Critics have slammed the government's budget allocation of 140 million baht to provide free public transport as part of measures to fight the worsening haze pollution in Bangkok.
On Friday, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered free public transport in Bangkok for one week, starting the following day, as dust levels have surged across all districts of the capital.
From Jan 25 to 31, people will be given free services on buses and electric trains.
The move is intended to encourage people to switch to public transport to curb vehicle emissions, one of the sources of PM2.5, according to the government.
The transport minister said a fund of about 140 million baht from the central budget will be allocated to compensate the operators providing free transport during the period.
However, critics spoke out against the move, saying it is a waste of taxpayers' money as it does not address the root cause of the PM2.5 problem.
On Facebook, a Bhumjaithai MP for Ang Thong criticised the move to offer free public transport, saying it will not help ease the PM2.5 problem.
"This policy will be a success if car owners agree to leave their vehicles at home and use public transport. But will this actually happen? It's not easy [to convert long-time car owners into public transport riders]," he wrote.
An environmental expert at Chulalongkorn University said on Facebook yesterday that the 140-million-baht budget allocation is a waste of money.
He suggested that the money would be better spent to buy air purifiers for affected schools.
The Department of Rail Transport said yesterday that a total of 1,634,446 people used free electric train services on Saturday, a 45.29% increase compared to the average numbers recorded on the previous three Saturdays of this month.
For example, 451,251 passengers used the Blue electric rail line per trip (a 38% increase) while the Airport Rail Link saw 68,903 passengers using its free service per trip (a 25.61% increase). A total of 857,878 passengers also used the BTS Green Line per trip, or a 46.07% increase, the department said.
