Prasit Blasts Pipat's "Shallow Thinking" on Banning Trains from City Center, Says it Shifts Burden to Public
Opposition coalition coordinator Prasit criticized Deputy PM Pipat's proposal to ban trains from Bangkok's city center following a collision, calling it "shallow thinking" that burdens commuters instead of addressing root causes like poor t
On May 19, Prasit Wattharasindhul, a party-list MP from the People's Party and coordinator of the opposition coalition, stated that both opposition and government sides plan to submit an urgent motion regarding the train-bus collision on Asoke-Din Daeng Road during parliament's May 20 session. He criticized Deputy PM and Transport Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn's proposal to prohibit trains from entering the city center, calling it "shallow thinking" that unfairly shifts the burden onto train commuters. Prasit proposed three alternative solutions: 1) Strictly enforce traffic laws (noting that currently only 10% of traffic violations caught on camera result in citations), 2) Redesign road usage patterns to accommodate safer traffic flow, and 3) Accelerate the Missing Link railway project to reduce intersection points between trains and vehicles. "If we follow Pipat's approach and just ban trains whenever an incident occurs, that's overly simplistic and places too much burden on the public," Prasit said.
