Bangkok's traffic nightmare: Capital is now clogged by 3 million cars and even more motorbikes

[webfact]

Bangkok's traffic nightmare: Capital is now clogged by 3 million cars and even more motorbikes

 

Picture: Mcot

 

Thai media MCOT reported that Bangkok now has 3 million vehicles registered.

 

In a feature about the continuing traffic problems facing Thailand's capital their reporter went to some of the latest problem areas and spoke to the committee of the Royal Thai Police tasked with improving matters.

 

The presenters said that the most interesting news was that there are now 3 million vehicles. There are not nearly enough roads to house them all.

 

In fact you would have to have all the vehicles on four levels if they were all on the road at any one time - like a large Vanilla Slice!

 

Their reporter went to Lat Prao road where roadworks are adding to the already serious traffic there. The same is true in many other areas of Bangkok where train lines are going in such as the entire area of Ratchayothin around the corner from Lat Prao in the northern area of the city.

 

MCOT said that there is no denying that traffic is the biggest nightmare facing Bangkok.

 

But it has been this way for decades - there are just too many cars and not enough roads.

 

Pol Maj Gen Ekkarak Limsangkat called it the "domino" effect.

 

People driving into the center of Bangkok from outlying provinces crushing everything into a small space in the center of the city.

 

The more they try to solve the problem on the main thoroughfares the more cars keep coming - its a never ending cycle.

 

The report stated that there were only 5,500 km of roads. There were so many cars they would have to quadruple up on top of each other for their to be enough space.

 

There are also 3.3 million motorbikes in the capital adding to the crisis.

 

Source: Mcot

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-08-10

 

 

[PatOngo]

47 minutes ago, webfact said:

Capital is now clogged by 3 million cars and even more motorbikes

Kinda turns me off street food!

[edwinchester]

"....there are now 3 million vehicles. There are not nearly enough roads to house them all."

 

Look at all the roads being built feeding traffic into Bangkok in ever increasing numbers.

It can only get worse unless there is a huge increase in the amount and quality of public transport.

[keeniau96]

Would be a good idea to consider London as a model, or even better Singapore.

[sammieuk1]

On the plus side no ones going fast enough to kill you?  

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I am only a visitor to Bangkok these days. Seems to me incidents of road rage are on the rise. Taxi drivers refuse to take you where you want to go. Motorcycles take over the sidewalks at rush hour. And yet, more new hotels, condo projects and malls are being built along Suk -- three separate projects are underway on Suk Soi 36 alone, plus eventually the new EmSphere at soi 22. Add in 7 more BTS stations on the Suk line plus other extensions and thousands more people will commute into the city. Bangkok life is degrading by the minute. 

[George Bowman]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

there are just too many cars and not enough roads.

However, there is plenty of available parking spots...

[happy chappie]

Put it down to polution and saving the environment and tax the nuts out of them like in the uk.i hate traffic and I'm lucky to have only 1 set of traffic lights on my 22 km into the city.when I look at it,what a waste of this precious one life we have and chose to sit in a car hours upon hours looking at the back of a car or sitting at a red light.

[Assurancetourix]

3 hours ago, keeniau96 said:

Would be a good idea to consider London as a model, or even better Singapore.

Maybe Tokyo ?

 

If u don't have a place for parking your car in this town, u cannot own / have a car.

One of my nephew who is living in Japan since more than 15 years had a car when living in the countryside;

he sold it when he had to live and work in Tokyo because of that.( don't have a place for parking his car )

He is a lecturer in  Teikyo University Faculty of Language Studies ( if u know about it )

[Kinnock]

Congestion charge for cars may help - cars take up too much road space, and when one stops outside 7-11, everyone needs to stop.

 

Also - most private cars seem to have one person inside (I believe the average is 1.2 people) - yet take up around 6 sq meters of road, whereas the average scooter is much smaller, and in Thailand generally carries 6 people

Edited August 10, 2018 by Kinnock

[Darcula]

With 3 million cars and 3.3 million motorbikes - there must be a shortage of drivers. That's why they have children driving.

[Small Joke]

Ban or fine single pax use of cars.  Pedestrianise most of the center,  with car tax subsudised free bicycles and golf type buggy for elderly nursing mothers etc. 

