Cleaner Cars, Aggressive Steps Needed To Clear Bangkok's Air

[snoop1130]

Cleaner Cars, Aggressive Steps Needed To Clear Bangkok's Air

By Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

 

 

BANGKOK — Cleaner petrol and stricter vehicle controls are some of the measures needed to handle the capital’s growing problem with fine particulate air pollution.

 

That was the consensus of Thammasat University experts at a Monday talk highlighting the need for serious and coordinated measures needed to reverse Bangkok’s declining air quality, which this month saw residents gasping for face masks.

 

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/bangkok/2018/02/20/cleaner-cars-aggressive-steps-needed-clear-bangkoks-air/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-2-20

[ezflip]

Hey! Here is an idea, why don't they extend the no smoking ban from the beaches to cover the whole capital?

 

On second thought, please don't tell 'em that. They are crazy enough to even try something like this.

[KhunBENQ]

Less cars, decent volume public transport.

[tonray]

3 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Less cars, decent volume public transport.

The diesel bus routes are what is a major contributor to particulate pollution. Cleaner buses would go a long way to help the situation. Some of those old buses I have been on, start backfiring and the driver orders everyone off for fear there will be an engine fire, this has happened 3 times in the past year while I have been on. These things are monstrous polluters. Get the damned train lines done instead of pissing around for years and years....AND make them affordable and competitive with bus transit.

[dinsdale]

So far they haven't mentioned anything about industries paying off officials to turn a blind eye so they can continue to pollute the air and waterways.

[hansnl]

9 hours ago, tonray said:

The diesel bus routes are what is a major contributor to particulate pollution. Cleaner buses would go a long way to help the situation. Some of those old buses I have been on, start backfiring and the driver orders everyone off for fear there will be an engine fire, this has happened 3 times in the past year while I have been on. These things are monstrous polluters. Get the damned train lines done instead of pissing around for years and years....AND make them affordable and competitive with bus transit.

What about the buses waiting on the quai???????

[VocalNeal]

9 hours ago, tonray said:

Cleaner buses would go a long way to help the situation.

Many of the buses I encounter at least downtown are NGV so don't belch black smoke anymore. So while they might look old and decrepit they have at least had something done to them to make them cleaner. The fact they apparently backfire as you say is testament to this, as diesels don't backfire. 

 Lets all have electric cars and move the pollution out to the countryside. 

 

 

[samsensam]

3 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Many of the buses I encounter at least downtown are NGV so don't belch black smoke anymore. So while they might look old and decrepit they have at least had something done to them to make them cleaner. The fact they apparently backfire as you say is testament to this, as diesels don't backfire. 

 Lets all have electric cars and move the pollution out to the countryside. 

 

 

 

not sure what area of bangkok you live but i assure you there are a huge amount of red and blue & white non-aircon buses on the bangkok streets. i remember back in the early 2000s the BMA grandly announcing that these black exhaust belching vehicles would be replaced. many of the similarly polluting orange buses have been around since the turn of the century.

[tonray]

35 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Many of the buses I encounter at least downtown are NGV so don't belch black smoke anymore. So while they might look old and decrepit they have at least had something done to them to make them cleaner. The fact they apparently backfire as you say is testament to this, as diesels don't backfire. 

 Lets all have electric cars and move the pollution out to the countryside. 

 

 

Whether technically a backfire or not these are not ngv buses and yes they do make an explosion noise enough to alarm the driver to evacuate the bus.  In my neighborhood there are no new buses (lower Thonburi)  they are all old smoke belching monsters 

[VocalNeal]

Sukhumvit.

 

The Orange private buses which seem to have diminished in numbers were/are the replacement for the notorious old   "racing" Green buses with the Kratingdaeng drivers.

 

The red and blue-white non aircon buses along with the larger Orange air-con buses are the ones converted to NGV and they were the ones I was talking about. See them everyday on the streets. Very little visible particulate emissions compared to say pickup trucks with the injector pressure hyped up. 

 

The old wooden cab trucks seem to the the worst offenders but they are very few and far between. 

[newnative]

Cleaner cars, yes, but also fewer cars. Bangkok needs new auto registration restrictions, steep tax to drive into the CBD, and a much better bus system covering all areas with new, electric air conditioned buses taking commuters either close to their workplaces or to a metro stop for transit to close to where they work. Get rid of the toll booths on the motorways and make up the revenue with a gas tax increase or auto registration tax increase, or both. Add more train cars to the trains and rapidly expand to areas not served.  Everything going way too slow.

[Media1]

17 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Less cars, decent volume public transport.

it ain't the cars. it's the quality of vehicle..Isan cowboys can drive anything police don't do there jobs period. A joke

[newnative]

6 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Many of the buses I encounter at least downtown are NGV so don't belch black smoke anymore. So while they might look old and decrepit they have at least had something done to them to make them cleaner. The fact they apparently backfire as you say is testament to this, as diesels don't backfire. 

 Lets all have electric cars and move the pollution out to the countryside. 

 

 

  Well, that's the problem, isn't it: "Old and decrepit".   White collar Bangkokians aren't going to ride buses like that.  The buses need to be like what I saw in Hong Kong--new, air-conditioned, very comfortable, clean, and very frequent.  People won't get out of their cars until a first-rate city-wide transportation system is in place.