Special markets set up to clear Bangkok streets of vendors fail

[webfact]

Special markets set up to clear Bangkok streets of vendors fail

By The Nation

 

A plan to set up five new markets in a bid to clear Bangkok's streets of vendors has flopped, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) governor Assavin Kwanmuang admitted on Tuesday.

 

The BMA opened five markets after it banned vending on most Bangkok roads, which affected more than 8,000 street vendors, the governor said. But after a one month trial the areas have failed to attract enough customers and vendors say they can't make a living.

 

A 1,000-square-metre market was opened beside the Tesco Lotus store near the Pathumwan Institute of Technology, a 500-square-metre market in the car park beside Lumpini Park, a 700-square-metre market in front of Kung Lunag restaurant, a 200-square-metre market on a soi beside Chao Phraya Hospital and a market under Pong Phraram expressway.

 

Assavin said the BMA is now drafting a marketing plan to promote the markets.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30331562

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-14

[Regyai]

Mmmm a multitude of ultra convenient micro sellers dispersed where demand dictates and thrived for decades.

 

Condensed uprooted proscribed and dictated to emerge in vast incovenient governmental pipedreams where demand is none existant!!!!

 

In the "land of the blind the one eyed man is king".....perhaps someone needs a monacle ?

[hawker9000]

5 minutes ago, Regyai said:

Mmmm a multitude of ultra convenient micro sellers dispersed where demand dictates and thrived for decades.

 

Condensed uprooted proscribed and dictated to emerge in vast incovenient governmental pipedreams where demand is none existant!!!!

 

In the "land of the blind the one eyed man is king".....perhaps someone needs a monacle ?

Yes, a multitude of ultra convenient micro sellers that were appropriate to the 1800s...   Modern cities simply can't afford to have their main arteries clogged by vendors squatting on pedestrian right-of-ways.  You might think it quaint.  You might think it charming.   You might think it "traditional".   But if you're just trying to get from A to B, as the vast majority on these main thoroughfares are wont to do,  it's a huge PIA totally irrelevant to modern day.   You're apparently confounded by the difference between legitimate "demand" and rank me-first opportunism.   The solution requires some more competent planning and preparation perhaps, but not a return to a highly dysfunctional throwback.  ....that plus the fact that what grew up over centuries isn't going to be replaced with new public attitudes and habits overnight:  it WILL take time and perseverance.

 

[Rimbuman]

3 minutes ago, hawker9000 said:

Yes, a multitude of ultra convenient micro sellers that were appropriate to the 1800s...   Modern cities simply can't afford to have their main arteries clogged by vendors squatting on pedestrian right-of-ways.  You might think it quaint.  You might think it charming.   You might think it "traditional".   But if you're just trying to get from A to B, as the vast majority on these main thoroughfares are wont to do,  it's a huge PIA totally irrelevant to modern day.   You're apparently confounded by the difference between legitimate "demand" and rank me-first opportunism.   The solution requires some more competent planning and preparation perhaps, but not a return to a highly dysfunctional throwback.  ....that plus the fact that what grew up over centuries isn't going to be replaced with new public attitudes and habits overnight:  it WILL take time and perseverance.

 

Maybe 9000 hawkers? It's a bit harder to hit moving targets.

[tonray]

Poor planning.. The vendors near Century Plaza Victory Monument are all jammed in an area that's difficult to walk thru so I skip them and go to Tops. 

[Srikcir]

In a little more than a year ago Prayut invoked Article 44 to sack BMA governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra and his deputies to be replaced by Pol Gen Assawin Kwanmuang and handpicked deputies. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30297873

Another Junta solution.

 

 

[Emster23]

Why are we not surprised? Plan would have been like putting all the 7-11s in the same location.

Another fine example of ineptitude by officials, inability to see more than 3 minutes into the future and culture that does not allow questioning of "superiors" by underlings

[Rayfish]

Yes, a multitude of ultra convenient micro sellers that were appropriate to the 1800s...   Modern cities simply can't afford to have their main arteries clogged by vendors squatting on pedestrian right-of-ways.  You might think it quaint.  You might think it charming.   You might think it "traditional".   But if you're just trying to get from A to B, as the vast majority on these main thoroughfares are wont to do,  it's a huge PIA totally irrelevant to modern day.   You're apparently confounded by the difference between legitimate "demand" and rank me-first opportunism.   The solution requires some more competent planning and preparation perhaps, but not a return to a highly dysfunctional throwback.  ....that plus the fact that what grew up over centuries isn't going to be replaced with new public attitudes and habits overnight:  it WILL take time and perseverance.
 

Some of us like the rainbow that is the food we can get on the street. Vanilla no culture over-controlled overtaxed cities is what you can have in the West. If you don't like the culture that has developed here in Southeast Asia you can always go to America or Europe.



