Bangkok gets free public transport for a week on smog crisis

BANGKOK – Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered public transport in Bangkok to be free for a week from Jan 25, as the authorities try to reduce traffic and ease the smog that has choked the city for days.

Buses and electric train lines in the capital will be free, Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said in a briefing in Bangkok on Jan 24, noting that the directive came from the Prime Minister.

The government will compensate operators BTS Group Holdings and Bangkok Expressway and Metro along with the state-controlled bus operator. 

The move underscores the seriousness of the pollution problem in Bangkok, a tourist hot spot where officials earlier this week shut many schools and called on people to work from home if possible. The Prime Minister has been criticised by the opposition for visiting the World Economic Forum in Davos while the city chokes at home.

The worsening haze situation comes on the eve of Chinese New Year holidays in much of Asia, which could mean thousands more tourists descending on the city and its nearby beaches.

The economic cost from the worsening air quality, which results from unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, is projected at a minimum 3 billion baht (S$120 million) a month, Bangkok-based Kasikorn Research Centre said in a research note on Jan 24. That is calculated based on health expenses and related costs. 

Apart from free rides in Bangkok, the Prime Minister ordered agencies to step up efforts to battle the smog problem by encouraging people to work from home, inducing artificial rain and tightening surveillance to reduce fumes from cars and dust from construction sites, according to various posts on social media platform X. 

“The government won’t be complacent and will take every possible action to quickly improve the situation,” Ms Paetongtarn tweeted, describing PM2.5 smog as a “national” issue.

While some of the smog is domestically generated, the country is also seasonally affected by smoke from fires lit by farmers across South-east Asia, including in Cambodia and Laos. Still, the Thai government hopes the free public transport will make a difference.

“We expect that this should help reduce the use of personal cars by 20 to 30 per cent,” said Mr Suriya, who is also Transport Minister. “We will evaluate again whether we need to extend this measure.”

Smoke from cars is just one of the key reasons for worsening air quality in Bangkok. Higher crop burning in 2025 from surrounding provinces as well as poor air circulation are the other causes, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). 

As at Jan 24, 81 per cent of 437 schools under the BMA were closed due to pollution. Bangkok ranked as the seventh-most polluted city by air quality monitor IQAir as at 12.32pm local time on Jan 24. It was the second-worst in South-east Asia after Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

“The air pollution today is worse than yesterday,” Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said in a statement on Jan 24. “The situation may improve on Jan 27 and 28.” BLOOMBERG