Thailand's New Year exodus begins

BANGKOK, December 29 (TNA) - People have started leaving Bangkok for their provincial hometowns and vacation during the New Year festival, as the Transport Company is operating 5,000 bus trips daily to serve the travelers. The Mo Chit bus terminal in the Thai capital has been crowded since this morning, but most travelers did not bring electrical appliances or bicycles back home as New Year gifts as seen in previous years. Wuthichart Kalayanamitr, President of the Transport Company under the Thai Ministry of Transport, told reporters that the exodus should peak today and tomorrow, acknowledging that his company is operating 5,000 bus trips per day to cater about 250,000 passengers daily during the New Year long-holiday, as all routes have been opened to traffic but drivers are to take precautions on flood-damaged routes. According to the Transport Company top executive, the number of New Year revellers this year is expected to drop to about two million, from about three million normally, as part of flood-affected people stay home for rehabilitation. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit opened an ad-hoc road safety centre for the New Year festival tasked with creating public awareness on road safety during 7-day New Year celebrations from December 29, 2011-January 4, 2012, aimed to reduce road accidents by at least five per cent from last year's cases. Free northbound trains, especially those between Bangkok and Chiang Mai Province, have, on the other hand, relatively packed and tickets of all 30 northbound trains scheduled for the New Year festival have already been sold out, so have free southbound and tickets for almost all trains from Bangkok to the South. (TNA)