ASIA PACIFIC RAIL 2006 Topic: Capturing rising ridership and unraveling new strategies By: Mr. Chartchai Praditpong, Head of Business Development of Bangkok Metro Public Company Limited Date: 15 March 2006 Place: Pudong Shangri-La Hotel, Shanghai, China Presentation s Sections 1. Roles of BMCL for the first underground railway project in Thailand 2. The previous operations and the patron s responsiveness at first 3. The operation approaches and the trend of rising ridership in the future Section 1: Roles of BMCL for the first underground railway project in Thailand Generally so-called The Blue Line Project, The M.R.T. Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Line Project has been graciously bestowed the name by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, which Chaloem Ratchamongkhon means Celebration of the Auspicious Kingship. The project set by the Royal Thai Government has been aimed at being a basic public utility to facilitate the travel, solve the traffic congestion s problem, reduce the polluted environment, and improve the quality of Bangkokian s life, both Thai and foreigner. The Blue Line Project is Thailand s first entire underground route, a distance of 20 kilometers with 18 stations accepting and sending passengers, which located at the core of Bangkok. Sharing as a partner between public sector and private sector, the investment characteristic is subjected to Public Private Partnership (PPP) principle that the public sector invest in the civil infrastructure and private sector invest in the mechanical and electrical equipments and act as metro operator.
According to the investment principle, Bangkok Metro Public Company Limited (BMCL) has a chance to join the project as the investor of the mechanical and electrical equipments and the concessionaire of metro operator for 25 years starting from the service revenue commencement, regulated by the public sector so that BMCL can provide its operation services with a safe, convenient, fast, reliable and punctual metro system corresponding to the project s purposes and objectives. Section 2: The previous operations and the patron s responsiveness at first Commenced from the official inauguration on 3 rd July 2004 afterward, the metro system has been operated by BMCL in compliance with the international standard in every respects that is to say the adoption of modern mechanical and electrical equipment systems for operation services such as 19 rolling stocks with the headway of 4 and 6 minutes during peak hours and off peak hours respectively, as well as the automatic fare collection system and the contactless smart card. BMCL has forecasted the number of prospective passenger at the first stage of the project at a value of 250,000 average weekday patronages. After the operation commencement for over one year, the average weekday ridership is 180,000 trips per day, less than the estimation value, which the reasons are summarized as follows: 1. At the first stage of the project, the travel behaviors of people would be gradually adjustable during their acknowledgement of system use and confidence in safety. 2. The restriction of rail line and its distance that do not have the access throughout the residential area and business district area, as well as the time requirement for process of the property developments in the vicinities of its route. 3. The vague development of bus feeder system in order to compensate the abovementioned of the limitation of the line and distance with travel connection to the metro system.
Section 3: The operation approaches and the trend of rising ridership in the future There are two key opportunities as follows: 1. Growth Opportunity Bangkok Metropolitan Area is the metropolitan where is center of key domestic and international business, and dwelling place of citizens who has resided originally or moved in for study as well as on business. Referring to the survey in year 2000, its population is 8 million people. The population amounts as mentioned have generated the travel up to 17.1 million daily trips divided into a diversity of transportation modes as follows: a) Travel by private car is 9 million daily trips or 53% of the travel trip total b) Travel by bus is 7.4 million daily trips or 43% of the travel trip total c) Travel by rail mass transit is 0.5 million daily trips or 3% of the travel trip total d) Travel by others is 0.2 million daily trips or 1% of the travel trip total Noticing of the transportation modes presented each day in Bangkok, the mode of travel by private car has the highest amount up to 53% of the travel trip total. If the push and pull of travel numbers can take out from those of the private car use to raise those of rail mass transit use, consequently the average daily ridership of the rail system would be a large amount of increase. 2. Opportunity of The Royal Thai Government s Policy To solve the problem of traffic congestion in Bangkok, The Royal Thai Government has set a policy for the expansion of the rail mass transit routes, a total of 10 lines with approximately 300 kilometers at length, and expected to be able to begin in a continuous stream of construction from end of 2006 onwards, that nowadays there are a lot of worldwide international investors be interested in by proposing their ideas of project s implementation on 26 th January 2006 to next conduce the production of a suitable Term of Reference (TOR) in a draft version.
Among the future rail mass transit routes as mentioned, the expansion of the metro line to cover comprehensive travel has been placed at the first urgent priority that if the line has been completely constructed and then commenced within 4 to 5 years ahead, the forecast of the rising ridership of the existent line (The Blue Line operated by BMCL) would be from 180,000 daily trips to 547,000 daily trips, and moreover, if all the every planned routes have been fully implemented, the number of passengers circulating in the system would be up to 4.3 million daily trips, which have the ability to reduce the amount of travel by private car from 53% to 46%, on the contrary to increase the number of travel by rail system from 3% to 36%. Essential approaches and strategies for rising ridership The approaches are divided in two types as follows: 1. Short Term Approach a) The approach and strategies of marketing communications & promotions, major roles to rise the ridership during the lines expansion not yet implemented and still in the learning process of people s travel behavior adjustment, on purpose of stimulating and motivating people to try riding the metro system in order to create their learning, safety acceptance, and satisfaction until being the continued permanent patrons b) The arrangement of accessibility facilities to the metro system such as the travel connection model with short lines of shuttle buses when the existent line restricted and not yet had the access throughout the residence and business district area
2. Mid & Long Term Approach a) The business development with partners along the route is essential to occur consecutively in order to induce the move or the revise of property development including residences, department stores, and office buildings for emerging in vicinities of the passed metro route b) However, if depending solely on private sector s management that can be applied just the short term approaches of marketing promotions strategy and method, the rising ridership from present figure would be a little amount of increase in a short period of time when having the marketing promotions. Nevertheless the key approach believed to be the most effective on rising the passenger amounts that have to apply along with the marketing communications & promotions is the rapid concretely implementing of rail mass transit system development, that is to say, the adoption of convenience increment strategy for serving people throughout Bangkok in the issue of metro system s accessibility including bus route system arrangement to pass passengers around each other without cover lines, which would require a serious implementation of the government s policy in concrete overview, in addition to conducing a large amount of rising ridership, yet assisting to achieve the rail mass transit system project s objectives in the points of traffic congestion s problem solving, the alleviation of environmental pollution, as well as the good saving on oil energy which be the world critical problem.