ISEAS Perspective: Mass Transit Pricing and Fare Caps in Bangkok: National Politics, Urban Economics, and International Comparisons

A train on the MRT Blue Line, which runs from Bang Sue to Tha Phra district, on Charan Sanitwong Road of Bangkok, Thailand, on 3 July 2024. Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill / Bangkok Post / Bangkok Post via AFP.

In this paper published by NYSEAN Partner ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Richard Yarrow asserts that capping mass transit train fares system-wide in Bangkok is unlikely to lead to stable transit revenues and is instead likely to make further transit expansion less affordable. 

Richard Yarrow is a Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Security and International Studies, Chulalongkorn University. Yarrow is also a New Yorker and member of NYSEAN.