Picture: Thai Rath

 

Bangkok's governor Chadchart Sittipunt has pledged to smarten up the Thai capitals sidewalks.

 

He has promised that Bangkok will be a place where everyone can "dern dai dern dee", walk around comfortably, reported Thai Rath.

 

He wants to see better lighting as well as less obstacles for pedestrians.

 

He received a damning report yesterday from council member Chatchai Mordee who pointed out that the only decent sidewalks in Bangkok are outside big shopping centers or fancy five star hotels.

 

The rest of the city got a very bad deal away from the tourist areas.

 

Particularly bad was the situation for wheelchair users who were often obliged to go into the road as their way was blocked.

 

Sidewalks were not level and were crumbling, pedestrians were obstructed by wires and trees and broken tiles.

 

Tree roots were terrible, the list went on and on.

 

Chatchai then came up with his evidence.

 

One 3.2km stretch of Udom Suk in the Bang Na area there were 428 obstacles and problems on the sidewalks. 

 

This and dozens of other areas deserve better maintenance and care for the safety of the public on foot, was the message for the governor to take onboard.

 

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The chance that you could sprain your ankle, lose a toe or be electrocuted all adds up to the excitement of taking a stroll around Bangkok, I love it . 

How about falling through a manhole in the sidewalk.

I am on a soi in central (very central) Bangkok and its virtually impossible to walk on the pavement. I took my grandson out in the stroller last year and had to walk on the road despite the traffic. 

I am willing to bet he CANNOT deliver on this.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Particularly bad was the situation for wheelchair users who were often obliged to go into the road as their way was blocked.

 

Sidewalks were not level and were crumbling, pedestrians were obstructed by wires and trees and broken tiles.

I have a friend who has travelled the world in his wheelchair, and he told me that Bangkok is by far the worst place he has been for users.

And as well as the problems listed in the second paragraph, add vendors and shopkeepers blocking the path, and add that very many road in Bangkok have nowhere for pedestrians to walk anyway.

 

To fix all of that you would need law enforcement (doesn't exist), a sense of responsibility by shopkeepers (doesn't exist), street and infrastructure maintenance (doesn't exist)  and a near total redesign of the streets (not practical). Some people see all this third world chaos as a positive because it isn't like the boring old sanitised West.

Incredibly, no mention of the many scooters who see pedestrian avenues as their superhighway.

    I admire him for at least recognizing the problem and attempting to do something but I doubt anything will come of it.  Some time ago I think there was going to be a crackdown on the horrendously noisy motorcycles--so annoying even with closed windows.  That went nowhere.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Sidewalks were not level and were crumbling

I noticed this paving problem got worse when the authorities started using those small bricks that quickly sank into the sand at different angles. It seems the foundation was too soft. 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He received a damning report yesterday from council member Chatchai Mordee who pointed out that the only decent sidewalks in Bangkok are outside big shopping centers or fancy five star hotels

He is on point with that observation.

 

3 hours ago, lanng khao said:

The chance that you could sprain your ankle, lose a toe or be electrocuted all adds up to the excitement of taking a stroll around Bangkok, I love it . 

Include being wiped out from behind by a motorcycle rider and your walk is exhilarating.

Has he a plan to get rid of the millions of soi dogs then?

In a city where the police are so slow to respond that a sense of entitlement creeps into to those abusing such spaces it going to take a whole shift in the mindset of everyone concerned. 

 

A cultural shift is require on all levels of society - Thailand as a nation is too immature for that. 

The first thing that needs to improve is the ‘circle of influence’.... 

 

i.e. many / most people here are conscious of their circle of influence in the following order. 

1) Those immediate too them (family / closest friends) - they consider impact on these people. 

2) Those in the second circle (work colleagues / other friends) - the consider impact on these people sometimes. 

3) Everyone else - there is rarely any thought or consideration outside of their direct two circles of influence. 

 

Obviously it's difficult to generalise, but when generalising this is what I see. 

For anyone outside of the 1 and 2 circles the attitude is simply ’so what’... there is no concept of the ‘greater good of society’ there is no thought towards consequence.... 

 

The benefits of this is that people don’t go around getting upset at others because they just don’t care. 

What we like about Thai culture and society also is the reason for its problems. 

 

Ask people to care greatly about society and we end up with greater social responsibility and also people getting more stressed, more readily upset with each other and Thailand loses some of its charm. 

 

Its a double edged sword and a balance which is difficult to achieve.... 

 

 

This is just silly, the sidewalks in Bangkok are for motorbikes not pedestrians.

With all the improvements needing to be done.  It wouldn’t be able to be completed in most people’s lifetime 

Sukumvit Soi 4 is a big tourist area.  The sidewalks from Sukumvit Rd to Soi 6 are a walking death trap.

If the Gov wants to improve somewhere, that would be a good place to start.  

The failure to finish a re-paving project of Sukhumwit around 10 years ago was so great that a PhD paper was presented on the issue at the FCCT. They left the slabs and sand on the road near the old British Embassy for 3 years. The mind-blowing incompetence and corruption. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And has council member Chatchai Mordee actually personally done anything about this problem since he became council member? In fact how long has he been a council member.

 

I have found his FB page but it is in Thai.

 

It is so easy to criticise but not so easy to do things yourself.

It would take a total redesign of Bangkok's sois, together with mass compulsory purchase orders and demolition to achieve even basic standards. Most sois don't even have a pavement and that's not going to change.

I hope there's a new shelf after shelving burying that tangle of cables!

 

"One 3.2km stretch of Udom Suk in the Bang Na area there were 428 obstacles and problems on the sidewalks."

 

That happens to be the 3.2km I walk every week for exercise to grocery shop at Makro. Passable only with great care * attention. Heavy car noise & pollution, too.

 

Lots of the side sois have no sidewalks at all. Pitiful...

Ha. And that’s just Bangkok. They can’t even handle a small seaside town of Pattaya, how do they think they will ever be able to do this in Bangkok, but I guess they better get started soon as we will be having 80,000,000 visitors in 4 years enjoying this beautiful country. 

On 1/12/2023 at 4:09 AM, mackayae said:

How about falling through a manhole in the sidewalk.

Er.....that's not an obstacle. It's a 'foot traffic filter'......

On 1/12/2023 at 11:52 AM, MRToMRT said:

I am willing to bet he CANNOT deliver on this.

Maybe, but if he helps address at least part of that it would already be better than many before him.

 

Btw: He promised a park next to my house. And he actually delivered. No matter how ridiculous that small plot looks, he actually fulfilled his promise. Now that's a first that I can think of!

Dern dai , dern dee , dern ding dong , dern dtai !

On 1/12/2023 at 2:11 PM, JustThisOnePostOnly said:

Incredibly, no mention of the many scooters who see pedestrian avenues as their superhighway.

Of course not because that would require some real change and enforcement. Instead of the usual bull sh*t

 

 

 

 

Probably easier to build a new city somewhere that isn't sinking.????????