Standing at the van ticket booth at Mor Chit 2 bus terminal waiting for his van's 14 seats to be filled up, Anun Phutsong is still serving passengers from Bangkok to Ayutthaya despite the government's ambitious plan to replace all inter-provincial vans with minibuses by this year's end.
Walking away from what he has been doing for the past eight years is not easy. Mr Anun, in his 40s, still cannot figure out where to go and what to do for a living afterwards. "I owe 700,000 baht to an auto finance company. The sad fact for the passenger van's owner is that a vehicle with a yellow plate cannot be sold to anybody. No one would buy it," he said.
A yellow licence plate means that the vehicle is licensed, legal and only used as a hired vehicle for public transport.
With no other possible options, his van will have to be seized by an auto finance company, Mr Anun said.
For the moment, Mr Anun is trying to adjust to the first period of change started over four months ago.
Victory Monument used to be a hub for public vans, which is a popular way to commute in Bangkok and between provinces.
Since Oct 25 last year, van terminals for inter-provincial vans were relocated to Mor Chit 2 and two other bus terminals in order to ease traffic congestion in busy spots at Victory Monument. Only the vans running in and around Bangkok remain.
Just like buses, the vans at the Mor Chit 2 terminal go to provinces in the North, Northeast and central provinces. The other two bus terminals housing the vans are Sai Tai Mai bus terminal for southern routes and Ekamai bus terminal for eastern routes.
Since the relocation, van drivers spend longer hours waiting for passengers to fill up the van's seats than previously, Mr Anun told the Bangkok Post.
"People, especially those who come from other provinces and foreign tourists, were confused and found the new terminals a bit inconvenient to reach," he said.
There are shuttle buses transporting passengers from Victory Monument to the three terminals free of charge, but the service is only for the first six months of the relocation. That means it will be available only until April 25. "No other plan is being considered to continue delivering passengers to the terminals," Wirat Patruk, a 35-year-old bus driver, said.
The number of inter-provincial vans for the North and Northeast routes at the Mor Chit 2 terminal has now risen to over 4,000. The next change is coming on July 1. Deputy Transport Minister Pichit Akrathit said 55 minibuses will be deployed to provide services on 13 routes within 300 kilometres of Bangkok, which are currently covered by public vans.
These will be for popular routes going to major tourism sites or important transport hubs at key junctions leading to other parts of the country, he said.
They include Bangkok-Suphan Buri, Bangkok-Ayutthaya, Bangkok-Saraburi, Bangkok-Pattaya, Bangkok-Hua Hin and Bangkok Nakhon Sawan.
The government's decision to remove all inter-provincial vans and replace them with minibuses came from safety concerns following a number of fatal incidents related to public vans, including the Jan 2 crash in Chon Buri which killed 25 people.
The Thailand Accident Research Centre pointed out that, besides the speeding habits of van drivers, the structure of vans is not suitable for human transportation.
As the inter-provincial vans are legally serviced as contractual partners of Transport Co, Mr Pichit said that the company should find ways to support small van operators to form cooperatives or set up legal entities so that the government can better regulate their services and ensure safety.
Mr Wirat disagrees. "The problems are not with the vans. It is about the drivers who neither have good manners nor follow driving regulations. The traffic laws and any other requirements for van drivers must be made consistent," he said, strongly recommending that authorities fix the problems right at the source.
Rasisah Saleah, 32, a van ticket seller, voiced her concerns that there is a possibility that van operators could dismiss some drivers if the government still insisted on going ahead with a replacement plan from July 1.
"She [the van operator] is likely to buy only 10 minibuses, rather than buying a minibus for each of the 14 currently employed drivers. That means four drivers will be asked to leave," said Ms Rasisah, who works for V Vichai van service company which provides passenger vans between Bangkok and Kamphaeng Phet province.
Similar decisions could be made by other van operators too, she added.
All passenger vans under her company were equipped with GPS tracking devices in accordance with the law, but she was not sure whether someone monitors the vans' movements and does real-time reports.
From the passenger's viewpoint, the safety of passengers not only comes from the proper vehicle model but also from the drivers' appropriate manners on the road.
"The passengers will never feel safe in either a van or minibus if the driver does not follow the traffic laws," said a 56-year-old male commuter who travels frequently from Nakhon Si Thammarat who wished to remain anonymous.
"There are many good van drivers out there. Replacing them with minibuses is probably not the best solution. The state agencies must get tough on traffic law violations," the passenger said.