Plans To Reduce Cars In Bangkok Under Consideration

[george]

Plans to reduce cars in Bangkok under consideration

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin has put the brakes on plans to charge cars wishing to run on certain parts of Bangkok saying he wants more time to study it.

He said the proposal, made by a businessman in Bangkok, sparked concerns that city dwellers may have to deal with extra costs during tough economic times.

“I want to try and make the public understand first that the main idea behind this proposed policy is to develop certain areas of Bangkok such as Silom, Sathorn and Sukhumvit, so that they are less congested,” he said.

“This policy has already been implemented in Singapore but it took a lot of time to get people to understand the aim behind the plan.”

He said related authorities have been assigned to assess the possibilities of seeing this project through in Thailand but expressed readiness to scrap the project if findings show that it will not work in Bangkok.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-05-23