The news was jointly announced at the offices of the Phuket City Development Foundation (PKCD) yesterday (Oct 12).
Present to make the joint announcement were Phuket Town Deputy Mayor Prasit Sinsaowaphak; Montree Manator, Deputy Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Phuket Office (TAT Phuket); Kongsak Koophongsakorn, President of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce; and Waitha Upatisaring, Chairman of PKCD’s Executive Committee.
This project will start with Phase 1, from Oct 15-24. The bus will operate from 10am to 1opm each day, operating along a circular route throughout the town.
The bus will serve the following bus stops:
- Opposite the main Thai Post Office (on Montri Rd)
- Opposite the Pearl Hotel (on Montri Rd)
- Bang Neow Intersection (Phuket Rd and Ong Sim Phai rd)
- UOB Bank (on Phuket Rd)
- Coffee Talk (on Ratsada Rd)
- Islamic Bank (on Yaowarat Rd)
- Wat Mongkol Nimit (on Thepkrasattri Rd)
- Limelight Phuket shopping centre (on Dibuk Rd)
“There are a large number of tourists traveling to the Phuket Old Town area during the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. This causes heavy traffic in the area. This project is to relieve traffic congestion,” Deputy Mayor Prasit said.
“If this project receives good response, it will be expanded to Phase 2 for tourists to ride electric buses during Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 8pm,” he added.
Deputy Mayor Prasit explained that the objectives of the pilot project were five-fold:
- To relieve traffic congestion problems in the Phuket Old Town area
- To help alleviate the problem of insufficient parking in the area. Additional parking spaces will be created for those who want to park in the Phuket Old Town area;
- To promote traveling with clean energy vehicles;
- 4.To promote environmental protection and reduce the number of cars in the Phuket Old Town area, which will help reduce air pollution as well; and
- To promote tourism in the Phuket Old Town area
The Phuket City Development Foundation (PKCD) is a local-private consortium. Formed in 2016 by a consortium of 25 investors, driven by key people from prominent Phuket business families, PKCD at its launch vowed to bring a “Singapore-style” network of buses to Phuket within five years.
In turn, PKCD launched the Phuket Smart Bus into public service in less than 18 months.
The Phuket Smart Bus made history in 2018 when it started rolling from Phuket International Airport, marking the end of the service’s extended trial period and becoming the first public bus service in action along the island’s west coast.
The service is operated by Phuket Smart Bus Co Ltd (PKSB), an affiliate of the Phuket City Development Group of companies (PKCD).