Since the place is sinking, (probably bullshit based on a quarter truth)  start building or renovating canals. And use them!  

They'll be forced to change,  or the city will eventually just stop. And there's always somewhere worse.  

Jakarta and Manila, to compare apples with apples. 

 

Edited August 10, 2018 by Small Joke

[Redline]

They speak as if there is no solution.  There is will to fix anything here-just acknowledgments and deference.  I can only believe it is pure laziness.

I guess, to my amazement, officials wait until a critical point to react, which seems to average decades, and then begin to attempt to fix something indicating that they thought up the solution that has been tried and tested for decades in other countries ??

[vinegarbase]

What makes it worse is that for many Farangs there are no other convenient less trafficked locations to visit for our Embassies, Kurusapa, or Chaeng Wattana etc. to handle this business and force us to go to Bangkok even though we don't live there. This just adds to traffic as well. More things should be able to be handled, by mail, online, or local immigration, cutting down on traffic to Bangkok is good motivation for them or should be!

Edited August 10, 2018 by vinegarbase

[johng]

Would be a good idea to consider London as a model, or even better Singapore.

Yes central London is now almost completely devoid of private cars...motorcycles insured out of existence...parking spaces almost non existent...or 5 pounds ++
per hour at least there is an almost viable alternative in the bus and underground system + shoe leather or "tour de France"

[AsiaHand]

Did not some large international cities install a system of "Odd or Even" licensee plate number to enter the city? This would work if Bangkok had proper enforcement of the traffic laws,but that would be another ball of wax to sort out.

[Lungstib]

 

And people still say man is an example of superior intelligence. Bangkok shows us just how dumb mankind can act when its led by people who think profit and pretentions are the main purposes of life. A car in Bangkok is as useful as a lead swimsuit. The whole place is an abomination that I have avoided stepping into for 10 years and will be a test of my creativity when I need a new passport. I do, however, have great pity for those that have to be there. 

[overherebc]

14 minutes ago, AsiaHand said:

Did not some large international cities install a system of "Odd or Even" licensee plate number to enter the city? This would work if Bangkok had proper enforcement of the traffic laws,but that would be another ball of wax to sort out.

This Bangkok. Many would just get a second set of false plates take the risk and change them on a daily basis.

[giddyup]

Lyrics

 

Damn this traffic jam,
How I hate to be late,
It hurts my motor to go so slow.
Damn this traffic jam,
Time I get home my supper'll be cold,
Damn this traffic jam.

Well I left my job
About five o'clock,
It took fifteen minutes
To go three blocks,
Just in time
To stand in line
With a freeway looking
Like a parking lot.
Damn this traffic jam,
How I hate to be late,
It hurts my motor to go so slow.
Damn this traffic jam,
Time I get home my supper'll be cold,
Damn this traffic jam.

Now I almost had
A heart attack,
Looking in my rear view mirror,
I saw myself
The next car back,
Looking in the rear view mirror,
About to have
A heart attack, I said,
Damn this traffic jam,
How I hate to be late,
It hurts my motor to go so slow.
Damn this traffic jam,
Time I get home my supper'll be cold,
Damn this traffic jam.

Now when I die
I don't want no coffin,
I thought about it
All too often.
Just strap me in
Behind the wheel
And bury me with
My automobile.
Damn this traffic jam,
How I hate to be late,
It hurts my motor to go so slow.
Damn this traffic jam,
Time I get home my supper'll be cold,
Damn this traffic jam.
Damn.

Now I used to think
That I was cool
Running around
On fossil fuel,
Until I saw
What I was doing
Was driving down
The road to ruin.

[hotchilli]

Don't worry mother nature has the final word, under the weight of all the construction, extra people, cars etc and of course rising sea levels BKK will be a lake by the end of this century... the city planners should start to look to higher ground for a new city to destroy!

[Henrik Andersen]

no worries Bangkok sinking any and with a little bit luck all problems will disappear so nothing need to be fix and nobody loose face 

[tryasimight]

4 hours ago, Small Joke said:

Ban or fine single pax use of cars.  Pedestrianise most of the center,  with car tax subsudised free bicycles and golf type buggy for elderly nursing mothers etc. 

