You are here: Bangkok’s new bus stop signs are helpful guides

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You are here: Bangkok’s new bus stop signs are helpful guides

By The Nation

 

 

Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang is trumpeting the installation of 30 new and “more user-friendly” bus stop signs around the city that he believes will save people from getting lost.

 

 

In a recent post on his “aswinkwanmuang” Facebook page, the governor said the idea was presented during Bangkok Design Week in early 2018 by a civic group called May Day. 

 

Both sides of the signs show the numbers of the buses on the route, emergency phone numbers and a map in Thai and English.

 

 

The first 30 signs are along the MRTA Green Line and outside Robinson Bang Rak on Charoenkrung Road, Central World on Rajadamri Road, the National Stadium on Rama I Road, MBK on Phayathai Road, the Khok Wua-Rattanakosin Exhibition intersection on Rajadamnoen Klang Road and in the Sanam Luang area.

 

 

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has earmarked funding for fiscal 2019 to erect 500 more signs in Chatuchak, Phayathai, Ratchathewee, Pathumwan and Bang Rak districts, Aswin said.

 

Bidding is underway on the contract. 

 

Another 500 signs are budgeted for fiscal 2020 for Phra Nakhon, Dusit and Pom Prap districts, he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30365419

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-08

[kotsak]

Nice but I would like to see how they will look like in a year's time from today..

[overherebc]

18 minutes ago, kotsak said:

Nice but I would like to see how they will look like in a year's time from today..

Depends on how many buses have brake failure and decapitate them.

[bluesofa]

13 minutes ago, kotsak said:

Nice but I would like to see how they will look like in a year's time from today..

I understand your concern. I see it doesn't say what they are made from, and I also wonder how well protected they are from the weather - rain, and also fade resistant being in the sun all day.

 

However, this does on the face of it look like a good idea and a step in the right direction to help tourists - both Thai and ferang.

 

Not that I live in Bangkok, but the plus points appear to be listing the bus number that stop at the bus stop, some helpful telephone numbers, other public transport stations marked, and landmarks.

North is marked too! I can't help thinking though it will be the foreigners taking more notice of this.

So well done!

 

[shady86]

How about installing GPS in busses and informing commuters estimated arrival time of the next bus? Maybe in 50 years time....

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, shady86 said:

How about installing GPS in busses and informing commuters estimated arrival time of the next bus? Maybe in 50 years time....

That thought did go through my mind too, after having seen it in operation when I visited the UK a few years ago.

However, it didn't linger in my mind long, especially after the Peak Freans computer controlled traffic light farce a decade or so back.

[Emdog]

Would be nice if all buses had major stops listed in English on the sides. My Thai reading skills aren't so hot. A few do have English, to their credit

[Srikcir]

19 hours ago, shady86 said:

How about installing GPS in busses and informing commuters estimated arrival time of the next bus? Maybe in 50 years time....

There are GPS equipped buses: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/702817-all-796-of-transport-cos-buses-equipped-with-gps-thailand/

Part of a master plan: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/public-transports-equipped-gps/

In 2016 a plan for bus tracking for commuters: The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority would cover 2,600 "Smart" buses worth about 600 million baht that would let riders see arrival information on screens at bus stops. Three years and counting?

[Cutty Shark]

I notice that the Sanam Luang map has the "north arrow" correctly pointed up in the northerly direction. 

 

Unfortunately, the Sam Yan area map has the "north arrow" pointed down in the southerly direction.  Though technically correct, it's confusing.  It would be better if that sign's map's north-south orientation was reversed, with the north arrow always pointing up on every sign.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, Emdog said:

Would be nice if all buses had major stops listed in English on the sides. My Thai reading skills aren't so hot. A few do have English, to their credit

 

I just spent a couple of days in Bangkok and the same thought occurred to me, along the lines of Thailand claims 25-35 million tourists a year depending on who fakes the figures on any particular day, and that most will spend at least a little time in Bangkok, and that approximately zero read Thai, yet that is completely ignored by the Bangkok administration as far as helping tourists use the buses is concerned.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

There are GPS equipped buses: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/702817-all-796-of-transport-cos-buses-equipped-with-gps-thailand/

Part of a master plan: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/public-transports-equipped-gps/

In 2016 a plan for bus tracking for commuters: The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority would cover 2,600 "Smart" buses worth about 600 million baht that would let riders see arrival information on screens at bus stops. Three years and counting?

Yes, it's the old, lethal problem of Thai officialdom and technology; they simply do not mix. Bless 'em, they do try, but three years after the project to equip the old bangers in Bangkok with GPS, flat-screen TVs that tell passengers where they are, and card readers for the new, wonder stored-value passes (which are no great value), the project seems to have stalled.  Nowadays, if you manage to clamber up the steps of an old cream and red no. 2 before the driver shuts the doors on you, you are likely as not met with a pole on which the card reader once stood - that, or it's out of action, has a shroud over it or has simply gathered a thick layer of dust. Similarly, the TV display behind the driver's head is likely to tell you that you have just left Mochit and next stop is Victory Monument, whereas in fact you are bowling along Sukhumvit towards Bangna, horn blaring, with a driver anxious to have his dinner at the terminal, passengers hanging on for dear life.

There is an app called ViaBus, developed at Chula, which on a scale of five I would give perhaps two-and-a-half. So far, it tells you where buses on a very few routes are in relation to your position by GPS, which is a small help, but it is nowhere near comprehensive or user-friendly enough when compared to offerings in other countries these days. But as I say, full marks for trying.

 

[Nyezhov]

Very nice I am sure that these signs will be helpful.