Pattaya: Transport is in a mess and 80% agree with monorail scheme set to start in 2024

[PatOngo]

They have been working on upgrades to the Pattaya drainage system for at least the past 30 years, that I know of,  and still have not gotten on top of it, I hate to think what this monstrosity will do in the wet season when they are constructing it, good luck with that one, Pattaya! 

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, hotchilli said:

The thought of being buried alive or drowned is not on my bucket list of ways to go.

And yet London, a City with a large river, has an extensive network.

[TERMINATOR3AB]

Wow   Thailand  has economy  problems  

Mono Rail  is one of the most expensive transport  systems on the planet

Looks  like more  money from China  (getting  closer to  becoming  a Provence of China)

But  really   it would be great  to see these mono rails  all over Thailand 

Look at the lives that would be saved on the roads

You  will never stop roads  deaths  cos  you have  as many  or  more  motor vehicles  than your  population

That  type of  congestion will always  mean  many  deaths on your roads  

No answer   really   but to start  driver education early in  schools  but  that  effect  will no be seen for  15  years  anyway

15  years  MMM   that  will  be about  another 650,000   dead  on raods  maybe as high  as 1 million with those  die  after  accident

Good  luck  Thailand 

The  land   of dream......ers 

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

It would then be built along Sai 2 road and wind up at Bali Hai port. 

What a pack of ignorant <deleted>s! If it doesn't extend to Jomptien what is the point of it anyway?

Obviously a badly thought out scheme designed more to benefit the usual suspects than to provide a service for the residents and tourists.

A sensible scheme would extend from Chonburi to Naklua, travel along the Naklua Road, second Road, and over the hill to Jomptien, then extend to near Nong Nooch on Sukhumvit. Hopefully in the future it would extend to include ports to Samet and Koh Chang.

A seperate line would link to the hi speed ( LOL ) railway station.

[mikebell]

17 hours ago, redwood1 said:

 And how many baht buses cruise 1st and 2nd road 24/7 ???

 

And how long do you have to wait for a baht bus on 1st or 2nd road ???

 

And how much does a baht bus cost ???

 

Case Closed......

How many taximeters have working meters?  Pure Pie-in-the-Skyland; the taxi/police cooperative will never allow this monorail scheme to get off the ground!

[Darkside Gray]

Then let there will be chaos in the streets of Pattaya for 10 years after the start of construction in 2024.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, Darkside Gray said:

Then let there will be chaos in the streets of Pattaya for 10 years after the start of construction in 2024.

Ten years? I'm glad you're looking on the bright side.

[Henryford]

Here's a better idea. Have a series of small trucks that can tour the same route and take say 12 passengers at a time for a small fee. Wait a minute ...............

[sandyf]

20 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Just because they were told that, does not necessarily make it true. Any I have ever discussed this with have ridiculed the idea, so I would love to know where their figures came from.

Those that are incapable of looking to the future and will ridicule anything and everything.

Don't you remember when it was said that no Thai would ever use the Bangkok BTS and that the MRT was nothing but a white elephant.

 

[redwood1]

21 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Here's a better idea. Have a series of small trucks that can tour the same route and take say 12 passengers at a time for a small fee. Wait a minute ...............

Lol.........The Einsteins in the city council have been schemining for decades on how to get rid of the baht busses....They have tried some half baked public bus transport I think 2 or 3 times now....All attempts have ended in miserable failure...........I looked at the old threads once....They are actually pretty hilarious how badly it was implemented after LOADS of money was spent on the whole dumb project....

 

The half baked monorail idea has been kicked around for about 10-15 years now along with the half baked tram idea......But you got to hand it to them they got quite the money making scheme going on....Just do study after study after study and make bank without ever moving one shovel full of dirt.... 

 

They refuse to see the elephant in the living room......The baht busses work perfect......And no more hair brained schemes are needed....   

Edited August 22, 2020 by redwood1

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, redwood1 said:

They refuse to see the elephant in the living room......The baht busses work perfect......And no more hair brained schemes are needed..

Well not really, they certainly block soi Buakhao and add to the traffic woes, stopping in the middle of the road as people fumble for the right money or argue to get change. Good for the pick-pocket gangs they are in cahoots with though. 

