at a cost of $465 million.

The overall plan is for the Bangkok Metropolitan Transit Authority (BMTA) to retire 60 percent, or 2,300 vehicles, of its combustion-engine buses by 2029. Aside from the environmental benefits, city officials expect the shift to EV buses will significantly reduce fuel and maintenance costs, because, they said, EV buses are three times cheaper to operate than combustion-engine buses. All the EV buses will be air-conditioned. About 40 percent of the current fleet is air-conditioned.

Shifting to EV buses is one of several elements that Bangkok’s government and its people have been adopting to improve mobility and health in the capital. The city’s relentlessly expanding network of pollution-free commuter rail lines has transformed urban life, while the number of EV cars on the capital’s roads is constantly increasing.

Photo: https://thethaiger.com/