The Central Administrative Court will tomorrow decide whether to impose an injunction on the bus fare hike which took effect yesterday.
The legal battle was sparked after social activist Srisuwan Janya accused the Central Land Transport Committee of unfairly increasing the financial burden on commuters.
"The reason to increase ticket prices is mainly based on salaries and welfare of bus staff, not fuel costs," Mr Srisuwan, also secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, told the court.
The judge yesterday agreed to consider the petition he lodged last week.
The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) was earlier scheduled to increase city bus fares from Jan 21 but later decided to postpone the new rate for its old fleet, following a recommendation by the State Enterprise Policy Office, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The BMTA applied the new fares yesterday, insisting the hike is important to help the agency better deal with rising costs as fares had remained unchanged for seven years.
"The BMTA is aware the fare hike will affect passengers, so it decided to divide the increase into two phases," acting BMTA chief Prayun Chuaikaeo said referring to a study by Thailand Development Research Institute.
Intitially, fares for ordinary and air-conditioned buses will increase by between 1.50 and 2 baht. Then a further increase of 1 and 2 baht will be applied from April 22, 2020.
"Higher prices will be a good motivation for privately run buses," Mr Prayun said.
Trade Policy and Strategy Office chief Phimchanok Wonkhophon said the fare increase will not impact inflation though it may affect people's spending.
