Metro Police Striving To Reduce Traffic Jam In Bangkok

[webfact]

Metro Police striving to reduce traffic jam in Bangkok

BANGKOK, 18 August 2011 (NNT) – The Metropolitan Police Bureau has ordered its officials to step up their traffic patrol in a bid to help alleviate the problem of traffic congestion within Bangkok, especially on weekends.

Deputy Metropolitan Police Chief Police Major General Panu Kerdlappol, who is in charge of traffic affairs, has assigned his subordinates to find solutions to the chronic traffic problem in the capital, particularly areas where sky train and subway lines are being built.

As the construction projects are expected to take no less than 3-4 years, the Metropolitan Police will work harder to ensure convenience for motorists and, in cooperation with the Traffic Police, will also draw up a long-term plan against traffic jam.

At the same time, all traffic units have been instructed to strictly impose traffic rules not only on weekdays but also on weekends.

Additional officers will also be stationed in the perimeter of schools and tutorial institutions in order to facilitate traffic in the areas after many complaints over heavy congestion were received.

-- NNT 2011-08-18

[kp66]

Easy: start with sacking the cops who play with automated traffic lights.

The cops are very good at generating congestion by doing so.

As many I guess, I've ever been stuck 12 minutes at a Sathorn traffic light on a Saturday afternoon

[MaxLee]

Easy: start with sacking the cops who play with automated traffic lights.

The cops are very good at generating congestion by doing so.

As many I guess, I've ever been stuck 12 minutes at a Sathorn traffic light on a Saturday afternoon

The traffic jam exists because of following reasons:

1. Those various construction sites for those "SO CALLED PROJECTS" are the reasons why traffic jam exists in this town.

2. All the big businesses and schools with higher education exist in Bangkok only, so people from other provinces are forced to come all the way to Bangkok to get a better life

3. Most important of all: JUst because you "BUILD" BTS, MRT or whatever public system, "DOESN"T MEAN" that people are gonna "PREFER to USE them over the car" FIrst of all, look back at "Number 1." then go back to "Number 3";... what do young people or CEO High society people prefer over public transportation? "CARS, CARS CARS CARS" because it's so much cooler to "OWN A CAR", "How does it make those HIGH-SO people look when they go by pesky public transportation"

[robblok]

Easy: start with sacking the cops who play with automated traffic lights.

The cops are very good at generating congestion by doing so.

As many I guess, I've ever been stuck 12 minutes at a Sathorn traffic light on a Saturday afternoon

The traffic jam exists because of following reasons:

1. Those various construction sites for those "SO CALLED PROJECTS" are the reasons why traffic jam exists in this town.

2. All the big businesses and schools with higher education exist in Bangkok only, so people from other provinces are forced to come all the way to Bangkok to get a better life

3. Most important of all: JUst because you "BUILD" BTS, MRT or whatever public system, "DOESN"T MEAN" that people are gonna "PREFER to USE them over the car" FIrst of all, look back at "Number 1." then go back to "Number 3";... what do young people or CEO High society people prefer over public transportation? "CARS, CARS CARS CARS" because it's so much cooler to "OWN A CAR", "How does it make those HIGH-SO people look when they go by pesky public transportation"

Cars are just much more convenient. I own a car i look cool in it. <deleted> the BTS only cheap farangs use a bts. (just to follow your reasoning)

Lots of congestions are there because people are selfish and the police wont punish offenders. Many times people block a whole lane to park their car and buy stuff. Or people block a lane that is going straight to get in front at the line of lane that is going to go left. The people who want to go straight are then needlessly waiting for the anti socials who want to cut the cue.

I often use one of my bikes instead of my car because of all the traffic jams.

Edited August 18, 2011 by metisdead
Profanity removed.

[kp66]

Easy: start with sacking the cops who play with automated traffic lights.

The cops are very good at generating congestion by doing so.

As many I guess, I've ever been stuck 12 minutes at a Sathorn traffic light on a Saturday afternoon

The traffic jam exists because of following reasons:

1. Those various construction sites for those "SO CALLED PROJECTS" are the reasons why traffic jam exists in this town.

2. All the big businesses and schools with higher education exist in Bangkok only, so people from other provinces are forced to come all the way to Bangkok to get a better life

3. Most important of all: JUst because you "BUILD" BTS, MRT or whatever public system, "DOESN"T MEAN" that people are gonna "PREFER to USE them over the car" FIrst of all, look back at "Number 1." then go back to "Number 3";... what do young people or CEO High society people prefer over public transportation? "CARS, CARS CARS CARS" because it's so much cooler to "OWN A CAR", "How does it make those HIGH-SO people look when they go by pesky public transportation"

Well, I was not thinking about any construction in particular as I don't think it's the main issue (e.g. what I said about Sathorn above).

