Thailand has recently been experiencing very high economic growth rates. Accordingly, the Thai Government has given high priority to the development of appropriate infrastructure. This has included an extensive program of rural road development which is intended to provide efficient links to enable the marketing of produce, the movement of workers and the delivery of modern utility and health services to the remotest villages. Despite the impressive progress which has been made the bulk of the rural population is poor. They must necessarily rely on bus transport for local and long distance travel. Until recently little effort has been given to studying the role and characteristics of the industry possibly because it is almost entirely operated by the private sector. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of the industry, the constraints affecting its future development and proposed measures by which industry performance can be further improved. The work described in this paper is based on the results of a major World Bank funded project. It provided a unique opportunity to conduct a comprehensive study of the entire Thai inter-city bus transport industry. To understand the present situation requires an appreciation of its history and features of the present regulatory environment. Industry efficiency is significantly influenced by its organisational structure and the ways these organisations respond to market needs and the prevailing regulations. The inter-city and rural bus transport industry is extremely large. It is estimated that there are some 52,000 operators operating 60,000 vehicles. A number of organisational types provide services. These include: a large semi-state operator, many other large and small bus companies, co-operatives and small independent operators. The bus industry accounts for the majority of inter-city travel and is forecast to maintain this role for the foreseeable future. It is estimated to contribute about 2 per cent to the country's GDP. In many respects the industry is quite efficient: no subsidy is provided by the Government. However, in many areas improvements are needed including: safety, levels of service away from trunk routes and for passenger access to terminals, management and driver training, enforcement, marketing and monitoring of industry performance. Proposed changes to the regulatory and operating environment to effect needed improvements are discussed in particular that concerning the innovative use of industry associations to encourage increased self-enforcement with less government control but more responsiveness to consumer needs (A).
Samenvatting