News Forum - End of skytrain pass will impact Bangkok condo market

[Thaiger]

Bangkok’s 30-day skytrain pass is coming to an end. As a result, commute prices will rise significantly for those who have to travel long distances on the skytrain each day. This will also have a major effect on Bangkok’s condo market. According to Sena Development PCL, the discontinuation of this skytrain pass is going to increase the demand to live around stations nearer to workplaces. Sena’s managing director Kessara Thanyalakpark explained that the 30-day pass offered a fixed rate, which meant that buyers had many more options in terms of condo location. But now with the discontinuation of the pass, […]

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[AlexPTY]

this statement is probably coming from another member of the same think-tank

[palooka]

Be plenty of poorly paid jobs vacant now. 7,000 a month is a big chunk of total salary for some.

I'm sure the Govt will be very understanding when their toilets aren't cleaned.

[Stonker]

1 hour ago, Jamey27 said:

Why would they do something so stupid?? Only in thailand 

Why not?

Why "only in Thailand"?

The BTS is there to make a profit, like any other private company anywhere.

It's up to the BMA to regulate it or subsidise it, not up to the BTS to act as a charity or to support condo prices.

[Blogosopher]

Government entities are very good at changing something that people plan on when making financially affected decisions. For example, how many Thais had already booked and paid for flights and hotels out-of-country before the government decided to stop government paid quarantine for Thais returning to their country? That's a big expense Thais didn't count on when booking their out-of-country trips. They should have stopped free quarantine for anyone booking their trip after a specific date so it could be a part of the trip decision.

[Blogosopher]

3 minutes ago, Stonker said:

Why not?

The BTS is there to make a profit, like any other private company anywhere.

It's up to the BMA to regulate it, not up to the BTS to act as a charity or to support condo prices.

So, you're saying that the BTS was built with Private money and operates completely upon revenues and PRIVATE money?

[Stonker]

45 minutes ago, Blogosopher said:

So, you're saying that the BTS was built with Private money and operates completely upon revenues and PRIVATE money?

No, I'm saying:

50 minutes ago, Stonker said:

The BTS is there to make a profit, like any other private company anywhere.

It's up to the BMA to regulate it or subsidise it, not up to the BTS to act as a charity or to support condo prices.

Edit: in hindsight I should have said "public or private company", as BTSG is a public company.

[Stonker]

1 hour ago, Blogosopher said:

Government entities are very good at changing something that people plan on when making financially affected decisions. For example, how many Thais had already booked and paid for flights and hotels out-of-country before the government decided to stop government paid quarantine for Thais returning to their country? That's a big expense Thais didn't count on when booking their out-of-country trips. They should have stopped free quarantine for anyone booking their trip after a specific date so it could be a part of the trip decision.

I'm not sure what the relevance is as BTSG isn't a "government entity".

FWIW, though, there was close to a month's notice of the ending of free SQ for Thai returnees, their medical, testing and  security costs were still paid for so they only paid for food and accommodation which was considerably less than for foreigners on ASQ at the same hotels, and any making or returning from a "necessary" trip abroad could apply to have their SQ paid for (free).

That doesn't seem unreasonable.

[miblish51]

The effect on the housing market is worse than this article describes. There are people who have ALREADY purchased from from work and are barely making their monthly mortgage payments. This will put some of them in default, and they could lose their investaments (and banks will have more bad loans on their books).

[Lawyers_Guns_and_Money]

15 hours ago, palooka said:

Be plenty of poorly paid jobs vacant now. 7,000 a month is a big chunk of total salary for some.

I'm sure the Govt will be very understanding when their toilets aren't cleaned.

They should just become "digital nomads" and work from home since that is what politicians and media seem to think everyone has the option to do.

[HiuMak]

17 hours ago, palooka said:

Be plenty of poorly paid jobs vacant now. 7,000 a month is a big chunk of total salary for some.

I'm sure the Govt will be very understanding when their toilets aren't cleaned.

7,000 THB is a lot of money for average Thai workers. Most lower pay scale jobs are around 10,000 to 15,000 THB a month in the current employment situation. Half of the earnings before tax to commute? The ratio just do not make sense

[Marc26]

17 hours ago, Stonker said:

Why not?

Why "only in Thailand"?

The BTS is there to make a profit, like any other private company anywhere.

It's up to the BMA to regulate it or subsidise it, not up to the BTS to act as a charity or to support condo prices.

Most public transportation around the world don't make money

It's a public service

 

Some in Asia, in extremely dense locations like Hong Kong and Toyko make a profit because a huge % of its population is reliant on it

[Marc26]

10 minutes ago, HiuMak said:

7,000 THB is a lot of money for average Thai workers. Most lower pay scale jobs are around 10,000 to 15,000 THB a month in the current employment situation. Half of the earnings before tax to commute? The ratio just do not make sense

It's a lot of money if you are on a job that pays 30k after going to University to get a degree 

Even 40k or 50k

[palooka]

18 hours ago, Blogosopher said:

Government entities are very good at changing something that people plan on when making financially affected decisions. For example, how many Thais had already booked and paid for flights and hotels out-of-country before the government decided to stop government paid quarantine for Thais returning to their country? That's a big expense Thais didn't count on when booking their out-of-country trips. They should have stopped free quarantine for anyone booking their trip after a specific date so it could be a part of the trip decision.