Indeed, only very few public transport lines are being built at this moment, but jams in Bangkok happen everywhere and all the time

To me:

1. Prevent cops from manipulating traffic lights but let them do cop jobs (traffic law enforcement)

2. Review the driving licence system (part of it would be make sure that all drivers hold a real one)

3. extend the public transportation system (2 BTS lines + 1 MRT & 1 BRT for a metropolis like Bangkok is just a joke) - as we know this will take decades

4. Once a proper network is in place, cut the space of cars. (we'll be there in the 23rd century if all goes well)

Edited August 18, 2011 by kp66

[robblok]

Easy: start with sacking the cops who play with automated traffic lights.

The cops are very good at generating congestion by doing so.

As many I guess, I've ever been stuck 12 minutes at a Sathorn traffic light on a Saturday afternoon

The traffic jam exists because of following reasons:

1. Those various construction sites for those "SO CALLED PROJECTS" are the reasons why traffic jam exists in this town.

2. All the big businesses and schools with higher education exist in Bangkok only, so people from other provinces are forced to come all the way to Bangkok to get a better life

3. Most important of all: JUst because you "BUILD" BTS, MRT or whatever public system, "DOESN"T MEAN" that people are gonna "PREFER to USE them over the car" FIrst of all, look back at "Number 1." then go back to "Number 3";... what do young people or CEO High society people prefer over public transportation? "CARS, CARS CARS CARS" because it's so much cooler to "OWN A CAR", "How does it make those HIGH-SO people look when they go by pesky public transportation"

Well, I was not thinking about any construction in particular as I don't think it's the main issue (e.g. what I said about Sathorn above).

Indeed, only very few public transport lines are being built at this moment, but jams in Bangkok happen everywhere and all the time

To me:

1. Prevent cops from manipulating traffic lights but let them do cop jobs (traffic law enforcement)

2. Review the driving licence system (part of it would be make sure that all drivers hold a real one)

3. extend the public transportation system (2 BTS lines + 1 MRT & 1 BRT for a metropolis like Bangkok is just a joke) - as we know this will take decades

4. Once a proper network is in place, cut the space of cars. (we'll be there in the 23rd century if all goes well)

Just curious.. why cut the space for cars ? Why not just make sure cars can drive well too. In every country i have ever been to people keep preferring the car. Forcing people in public transport is not the solution.

I would love to use the BTS more, but if i park my bike / car at Mochit the BTS wont take me home if i decide to stay after midnight. Just make sure cars have their space and a good public transport system. Why an if if both are possible.

[snarky66]

You can force people onto public transport. England is a perfect example. Put the price of gasoline to $8 a gallon & then tax the bejesus out of folks to own a car. Add extra fees for driving in the city center. They'll be on buses soon enough.

[jamstock]

The main reason the traffic is so bad in Bangkok is that the lights change over too slowly. This creates massive queues of cars waiting for the lights to change, and consequently terrible traffic. If the authorities just changed this one thing we'd see the traffic flow much more smoothly.

[kp66]

The main reason the traffic is so bad in Bangkok is that the lights change over too slowly. This creates massive queues of cars waiting for the lights to change, and consequently terrible traffic. If the authorities just changed this one thing we'd see the traffic flow much more smoothly.

Exactly what I said above.

Though the traffic light is automated with countdown, a lovely cop decided to switch to manual mode, and feel asleep in the meantime, hence the 12 minutes...

[kp66]

Just curious.. why cut the space for cars ? Why not just make sure cars can drive well too. In every country i have ever been to people keep preferring the car. Forcing people in public transport is not the solution.

I would love to use the BTS more, but if i park my bike / car at Mochit the BTS wont take me home if i decide to stay after midnight. Just make sure cars have their space and a good public transport system. Why an if if both are possible.

The more you add roads, the more you get cars.

A good public transportation system will naturally draw people there. But it's not the case today. Btw look at what happens when an extension opens: trains are packed since the first station, which shows many things... (not just because it's free - look at Wong Wian Yai station now - always packed in the morning).

If people have the choice to use trains, they will leave their car. Today too many don't have the choice...

Yes, park n' ride are necessary. And the trains should run until 2 or 3 am - midnight is just too early.

Look at big metropolis: London, Paris... they are cutting lanes and converting them to space for pedestrians, bicycles... and life just gets better...

[bkkjames]

I seemed to recall a former BK Governor saying he would fix Bangkok's Traffic within six months.

Back to the article - traffic jams on weekends only? They must mean along sukhumvit, siam area around 11:30am while everyone is rushing to the mall to eat.

[pauljones]

On Sukhumvit there are usually food carts being pushed along........ turning the 6 lanes into 4 lanes.

Also the taxis illegally parked in front of hotels looking to scam some tourists are slowing traffic.

