A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1987

This study dealt with the determination of the elasticities of bus passengers of regular buses in Bangkok. It was found that the bus fare elasticity for travel demand in Bangkok is equal to -0.62. This result indicated that increasing the bus fare will lead to a decrease in travel demand or trip making by bus users, so the expected revenues could be reduced from this effect. The elasticities of three selected travel parameters : travel time, waiting time and walking time were found to be -1.75, -1.58 and -2.31, respectively. As can be seen that the greatest effect on the travel demand was walking time. Thus, to improve the bus service, it may be necessary to improve the route structure and also provide short distance bus routes so as to reduce the walking time and also to serve the short distance trips . Of the total 2,004 bus passengers interviewed, 81% responded that the present fare of 2 baht is reasonable, however, when these passengers were asked to stated the maximum fare, most of them put the maximum fare as 2.25 Baht. On the opinion of bus services, 51~ stated that the service is fair, while about one-third said that the service is poor. None of the total 2,004 persons accepted the service as very good. More than half of the bus users (61%) claimed that the wait time is unsuitable. Their most preference for the improving of bus service is to increase the number of buses and bus routes.