Thailand to deploy 1,520 electric buses in Bangkok by 2026
According to a new report from Prachachat Business, Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), the city’s public bus operator, plans to lease 1,520 electric buses with a budget of 15,355 million baht (approximately 433 million euros). The state-owned company considers these electric buses as just the first phase, meaning it will add more zero-emission units to its fleet at a later stage.
By August of this year, BMTA will have procured the first 500 units of the 1,520 electric buses and put them into service on urban routes immediately. It expects to induct the second batch at the end of the year and complete deploying all 1,520 units by 2026. According to an earlier report from The Nation, BMTA plans to eventually build a fleet of 3,390 electric buses.
The Prachachat Business says that BMTA expects the bidding process for the first phase to take 55 days and sees itself signing the lease contract with the winning bidder in April. It plans to lease all the 1,520 electric buses for seven years from 2025 to 2032.
Unlike the ageing conventional buses, the new electric buses will feature air conditioning, providing greater comfort for passengers, especially in the summer when temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius. More importantly, BMTA aims to reduce its fuel and maintenance costs by 70% by replacing its old ICE buses with new electric ones. The public bus operator has accumulated a debt of more than 100 million baht (approximately 2.8 million euros), and adopting more cost-effective models will help it regain financial stability.
In addition to reducing costs and improving passenger comfort, BMTA expects its switch to electric buses to help Bangkok combat its worsening air pollution. According to Thailand’s government-run news agency NBT Connext, vehicle emissions are the primary source of this pollution. Last month, the city temporarily shut 352 schools and offered free metro and bus services to mitigate the crisis.
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