New Subway Fails To Ease Traffic Jams

[george]

New subway fails to ease traffic jams as car sales burgeon

BANGKOK Bangkok's new $3.5 billion subway system will do little to ease traffic jams that increase fuel costs and create some of the world's worst air pollution, says Paul Anderson, who helps run the Thai capital's other mass-transit rail network.

"A 40-kilometer mass rapid transit system won't be of much help in a city that needs 300 kilometers," or about 186 miles, said Anderson, chief operating officer at Bangkok Mass Transit, which opened an elevated railway in 1999. "The number of car trips has been growing rapidly because of economic prosperity, so anything we remove is quickly replaced."

The subway, which opened on July 3, is part of Thailand's push to ease traffic gridlock that costs companies and the government at least 40 billion baht, or $1 billion, a year in fuel and wasted work hours, according to a Kasetsart University professor, Wiroj Rujopakarn.

As economic growth accelerates, car sales are rising faster than the government can build public transportation systems.

Thailand's economy grew 6.7 percent last year, the fastest in eight years. The number of private cars, pickup trucks and motorcycles in Bangkok reached a record 4.9 million in 2003, up 28 percent from 2001, government figures show - even after the elevated train opened. That's about seven times the number of vehicles in Singapore, which has a population of about 4 million compared with about 8 million in Bangkok.

The new subway - controlled by Ch. Karnchang, the country's No.2 construction company, and Natural Park, a property developer that emerged from bankruptcy last year - covers 20 kilometers, about the same length as Bangkok Mass Transit's elevated railway. That's not enough to get drivers such as Thananchai Jittanoon, a banking analyst at UOB Kay Hian Securities (Thailand), off the roads.

"I looked at the subway map to see if I could take it, but unfortunately I'll still have to use my car," said Thananchai, adding that none of the subway's 18 stops is near his home or office. He spends about two hours a day making a 20-kilometer round-trip commute.

The new subway is "not enough to reduce traffic much," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said this month. "We need to expand the system further," Thaksin said. "We are looking at the financing aspect of the expansion and how to do it without adding to the public debt." Thai government debt is equivalent to about 44 percent of gross domestic product.

Thailand needs to reduce the number of cars in Bangkok and its suburbs to cut the country's rising crude oil import bill, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said this month.

Thai oil imports surged 22 percent last year to $8.9 billion after global prices rose about 5 percent and rising demand forced Thailand to buy more of its oil overseas. A 22 percent gain in global oil prices this year forced the government to reduce fuel subsidies, causing Thai consumer prices to rise at their fastest pace in more than five years in June.

The government plans to spend about 400 billion baht by 2010 to add 250 kilometers of tracks to Bangkok's subways, elevated train and local railways. At least three million people a day will use the network when it is completed in six years, up from less than one million now, the transport minister said.

Even when a more comprehensive mass-transit system is built, many Bangkok drivers may still be loath to give up their cars, said Sorawit Warupiti, an associate professor in the civil engineering department of Chulalongkorn University. "For Thais, cars are a symbol of wealth," he said. "We don't think the number of cars will decrease anytime soon."

Bangkok's elevated train network operates at only a quarter of its capacity five years after opening, said Anderson of Bangkok Mass Transit. The system will carry 370,000 passengers this year, up from 150,000 in its first year of operation, he estimated.

High fares prevent many Bangkok residents from riding the elevated train and may also curb use of the subway. A ride on the elevated train costs as much as 40 baht, and subway fares are as high as 31 baht. Buses cost between 4 baht and 20 baht - a more affordable option in a city where incomes average about 7,700 baht a month.

Bangkok's first urban rail networks follow a string of failed mass-transit plans. In 1998, a year after the Asian financial crisis erupted, Thailand canceled a $3.2 billion contract with Hopewell Holdings, a Hong Kong-based developer, for failing to complete a 60-kilometer Bangkok elevated rail project. Hopewell completed 12 percent of the system before the cancellation, leaving unused pillars along the route that are still there today.

In 1992, the government scrapped a $2.3 billion contract awarded to SNC-Lavalin Group, Canada's biggest engineering and construction company, seven years after approving a plan to build a 36-kilometer urban rail system.

For those who do use Bangkok's new subway, it provides a comfortable alternative. Ushers stationed on platforms ask boarding passengers to stand in line and let riders exit first, and ensure that cars don't get too full.

Air-conditioned underground stations, which connect Bangkok's main train station with Bang Sue in the north of the city, are equipped with escalators. Passengers can transfer to the elevated train at three stops including Silom, a central business area.

