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Bangkok and Phnom Penh have now direct bus services

Thailand and Cambodia launched last month direct bus services linking Bangkok and Phnom Penh via the Aranyaprathet-Poipet border crossing, aiming to speed up travel and cut transportation costs.

BANGKOK- In other parts of the world, launching a bus service between two capital cities would probably not be considered as a major event. But the significance of a bus link opening can be of utmost importance in Asia, especially between Cambodia and Thailand, two neighbouring kingdoms with tumultuous relations for almost a century. On June 15, Thailand Transport Minister Jarupong Ruangsuwan and Cambodian Public Works and Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek and representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) co-presided at the official opening of a new bus service linking Bangkok with Phnom Penh.

Initially, the parties agreed to run 80 border crossing buses and trucks including 30 passenger buses and 10 trucks from Cambodia to Thailand and 10 passenger buses and 30 trucks from Thailand to Cambodia. The two countries have targeted increasing the number of buses and trucks to 500 per day at a later time.

The new service offers two routes, linking Bangkok and Phnom Penh via Aranyaprathet and the other route connecting Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Poipet and  Sisophon. With buses able to go now over the border, the new service will simplify travel times to passengers who, until now, were forced to switch vehicles over the border.

The two ministers also agreed to open a new checkpoint near Klongluek border check point in Aranyaprathet to reduce traffic congestion. They  plan to connect Thailand’s Bangkok-Aranyaprathet railway route with Cambodia’s Poipet-Battambang rail line by next year in a bid to further cut transportation costs.

The bus link between Thailand and Cambodia is due to further expand to include in a near future Vietnamese cities such as Ho Chi Minh City.

Suon Vanhong, deputy director of the Transport Department of Cambodia’s Transport Ministry, was quoted by the China’s official Xinhua News Agency as saying that the direct Phnom Penh-Bangkok bus route via Poipet International Checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province is expected to cut travel time between the two capitals. “Today’s launch will reduce logistics costs and facilitate economic growth and social development between Thailand, Cambodia and other Mekong nations,” declared also Asian Development Bank’s Thailand Resident Mission Director Craig Steffensen.  

(Source: MCOT online news)

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Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.

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