Pattaya's Traffic Mayhem Threatens Tourism: City Battles for Solution

[snoop1130]

 

A raucous city council meeting in Pattaya yesterday saw members voicing their concern over the worsening traffic situation in the known Thai beach resort. According to Surin Yimyai, a city council member, disorderly public transport practices are causing disastrous congestion and dampening the city's image as a leading tourist hub. The main culprits appear to be public buses, stopping at any location of choice, disregarding rules and gumming up key routes.

 

This convoluted system has led to severe gridlock on primary arteries including South Pattaya Beach Road, Pattaya Second Road, Third Road, and Na Kluea. The city's infrastructure, overwhelmed by an ever-growing number of vehicles and tourists, seems unable to maintain a traffic-free environment.

 

Addressing this crisis, the city's administration unveiled a scheme aiming to counter the gridlocked predicament. A committee is already in place tasked to untangle this knotty situation. Primary actions entail introducing well-placed, clearly indicated bus stops in major city arteries. However, the city's management concedes the issue remains a formidable challenge due to the sheer number of public vehicles and insufficient driver discipline.

 

 

In a tighter approach, the city plans to join forces with transit officials and law enforcement to enforce rigorous regulations. The ultimate hope is to regulate a slicker, better-organised transport system, alleviating congestive pain points and enhancing the holiday experience for tourists.

 

If successful, Pattaya's leaders hope their rejuvenated thoroughfares will bolster what many view as the city's waning reputation, providing smoother commutes for locals and visitors alike. Much Wall Street, Chicago's Navy Pier, or the sparkle of Paris in the summer, Pattaya's streets just may be key to its thriving future as a premium tourist hot spot.

 

File photo for reference only

 

-- 2024-11-21

 

 

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The main culprits appear to be public buses, stopping at any location of choice, disregarding rules and gumming up key routes.

Sort the mess out... 

[jacko45k]

We did the bus-stop thing before, in fact one can still see them dotted around town. A place for drunks to bump themselves and working girls to lean.

How about a 50 baht congestion charge?

[henryford1958]

The main culprit is the City Council digging up the roads every 5 minutes. The small 2nd road route into town is a major bottle neck especially when it is constantly being dug up. Building thousands of new condos with no extra roads doesn't help either. The two new Grand Sole developments alone are nearly 4000 units.

[mikebell]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

law enforcement to enforce rigorous regulations.

When seat belts were first introduced in UK, they weren't universally applauded.  Police action eventually won people over.  IF Pattaya formed a police force that made motor cyclists wear helmets; stopped red-light runners; eradicated drunk driving, then the daily Road Kill (estimated at 48 per day across Thailand) would come down enormously.  Even a minor shunt can bring the whole of central Pattaya to a standstill.

[john donson]

make a electric TRAM track with many stops, no cars allowed or possible

[jcmj]

Pratumnak hill has become a nightmare as well during the weekend or holidays. One lane into Cosy Beach area and One Lane out. With all of the new restaurants and the Fishing Village coming soon it’s only going to bottle next even more. The city doesn’t look into the infrastructure before allowing all of these places. What happens if there’s a big fire or an accident. They need an alternative way out. Plus with no light and loads of busses it just all comes to a halt. They need to put their forces on the streets at least, to try to direct the traffic better. 

[J Branche]

Pattaya 2nd Road between Pattaya 3rd road and South Pattaya Road is always a mess.    One lane each direction, then taxi's stopping making one lane traffic. Delivery trucks, pedestrians in the road, etc.  But what can they do.  Parking both sides is needed.  There's no delivery spots for drivers,  Indian people will always walk in road.

 

Other streets get jammed during rush hour, holidays, etc because the city was Never Designed to move the high volume of cars and motorbikes around the streets at Peak Times.

 

If anyone has a reasonable, constructive, affordable idea I would like to hear it.

[newnative]

     I'm not seeing much 'battle' in the very weak response from the city.  This is the best they can come up with?  Pathetic.  Really just same-o same-o.  More traffic enforcement--as if that will work.  And, as always, no concrete, specific proposals.  Just glittering generalities.  This agency will work with that agency, blah, blah, blah.

    One of the big bottlenecks is in front of Central Festival--both sides.  On the beach side there's a large police station right next to the mall.  Usually just one or two cops out helping beachgoers crossing the street by the crosswalk--while completely ignoring the bad  traffic bottleneck by the mall right next to them.  One immediate help would be to eliminate parking on both sides for stretches at both mall entrances to help thru traffic get by both congested areas--and enforce the no-parking with stiff fines and police presence when the mall is open.

     Going to 'battle' would involve eliminating parking on major roads, opening up an extra lane immediately to allow more cars to get through the extremely long traffic cycles at busy intersections.  

    Going to battle would involve hiring an entirely new traffic ticketing crew to ticket illegal parking with stiff fines--with a percentage of the fines collected going directly to the enforcement staff.   

   Going to battle would involve getting road construction projects done much more quickly, with much more direct supervision and coordination of the work by the city.  How many stories have we read of the deputy mayor or mayor dragging himself out to 'inspect' why a project is 6 months or a year behind schedule?  Some hand-wringing, a few meaningless promises, and, that's that.  

    Going to battle would involve getting massive new projects started to construct either underpasses or overpasses for the major Sukhumvit intersections--as has been done to the south and to the north by Sri Racha.  Only one of the 3 proposed underpasses was ever constructed.  Why?  The city didn't 'battle' for them.

    Going to battle would involve looking at major traffic intersections with an eye to improvement.  For example, the right turn from North Pattaya Road on to Sukhumvit could be re-striped to allow 3 lanes to turn right, rather than just two--cars are already doing that now, taking things into their own hands.  

    Speaking of that intersection, perhaps someone could inform the city that the traffic light on the North Pattaya/Sukhumvit intersection is messed up.  When the North Pattaya light is red, it gives a green left turn arrow--which is wrongly sending the cars turning left directly into the Sukhumvit traffic going north.  There should only be a green arrow if that traffic is stopped.  When the light is green for North Pattaya road drivers to turn right, the left turn arrow turns red, when, of course, it should be green since the north-bound Sukhumvit traffic is stopped.  

    It's been a couple of days since I have been thru the intersection and, perhaps, it has been fixed by now but the fact it has been this way for months and no Pattaya officials have noticed--even though City Hall is on that road--is an indication of how lightly interested they are in traffic safety and improvements.