Since the place is sinking, (probably bullshit based on a quarter truth)  start building or renovating canals. And use them!  

They'll be forced to change,  or the city will eventually just stop. And there's always somewhere worse.  

Jakarta and Manila, to compare apples with apples. 

 

Elderly nursing mothers. That's an image that will take a while to get out of my head. 

[tryasimight]

2 hours ago, Lungstib said:

 

And people still say man is an example of superior intelligence. Bangkok shows us just how dumb mankind can act when its led by people who think profit and pretentions are the main purposes of life. A car in Bangkok is as useful as a lead swimsuit. The whole place is an abomination that I have avoided stepping into for 10 years and will be a test of my creativity when I need a new passport. I do, however, have great pity for those that have to be there. 

I enjoy visiting and driving in Bangkok . It's no different to any big city to drive in. 

[pokerface1]

It's Yingluck who offer 100,000 baht rebate to first time buyers of new cars. I think the rebate offer was for a 6 month period several years ago.

It caused a frenzy among prospective buyers and if you wanted a cheap new car to replace your old one you simply registered it in your wife or husbands name.

So when I'm stuck in a traffic jam I say <deleted>...ingluck come back to Thailand and face the music BEEP BEEP Honk Honk

 

[berybert]

2 hours ago, AsiaHand said:

Did not some large international cities install a system of "Odd or Even" licensee plate number to enter the city? This would work if Bangkok had proper enforcement of the traffic laws,but that would be another ball of wax to sort out.

They did that is Paris many years ago. Most people went out and bought a second car. Not a good idea.

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, Lungstib said:

 

And people still say man is an example of superior intelligence. Bangkok shows us just how dumb mankind can act when its led by people who think profit and pretentions are the main purposes of life. A car in Bangkok is as useful as a lead swimsuit. The whole place is an abomination that I have avoided stepping into for 10 years and will be a test of my creativity when I need a new passport. I do, however, have great pity for those that have to be there. 

 

How would you travel around Bangkok with an infant?

 

How would you get your 4 year old to school? especially when its raining.

 

For families who want some semblance of safety a car is essential.

 

And... to place Bangkok's traffic woes in to perspective... a 3 hour journey took me 7 hours in the UK last month.... Each and every time I visit Pattaya, Hua Hin or Chiang Mai I get caught up in traffic jam's similar to those experienced in Bangkok. 

 

Additionally - Bangkok's traffic can be avoided when choosing the right time to travel.

It takes 20-25 mins to take my son to school at 8am... (The petchaburi rd end of Ekammai to Sukhimvi Soi 20 - it takes me 10-15mins on a motorbike) - It takes 30mins to come back at 3pm. 

However, the same journey takes more than an hour after 5pm and after 6pm its not worth considering. 

 

Given the issues with crowding on the MRT at peak times, chilling out in your own car sometimes seems like the better option - Bangkok is simply suffering the curse of all busy and popular cities - over population & crowding, its unavoidable... 

 

Tokyo was used an an example earlier on in this thread... but people have forgotten (or do not know) how awful taking the subway is there at 6pm.

 

Public transport definitely needs improving in Bangkok, drastically so. Pavements need to be made navigable and safe for wheelchairs and pushchairs... they need to be safe for kids to walk along without boiling oil at face height etc.... traveling on foot needs to be as safe and as convenient as taking the car... only then will we see the numbers of vehicles diminishing and only then would a congestion charge start to work. 

 

An extra carriage on the BTS and MRT and free and widely available parking at the stations (i.e. stores next to the stations) especially terminus stations would make some inroads towards solving these issues... 

Edited August 10, 2018 by richard_smith237

[Thian]

Millions of small cars and far too few big trucks to deliver goods to big shops.

 

It's time to scale up in BKK, big trucks are better and so are big shops....

[Happyman58]

Oh well, that will stop them from speeding. Here in Ubon, the drivers don't know the speed limit in a built-up area Flat to the board seems to be the way. Then again they can have excuses I guess. Most Thais can't read due to the poor education system and when they see a speed sign they think its a decoration like those pretty lights that change color From Green To Amber To Red.

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. 

[BEngBKK]

Is this not just a natural developement in any delovoping country ?