BANGKOK, June 28 (TNA) — Standard minibuses will replace passenger vans that have been used for 10 years, on Oct 1, the Land Transport Department announced.
Peerapol Thawornsupacharoen, director-general of the department, said the replacement would happen to decade-old passenger vans nationwide.
Old vans could not be insured and there would be problems when they had accidents, he said.
On Oct 1, 2017 operators of decade-old passenger vans running between Bangkok and other provinces were ordered to deploy new vans. Mr Peerapol said 937 vans were operated on the routes and operators replaced 252 of them.
The same regulation also applied to interprovincial passenger vans running in other provinces. Of 238 vans on such routes, 227 ones were replaced with new vans.
From Oct 1 onwards, decade-old passenger vans must be replaced with standard minibuses with 20-30 seats. Standard minibuses were safer with better equipment and more suitable for long trips than vans, Mr Peerapol said.
He said 1,175 vans had been used for 10 years and were subject to the replacement imposed on Oct 1. Prior to the date, their owners can replace old vans with brand-new vans or vans that were used for up to two years, he said. (TNA)