[elgenon]

So take a taxi or taxi to BTS to high speed train station, take the monorail to somewhere to get a baht bus ( or heaven forbid, a taxi) to your hotel. So they want want families with kids to do this? Loading and unloading bags, kids, carriages etc. at least 4 times. Or take a taxi direct to your hotel? They want well-healed tourists and they think those types of tourists want to save a few bucks and deal with the hassles?

 

It doesn't help getting around in Pattaya either.

[JusticeGB]

Of course a 39b. baht system is needed because it has about 9b. baht of padding to help impoverished people who have a hand or two in the trough. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by JusticeGB
Typo

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

Those that are incapable of looking to the future and will ridicule anything and everything.

Don't you remember when it was said that no Thai would ever use the Bangkok BTS and that the MRT was nothing but a white elephant.

While I take your point about BKK, at least the taxis there use their meters. Pattaya is a special case (saracasm)- as in too many people have their fingers in other pies.

 

If the monorail goes ahead, I just wonder if we might see 'disgruntled' Baht bus drivers blocking the monorail station entrances to intimidate users, and telling tourists (remember them?) that it's closed today.

[Grusa]

I see no reason to build an expensive, ugly and space occupying monorail for Pattaya. Tram cars are a slightly better idea, but the rails are a major hazard to motorbikes and bicycles. Trolleybuses, better yet, but really just an electric bus with no batteries, and still need a driver.

 

Why not be innovative? Autonomous electric people mover, guided by wires under the surface of the road, in a dedicated lane marked in paint, on pedestrianised streets. Harsh penalties for obstruction, delivery vehicles allowed only during specified hours and with a permit. Hop on hop off service, free or with low cost contactless payment. Actually, just an improved, electric, driverless baht bus!

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

And yet London, a City with a large river, has an extensive network.

And excellent engineers with a history of achievements.

[josephbloggs]

21 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

The cement trucks will be assigned the last 2 cars of the monorail....

 

to start displaying a generic survey result is about 15 years behind what is NEEDED today....

 

this propaganda is just to appease the complaining public....using the word “start” allows them to be completed “up to them”

 

so Thai....

I have read and re-read this post several times and I still have no idea what you're on about.

[josephbloggs]

19 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

.....is trying to destroy Pattaya, it,s charm...

Charm????

[josephbloggs]

19 hours ago, hotchilli said:

I would certainly never use an underground train service in Thailand, an elevated train has a short drop to the ground at worst, underground can you imagine where all that flood water will go?

The thought of being buried alive or drowned is not on my bucket list of ways to go.

And how many times has the MRT flooded in the 16 years it has been running?

[jadee]

If covid doesn't kill off Pattaya tourism, this monorail will. I live in Samut Prakarn (south of Bangkok) and they are currently building the yellow line monorail from Lad Phrao, all the way down Srinakarin and then on Theperak to meet with the BTS at Samrong. The traffic is insane - miles-long queues from 7am to 9pm - the only good time to drive is at night. I can see something similar happening in Pattaya if this monorail gets underway in 2024 as it's already extremely congested. 

Something I've wondered is - with all the CO2 pollution caused from construction (99% of the monorail pillars and beams are concrete which is energy intensive to manufacture) and the years of cars stuck in traffic jams during construction and wasting fuel, when does the monorail actually start lowering overall emissions? My guess is after 20+ years of use. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by jadee

[josephbloggs]

8 minutes ago, jadee said:

If covid doesn't kill off Pattaya tourism, this monorail will. I live in Samut Prakarn (south of Bangkok) and they are currently building the yellow line monorail from Lad Phrao, all the way down Srinakarin and then on Theperak to meet with the BTS at Samrong. The traffic is insane - miles-long queues from 7am to 9pm - the only good time to drive is at night. I can see something similar happening in Pattaya if this monorail gets underway in 2024 as it's already extremely congested. 

Something I've wondered is - with all the CO2 pollution caused from construction (99% of the monorail pillars and beams are concrete which is energy intensive to manufacture) and the years of cars stuck in traffic jams during construction and wasting fuel, when does the monorail actually start lowering overall emissions? My guess is after 20+ years of use. 

