Arson attack
There was an arson attack at Saphan Lueng Car Shed on the night of
September 2, 1958 causing the loss of 53 tram cars while the other
three tram cars were damaged, but still reparable. This was a major
loss since a quarter of tram cars were lost in fire from a total of
215 cars. Only 162 tram cars were left for service. This has caused
the loss of tram cars for Bangkholem Line by a half.
Buses and taxis make inroads
The dwindling trams along with the increasing of bus service and taxi
cabs have worsened the financial situation of tram services since
buses have parked on tram tracks, causing longer waiting times and
annoyed more and more passengers even though tram are cheaper than
buses by a half (tram - 50 satang and bus - 1 baht) as well as safer.
Ticket revenue
The ticket revenue for Bangkok trams in BE2501 was 6,924,929.65 baht
with the running distance of 2,435,123 km--100 km of running distance
for each tram--and the additional revenue of 53,169.80 baht from advertising.
However, the Bangkok tram expense in BE2501 was 7,077,039.28 baht.
This caused a loss for Bangkok trams of 98,939.83 baht.
Lopburi
Even the Lopburi tram suffered from bus service along tram tracks,
although to a lesser extent. The revenue for Lopburi trams was 289,839.25
baht. However, the Lopburi tram expense was already 302,077.54 baht.
This has caused a loss for the Lopburi tram of 12,238.29 baht. A further
loss in BE2502 was expected since more buses have come to compete
with trams in both Bangkok and Lopburi.
However the profit from the tram division printing service was 39,995.73
baht, so it cut the loss from 111,178.12 to 71,182.39 baht.
Trolleybus proposed
MEA proposed trolleybus service as a replacement for the Bangkok tram
to fulfill the old proposal by the Siam Electricity Corporation Co.
Ltd. and to better handle traffic than Bangkok trams. Only French
and Japanese companies had strong interest in the project, but it
requires an investment of 200 million baht [then US$10 million - a
very considerable amount in that day). MEA would take seriously consider
the issue.
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