The BTS may introduce another fare hike, according to Thai news site Thansettakij.

Kiri Karnjanapas, the chairman of BTS Group, announced a “possible ticket price increase when the system switches to the Mangmoom Card, unless there is financial support from the government. The BTS has had to put up with the rising maintenance costs that come from an increased number of passengers, a result of expanding new lines.”

“We are trying our best to keep the prices as they are, but how are we going to survive if we have more routes and more customers but the same budget?” Kiri said.

The BTS has already increased fares once this year. In Oct, prices went from B15-42 to B16-44 along both the Sukhumvit (Mo Chit-On Nut) and Silom (National Stadium-Bang Wa) lines.

The BTS currently has around 900,000 passengers per day, a number expected to increase by 120-percent in three years to 2 million people per day following the planned route extensions.

Meanwhile, the "Mangmoom" Card, conceived as a single card that would work across BTS, MRT and Airport Link lines, as well as the Chao Phraya Express boat service, has again been delayed. It was originally slated to launch in Aug 2016, then revised to Apr of this year, then Jun and then Oct. While there's no solid date set for its launch, word is the card will initially only work at stations where there’s a transfer between transport systems, like BTS Asok and MRT Sukhumvit. The clock ticks on and our wallets continue to bulge with cards.