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[Regyai]

24 minutes ago, Rayfish said:

Some of us like the rainbow that is the food we can get on the street. Vanilla no culture over-controlled overtaxed cities is what you can have in the West. If you don't like the culture that has developed here in Southeast Asia you can always go to America or Europe.



Sent from my SM-G9287C using Tapatalk
 

Despite all the usually braying for things to be 'just like back home', the street carts are after all how the vast majority of working Thais eat.

 

Thailand isnt Marxist Russia or Mao's China

 

 

 

 

 

 

yet!

[chama]

Street vendors are part of the charm of the city as well as a pain in the butt to navigate. The success of the vendor depends on the location they set up to generate impulse sales. People re not going to travel out of their way to get to the vendors stalls, they have to be in an area the patron is frequenting as part of their daily ritual.

[timendres]

9 hours ago, hawker9000 said:

Yes, a multitude of ultra convenient micro sellers that were appropriate to the 1800s...   Modern cities simply can't afford to have their main arteries clogged by vendors squatting on pedestrian right-of-ways.  You might think it quaint.  You might think it charming.   You might think it "traditional".   But if you're just trying to get from A to B, as the vast majority on these main thoroughfares are wont to do,  it's a huge PIA totally irrelevant to modern day.   You're apparently confounded by the difference between legitimate "demand" and rank me-first opportunism.   The solution requires some more competent planning and preparation perhaps, but not a return to a highly dysfunctional throwback.  ....that plus the fact that what grew up over centuries isn't going to be replaced with new public attitudes and habits overnight:  it WILL take time and perseverance.

Ah, the western mentality speaks. How dare a culture and tradition get in the way of going from Point A to Point B! Personally, I have never heard a single Thai person complain about these vendors. I have heard them complain about the government. And government decisions, such as the one that cleared away the street vendors they took for granted. As governments are wont to do, they attempt a massively planned, but poorly thought out, "solution" instead of incremental improvements that everyone could appreciate. "New public attitudes and habits"? Sounds like "attitude adjustment" to me.

[oldcarguy]

2 hours ago, chama said:

Street vendors are part of the charm of the city as well as a pain in the butt to navigate. The success of the vendor depends on the location they set up to generate impulse sales. People re not going to travel out of their way to get to the vendors stalls, they have to be in an area the patron is frequenting as part of their daily ritual.

 

there may have been some streets or times of day to move the street vendors , but not all of them......

 

I think they need to be regulated  but not "swept" clean......

 

 

[chama]

4 hours ago, oldcarguy said:

 

there may have been some streets or times of day to move the street vendors , but not all of them......

 

I think they need to be regulated  but not "swept" clean......

 

 

Strongly agree...your suggestion would have done a great deal to solve the problems that were being addressed by moving the vendors. 

[hawker9000]

10 hours ago, Rayfish said:

Some of us like the rainbow that is the food we can get on the street. Vanilla no culture over-controlled overtaxed cities is what you can have in the West. If you don't like the culture that has developed here in Southeast Asia you can always go to America or Europe.



Sent from my SM-G9287C using Tapatalk
 

Instead of just bloviating, you might actually READ what I wrote.  It's not a matter of liking or not liking street food, but your reading skills obviously didn't enable you to grasp that.

 

'And the old "love-it-or-leave" non-thinking, beyond stale chestnut.

[Dexlowe]

4 hours ago, timendres said:

Personally, I have never heard a single Thai person complain about these vendors.

It's well accepted that Thais do not expend any more energy than is absolutely necessary. They also have an extraordinary capacity for tolerating inconvenience -- another well-known attribute. That's why you never hear them complain. Given time, they will adapt to their new-found situation - adapting is something we all have to do from time to time. ** Conversely, have you heard anyone complaining about how much easier it is to commute these days? 

[oldcarguy]

18 minutes ago, Dexlowe said:

 Conversely, have you heard anyone complaining about how much easier it is to commute these days? 

 Probably more likely complaining they have to walk a couple blocks to eat and they loved the regular street food sellers who they ate at for years.......

 

This is all a power battle between the Junta and local cops/mafia who had big $$$$ from "renting " public space.

Again , if the $$$$ went into  city accounts this probably would not have happened ,

 

follow the $$$$ and the power it brings.....

[lagavulin1]

One of those in Udon opened last year. Still empty. Big hope is that when the new hotel opens on the adjacent lot some business maybe generated.

[MichaelJohn]

On 11/14/2017 at 11:51 PM, timendres said:

I have never heard a single Thai person complain about these vendors

I have, many many times just like the farang complain about them.

Dirty, blocking the pavements, unhygenic .......... New generation Thais and more educated older Thais see that this needs to change to allow the country to develop. 

If the Thai's want to stay with the quaint old ways then they can continue to watch the rats run across the road whilst the road is blocked by carts and double parking.

I personally don't care but I have seen a great improvement in the areas where they have removed street vendors.