So what you are saying is that we shouldn't build any of these mass transit lines because they cause traffic jams during construction?  By that logic we shouldn't build flyovers or underpasses either.  During construction of the Pattanakarn underpass the traffic was nasty so I avoided it, but now the underpass has made a huge improvement.  Yes, the construction does cause traffic mess but when it is over you have a benefit.

 

If you had been in charge we wouldn't have the Skytrain the MRT, the Purple Line, the ARL, or all the other lines that will be open in the next couple of years.

I also live near the yellow line construction and avoid driving down Srinakarin (but then I always did as it is a pig of a road), but will certainly use the yellow line once it is open.  

And let's say your estimate of it taking 20 years to have a positive emissions benefit is true (that's certainly debatable) it's still definitely worth it.  And to think some people criticise the Thais for lack of long term thinking...

[lesmac]

This should have been completed by now not starting in 2024 as it will reduce the pollution and ease the traffic also if they build a bus park and link it to the system that would be a boost to the slow moving traffic. The baht bus drivers could then work from the stations taking luggage and passengers to their hotels that would help keeping some of the drivers in  work. The Thai economy needs this project now and they have the money just stop wasting it on the navy, army and BMW/Mercs for high ranking police if The VIPs need a posh escort take their own or rent one on Pattaya beach 

 

 

[Burma Bill]

Quote:-

80% agree 

What about the remaining 20% - unhappy? From the photos it looks as if many residences and businesses will have restricted access to sunlight and flowing air due to the massive concrete support structures for the rail line and stations.

[Reigntax]

On 8/21/2020 at 6:20 PM, DrTuner said:

Thailand seems incapable of creating underground transportation. Instead you have to have these fugly concrete elevated rails blocking the view. They just love their concrete. 

Because in Pattaya they cant even get the drainage right despite 20 years of trying. I suppose their underground rail design may end up being a great stormwater duct.

[NoComment]

The Chinese government must be offering more brown envelopes.

[Leaver]

2 hours ago, NoComment said:

The Chinese government must be offering more brown envelopes.

The Thai government is now offering brown envelopes to the Chinese government.  

[shdmn]

On 8/21/2020 at 1:20 AM, DrTuner said:

Thailand seems incapable of creating underground transportation. Instead you have to have these fugly concrete elevated rails blocking the view. They just love their concrete. 

I think the fact it's by the ocean would make that a problem, at least near beach rd where it's needed.  And it would flood every time it rains.  So elevated does make more sense. 

 

Whenever I hear monorail I think of that Simpsons episode. 

 

There is some truth to that.  They always seem like the least expensive most practical option at first but always end up costing a lot more and having all kinds of maintenance issues.  They would be better off just doing a scaled down version of Bkk skytrain. 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by shdmn

[stereolab]

On 8/21/2020 at 11:22 AM, bluesofa said:

I'd suggest that 'alleviate' needs to be replaced with 'exasperate', going on City Hall's abysmal handling of all other projects.

 

It would help if they stopped holding pointless meetings at City Hall, every other day, involving hundreds of participants, who are merely attendees with nothing to contribute.

[waders123]

On 8/21/2020 at 12:20 AM, DrTuner said:

Thailand seems incapable of creating underground transportation. Instead you have to have these fugly concrete elevated rails blocking the view. They just love their concrete. 

It doesn't have to be ugly nor does it need to serve one purpose, ( see http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1235843/FULLTEXT02.pdf  for examples of design styles),  as far as disability access, that is an easy fix and something that is already used on modern elevated transport systems. I am not sure about being a heat sink if proper design and materials are used; the elevated structure would serve more as sun shielding and would be cooler below.  For the taxi system being impacted, yes, there would be change, but demand would be met and at the stations there would be taxis to take people to their final destination.  They would follow the same system that is in Bangkok.  Certainly if handled properly, the congestion and pollution issues could be lessened.  Using underground transportation system would be extremely difficult if not cost prohibitive due to high water table in the area.

If Thailand wanted too, it could make an elevated transport structure that would become a tourist attraction in itself by its pleasing aesthetic design along.  

[DrTuner]

11 hours ago, waders123 said:

If Thailand wanted too, it could make an elevated transport structure that would become a tourist attraction in itself by its pleasing aesthetic design along.  

You have seen the system in BKK, right? I think that is quite a good indication of how much Thais care for aesthetics.