Thai authorities seek to ease air pollution in capital by offering free public transport Thai authorities have made travel by public transport in Bangkok free for a week starting Saturday, the latest tactic to try to tackle soaring levels of air pollution that have already seen hundreds of schools closed and employees working from home.
Air pollution has been a problem for many years in Thailand’s north, where the burning of forests and agricultural waste are major contributing factors.
On Saturday, the Swiss-based commercial monitoring service IQAir ranked Bangkok as being the world’s 14th most polluted city, with an air quality it categorized as borderline unhealthy for everyone.
Authorities hope the move will cut the number of private cars on the road, to reduce one key factor driving the surge in pollution.
But in recent years Bangkok has also begun to suffer with extended periods of high levels of pollutants, especially during the cooler months.