The government estimates that an average 250,000 people will use the subway system daily in its first year. Prasert Bunsumpun, president of PTT, Thailand's biggest energy company, says he will be among them.

"For me it's convenient because the station is about two kilometers from my home," Prasert said. "In the morning I can walk there on my way to the office and exercise at the same time."

-- Bloomberg 2004-07-20

[chingy_]

well this is what i see, that 250,000 people could of, would of, use any other transport above ground, by taxi, bus, bike, or personal car, but instead they took it to underground, so that is 250,000 people less for the traffic jam.

there are far to many car than road in Thailand.

[astral]

Well the guy speaking was biased, but he was probably right.

Every little helps.

When I need to visit Bangkok these days I drive to On Nut.

Park the car and take the sky train.

Cheaper and less stress than driving in,

plus there is no need to find a parking space in the centre.

[griffer]

""Bangkok's elevated train network operates at only a quarter of its capacity five years after opening, said Anderson of Bangkok Mass Transit. The system will carry 370,000 passengers this year, up from 150,000 in its first year of operation, he estimated"

now this seems bizarre.....a quarter of its capacity??????

anytime I've been on it there seemed to be plenty of passengers..and at rush hour its near full..

hope someone is keeping accurate figures on all those cash paying customers...ahem.......

[qwertyuiop]

Yes the skytrains these days are much fuller than they once were due to the various ticket deals on offer and at rush hour they can often be diffiult to board at Siam Square

However imo the capacity issue is to do with the length of the train.

A carraige or two could be added to the length of the train i believe if my memory serves me correctly and if this is the case then full capacity would take into account this extended train as opposed to those in operation currently

[otherstuff1957]

One quarter capacity? The BTS is almost always crowded! Anywhere near rush hour it's usually standing room only.

[ASIC]

A carraige or two could be added to the length of the train

So why don't they? The service is crap. Pay so expensive and have to stand up like sardines in a can. Better not go out at all.

ASIC

[Martin]

It is interesting that a reference to/comparision with Singapore crept in.

Bangkok will have problems until it does what Singapore has done.

Marry a really good bus service, and taxi availability, to a system that rations car use by price absolutely ruthlessly.

In Singapore, if you want the status symbol of a car/pickup then you pay the full economic cost to society for having one.

Foreigners from the more degenerate nations may sneer at the Singaporean peoples' desire for the 'smack of firm government', but nobody can deny that Singapore is showing the world how to manage a city.

Personally I don't like being managed, and I don't like cities.

But my few years in Singapore were an interesting working holiday.

For instance, I learnt that skytrains and subway trains are useful downtown and as a ring around the city, but it is buses and taxis that are needed to 'feed' them.

However, would there be any real percentage for Thailand in easing things in Bangkok?.

It would just encourage more firms to locate there.

And that would mean more migrant labour, with all the social ills that follow.

Wouldn't it be better to encourage firms to make the jobs out in the more outlying towns and cities?

Then the workers could go home at the end of their shift, rather than being in 'temptation situation'.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

Bangkok will have problems until it does what Singapore has done.

Marry a really good bus service, and taxi availability, to a system that rations car use by price absolutely ruthlessly.

In Singapore, if you want the status symbol of a car/pickup then you pay the full economic cost to society for having one.

That is a very good idea indeed.

I didn't know that but I did know that London has introduced a fare for drivers wishing to enter the capital.

I too have noticed that the Subway has made little difference and I too fail to understand why the Skytrains are a third of the length of the platforms.

Madness.

Hope the transport minister reads Martin's above post, hasn't he been to Singapore?

Judging by the Subway system you would think he has been many a time and copied the Subway layout almost identically.

[astral]

One quarter capacity? The BTS is almost always crowded! Anywhere near rush hour it's usually standing room only.

There are only 4 cars in each train.

Should be 6 or 8 by now.

I would have siad that it is standing room only outside rush hour!

[p_brownstone]

The Skytrain is designed to accommodate trains of 5 carriages - that's why the Platforms are as long as they are.

Initially because of expected low demand / usage the system ran with only 3 carriages - although I understand that recently some longer trains have been in operation during rush hours.

As for the Underground, the current Baht 10 flat fare is attracting a large proportion of people who previously did not drive cars anyway, they have simply transferred from using buses to using the Underground - hence no really visible affect on "surface" traffic.

Thais being Thais this same flat fare, having attracted "poorer" people to use the Underground, has had the effect of keeping "richer" people away from the system and staying in their cars; many middle / upper middle class Thais' simply hate being in proximity to what they consider "lower" classes.

My own feeling is that after the fares are adjusted in August, there will be some changes in the volume of car traffic.