Thaksin Could'nt Deliver

[eric1000]

Taxis for Thaksin

When he was Thai deputy prime minister in the mid-1990s, Thaksin Shinawatra promised to end Bangkok's notorious traffic gridlock within six months. Despite his subsequent move to the top job, the pledge remained unfulfilled.

Congestion eased somewhat in 1997 amid the Asian financial crisis. But now the traffic jams of the Thai capital are worsening with each passing month of economic growth.

As people spend more time stuck in traffic, Thaksin is worried about the mood of Bangkok's army of taxi drivers.

Thaksin has long seemed preoccupied with the potential political influence of Bangkok's thousands of cabbies. He once claimed his enemies had a conspiracy to poison taxi drivers' minds, so they would criticise his government to passengers while stuck in traffic.

But the prime minister is looking at red lights with a new sense of calm now. At the weekend he lunched with more than 5,000 taxi drivers and grandly offered to pay their traffic fines. He also said their children would get scholarships to study abroad.

Thaksin clearly hopes cabbies will emerge as valuable political canvassers. But as their engines idle in worsening jams, some drivers may recall that the premier does not always deliver on his promises.

[Axel]

Taxis for Thaksin

When he was Thai deputy prime minister in the mid-1990s, Thaksin Shinawatra promised to end Bangkok's notorious traffic gridlock within six months. Despite his subsequent move to the top job, the pledge remained unfulfilled.....

Well, he only failed at because suddenly and unexpectantly there was a rainy season in that year.

[Snark]

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[Up2U]

Traffic management is a very skilled job. I've seen several road schemes from original concept, through modifications, to final construction.

Only one of them worked as well as originally required, and that worked superbly. Of course it was British engineering by Rendell, Palmer and tritton - alas swallowed up by High Point Schaer and no longer the force they were.

Civil servants, even trained civil engineers and town-planning engineers, cannot design the best solutions, because they have political masters who think they can please all the people all the time. The axe does not swing hard enough, bite deep enough. And the benefits usually go to the Mercedes car driver, rather than the Mercedes truck driver.

[Snark]

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[taxexile]

it will probably be impossible to improve bangkoks traffic flow so long as petrol remains cheap, and drivers can have unrestricted access to the road system.

charge for road use,make parking more expensive, charge for cars with no passengers,increase the price of petrol and reduce the number of taxis (in some parts of town, it seems as if 90% of the cars are taxis).

of course all these measures would be desperately unpopular and so no politician would want to introduce them. but if a politician really wanted to help bangkoks traffic problems,then thats what they would have to do.

any politician who was brave enough to introduce such measures would soon find himself kicked out of office. but at least his journey back to his home would be a quick one.

[ovenman]

it will probably be impossible to improve bangkoks traffic flow so long as petrol remains cheap, and drivers can have unrestricted access to the road system.

Simply allowing the price of petrol to reach its true market price would be a start. The current government policy of holding fuel prices down with money from the State Oil Fund does nothing to make an individual think twice about using their vehicle.

[Yohan]

Every big city has its traffic problem...

Paris or Rome, New York or San Francisco, Tokyo or Djakarta......

Bangkok is no exception.

The only major city in this world without traffic jam is Pyongyang in North Korea....

The question is however, if the Thais and the foreigners like such a government, which is capable to keep all traffic away from the capital....

I prefer Bangkok as it is... openly said...

Johann

[bkk_mike]

Maybe things will improve with the Metro... - although it has to extend out from the centre before it will really do much about the traffic.

At the moment - cars and buses are the ONLY way to get around most of Bangkok. So increasing the oil price would effectively be a regressive tax on people who have to travel to work etc. Not a good idea until there is an alternative.

Road charging makes sense in London where you have the choice of driving or taking the tube, and the tube extends out a lot further than the congestion charge zone. It's utter nonsense in Bangkok while there is no alternative to the car.

[Yohan]

There are wide areas in Thailand with very little traffic, and Bangkok is not Thailand.....

Often the car is the only choice, in the province as well as in Greater Bangkok.

No way to change this situation in Bangkok at the moment....it will take years, to see some improvements - the network of skytrain and metro is still very very short.

Johann

[Yohan]

it will probably be impossible to improve bangkoks traffic flow so long as petrol remains cheap, and drivers can have unrestricted access to the road system.

Simply allowing the price of petrol to reach its true market price would be a start. The current government policy of holding fuel prices down with money from the State Oil Fund does nothing to make an individual think twice about using their vehicle.