From memory they quoted one of the reasons for stopping it was abuse of the system. One person clocked up 14 uses. Mind it was financially unsustainable from the start.

[Marc26]

5 minutes ago, palooka said:

From memory they quoted one of the reasons for stopping it was abuse of the system. One person clocked up 14 uses. Mind it was financially unsustainable from the start.

I wouldn't call it financially unsuitable if you compare it to other transit monthly passes

 

Hong Kong's monthly pass it around 1800thb/mo and it's profitable entity 

 

Boston's monthly pass is right at 3k/mo

[Marc26]

5 minutes ago, Jamey27 said:

Nobody is asking the BTS to be a “charity”, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever read. Pretty much every major metro in the world from the USA, Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, china and the list goes on offers some kind of pass to make it more attractive to take public transport. You either are willfully ignorant or just a troll

And a lot of those countries you mentioned operate their public transit at a loss

It is a public service, not only to benefit the citizens 

But also benefits the city, it's infrastructure  environment

It attracts tourism.....

 

Government's should be aware of losses in operating their public transportation 

But profit is not an objective, usually 

[palooka]

23 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

I wouldn't call it financially unsuitable if you compare it to other transit monthly passes

Hong Kong's monthly pass it around 1800thb/mo and it's profitable entity 

Boston's monthly pass is right at 3k/mo

Sorry my reply was to a off-thread reply about mention of quarantine changes for Thais returning to Thailand. Happens.

[Marc26]

2 minutes ago, palooka said:

Sorry my reply was to a off-thread reply about mention of quarantine changes for Thais returning to Thailand. Happens.

By the way

 

Raising it to 7k baht is much more than so many other countries' monthly passes!

By more than double than some.....

Which is absurd for a relatively poor, congested city 

[Stonker]

10 hours ago, Jamey27 said:

Nobody is asking the BTS to be a “charity”, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever read.

You're evidently not very well read.

10 hours ago, Jamey27 said:

Pretty much every major metro in the world from the USA, Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, china and the list goes on offers some kind of pass to make it more attractive to take public transport.

Just like "every major metro in the world from the USA, Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, china and the list goes on", the BTS DOES "offers some kind of pass to make it more attractive to take public transport".

It still has Student Rabbit Passes, Pensioner Rabbit Passes and Day Passes.

BTS has only ended one type of pass (the 30 day pass) as it was being abused (apparently by delivery and messenger services, according to Thai social media) and making a loss to the detriment of the service and the rest of the paying public.

On 10/18/2021 at 6:19 AM, Jamey27 said:

Why would they do something so stupid?? Only in thailand 

10 hours ago, Jamey27 said:

You are either willfully ignorant or just a troll

 

[JamesE]

23 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

Government's should be aware of losses in operating their public transportation 

But profit is not an objective, usually 

But the BTS is a private company... The MRT is a private company... The song thaews are private... Not sure about the buses, but probably not...

 

[Marc26]

9 minutes ago, JamesE said:

But the BTS is a private company... The MRT is a private company... The song thaews are private... Not sure about the buses, but probably not...

The lines are owned by the Government (BMA) and operated as a concession 

 

So not exactly privately owned 

[JamesE]

5 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

The lines are owned by the Government (BMA) and operated as a concession 

So not exactly privately owned 

But I'm betting the concessionaires (good band name, that) are not hoping to operate at a loss.

[Stonker]

2 hours ago, HiuMak said:

7,000 THB is a lot of money for average Thai workers. Most lower pay scale jobs are around 10,000 to 15,000 THB a month in the current employment situation. Half of the earnings before tax to commute? The ratio just do not make sense

Fair enough, but if you look at the actual ticket prices the hype over "7,000 THB" is completely fabricated.

BTS standard single tickets cost between 16 and 44 baht one way. Even taking a worst case of someone making two trips for six days a week from one end of the line to the other  (which is very unlikely given the locations) that's still a maximum of 2,288 baht per month.

A more reasonable figure, for two x 20 baht trips per day from the outskirts into the centre, would be 1,040 baht.

Removing the 30 day tickets, particularly the one for unlimited short trips, won't affect those just making a normal one return trip a day at all - the only people affected will be those who were abusing the system and making multiple trips.

[Stonker]

33 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

Raising it to 7k baht is much more than so many other countries' monthly passes!

By more than double than some.....

Which is absurd for a relatively poor, congested city 

But nobody's raising anything to 7k baht!

Even if someone travels from one end of the line and back every working day for a month it's still a maximum of 2,288 baht per month.

The only people affected will be those who make multiple trips every day, abusing the system at the expense of normal commuters.

[Marc26]

11 minutes ago, JamesE said:

But I'm betting the concessionaires (good band name, that) are not hoping to operate at a loss.

No definitely not

But, and I may be wrong, but they could make a profit while the whole operation runs at a loss