Is there any alternate solution for it in wide areas in Bangkok?

Believe me, nobody likes to drive a car in Bangkok, but what else can he or she use instead of it?

And how much is the *true market price* for gasoline in Thailand?

And how much tax would you add to that true market price for all Thailand, or should be a special tax only for Bangkok gasoline stands?

Johann

[taxexile]

Maybe things will improve with the Metro... - although it has to extend out from the centre before it will really do much about the traffic.

At the moment - cars and buses are the ONLY way to get around most of Bangkok. So increasing the oil price would effectively be a regressive tax on people who have to travel to work etc. Not a good idea until there is an alternative.

Road charging makes sense in London where you have the choice of driving or taking the tube, and the tube extends out a lot further than the congestion charge zone. It's utter nonsense in Bangkok while there is no alternative to the car.

londons public transport system is old,badly organised,prone to breakdowns and strike action and very expensive,it is hardly an acceptable alternative for the long suffering commuters but it is all they have. uk politicians treat car owners mercilessly

as for bangkok, there is a very good and extensive bus,mini-bus,soi bus and songthaew system that will take a very high percentage of commuters and school kids to within 100 meters of their homes,schools and places of work. motor cycle taxis on almost every major soi will fill in any gaps.

increase the petrol prices and introduce road charging for entering a central zone in bagkok,make car parking more expensive, enforce bus lane discipline and with the resultant reduction in private car usage buses etc. would be the quickest and best way to get about , link them to the skytrain and soon to be opened tube system, provide free parking for commuters at skytrain and subway stations and park and ride facilities for suburban bus terminals, make season ticket purchase possible from machines....and bobs your uncle.....you have gone a long way to solving bangkoks traffic problems

the only way to get people out of their cars is to

1. make it expensive to use one in bangkok

2. provide good cheap public transport. the gasoline subsidy that has cost the government 9 billion baht so far this year would be better spent on subsidising and improving public transport.

its no good asking them to leave their cars at home, they have to be forced out of them through taxation and by providing good public transport facilities.

bangkok already has very good public transport... it just needs a bit of tweaking and the roads cleared of a lot of the cars.

[ovenman]

And how much is the *true market price* for gasoline in Thailand?

Currently, the Thai government is subsidizing the price of petrol from something called the State Oil Fund (to protect the economy from shocks related to the volatile price of fuel). If you believe the numbers quoted in the Bangkok Post today, this subsidy currently works out to about three baht per litre. Therefore, my definition of "true market price" in this instance is what a litre would cost without the government making up the difference.

From the same article in today's Post, the subsidy on petrol is set to expire with the opening of the subway in Bangkok although the subsidy on diesel fuel will remain. This strikes me as simply being a graceful way for the government to back out of an unsustainable policy. The majority of the population does not live in Bangkok and even for those who do, what percentage of people will actually find the new subway of use on a consistent basis?

[britmaveric]

Traffic in BKK is I have to say the worst. I thought Tokyo was bad, but I'll be damned if BKK wasn't by far the worst in the world.

Not sure what the solution would be at this stage-major reconstruction efforst will make things worse and would take years to fix BKK.

[350torana]

As in other parts of the world you see alot of cars with just one passenger . Maybe a campaign of car pooling, along with use of public transport could ease the problems. Can't really see this being a reality though . I hear that there are a few hundred new cars on the road everyday in Bkk , can only see the problem getting worse .

I always wonder why the wandering vendors selling jasmine and newspapers don't sell cold beer . It would relax the traffic jam agros but not help the road toll much .

[stroll]

Double the price of new cars and ban import of second hand ones, spend the income on extending and subsidising skytrain services and bus routes in the provinces.

This should solve traffic congestion, maybe not within 6 months, but 3 years.

And it would make owning a car what it is: a luxury.

[taxexile]

And it would make owning a car what it is: a luxury.

why is it a luxury to own a car?

[maerim]

why is it a luxury to own a car?

I would hazard a guess is that he does not have one.

[taxexile]

possibly so, judging by his /her name, but i am interested to know why he /she thinks that the car is such a luxury these days.

lets see what stroll comes up with by way of an answer when he gets back from his 4 mile walk in 95 degree heat to buy his food and newspaper.

[stroll]

Back already, faster than taking the cab, and good for the circulation, too.

Considering the congestion and other private car related issues-pollution, unpaid debts, I think cars should be regarded as a luxury item, not something everybody should have at least one of.

You're right, I don't.