[MaxLee]

Another thing is,... this country may be small, but the population is high, man. The population in Bangkok alone accounts yo a lot!!!!

[thaicbr]

also IF the skytrains actually went out into the suburbs AND they built Large carparks next to them i would have thought more people coming into Bkk would use the skytrain.

I know i would.

[jamstock]

<br />

<br />The main reason the traffic is so bad in Bangkok is that the lights change over too slowly. This creates massive queues of cars waiting for the lights to change, and consequently terrible traffic. If the authorities just changed this one thing we'd see the traffic flow much more smoothly.<br />

<br /><br /><br />Exactly what I said above.<br />Though the traffic light is automated with countdown, a lovely cop decided to switch to manual mode, and feel asleep in the meantime, hence the 12 minutes...<br /><br /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

Even the automated countdowns are way too long and cause unnecessary build up of traffic. This problem really needs to be addressed.

[gregb]

also IF the skytrains actually went out into the suburbs AND they built Large carparks next to them i would have thought more people coming into Bkk would use the skytrain.

I know i would.

Exactly.

Morchit needs a parking lot for 100,000 vehicles and the region redeveloped to allow that kind of traffic to get in and out of the area. That tiny little thing it has is just useless. Hopefully the red line heading north to Rangsit will help to some degree, but again not if there are no large parking structures next to all the stops.

Oh...and my other pet peeve. The police closing down all the U-turns. Hello. Reducing traffic means getting people off the road as quickly as possible. Shutting down U turns so that people have to drive 10km to turn around keeps them on the road longer. All this does is pushes traffic from one area to another, and actually increases traffic in general because now you have cars driving over 20km of roads that they would otherwise have avoided. If traffic is slowing down in an area because too many people are trying to make a U turn, you need to redesign that area so that you can build a bridge. Trying to reduce traffic by forcing people to drive further is just lunacy.

[jybkk]

You can force people onto public transport. England is a perfect example. Put the price of gasoline to $8 a gallon & then tax the bejesus out of folks to own a car. Add extra fees for driving in the city center. They'll be on buses soon enough.

I read somewhere that the new government announced a tax break for people buying their first car.

That sure will help reducing the traffic in Bangkok (which they incidentally announced as one of their priorities too).

There are so many things that could be done to improve things... unfortunately, they all involve some kind of planning and coordination, so i'm not very hopeful:

• Urban planning: Bangkok should actually plan its expansion. Right now, nobody is planning anything more than 2months ahead. Don't give construction permits for a sixth condo in the one way narrow soi. Use the opportunity of all these new constructions to expand the roads and sidewalks.
• Hire traffic management experts: Thailand seems to be locked in a 1980's experiment about traffic light management, where traffic light delay is very long, hoping to create a "train of cars" . This has long been abandoned as it happened to be inefficient, except in Thailand. I've heard an engineer specialized in road construction and traffic telling me Thailand is given as an example of what NOT to do when building a highway, the U-turn bridges being the most hilariously stupid idea (If you make a bridge, then use it for more than just a u-turn...)
• Develop more lines of MRT/BTS. It works. People DO use them.
• Stop encouraging the purchase of cars. Especially big ones in urban areas. What's the point of a SUV in Bangkok (except compensate for something)
• Make the public transportation more attractive: Why don't we have a unified ticket system for Bangkok public tranports yet? They've been talking about that for years.
• Train drivers for basic driving skills like: Don't get in the intersection if there's a traffic jam ahead, don't park your car where it blocks everyone...

[dddave]

The main reason the traffic is so bad in Bangkok is that the lights change over too slowly. This creates massive queues of cars waiting for the lights to change, and consequently terrible traffic. If the authorities just changed this one thing we'd see the traffic flow much more smoothly.

Absolutely true. I used to own a fleet of vans in Boston, USA. About 20 years ago, I was asked to sit on a committee charged with making suggestions to help alleviate Boston's notorious traffic congestion.

One of the items we pushed hardest for was shortening the duration of certain key traffic signals by almost half. The city gave it a try and the results were dramatic. Less gridlock, less running of lights, less congestion on intersecting streets, less traffic on nearby residential streets.

The time it would take to travel between certain points at certain times was measured both before and after the changes were made. In most cases, travel time was more than halved.

Vehicles in motion tend to stay in motion; vehicles at rest tend to stay at rest.

[thrilled]

I wouldn't own A car in bangkok,it's just A real headache.The BTS is quite convienent.

[jamstock]

The main reason the traffic is so bad in Bangkok is that the lights change over too slowly. This creates massive queues of cars waiting for the lights to change, and consequently terrible traffic. If the authorities just changed this one thing we'd see the traffic flow much more smoothly.

Absolutely true. I used to own a fleet of vans in Boston, USA. About 20 years ago, I was asked to sit on a committee charged with making suggestions to help alleviate Boston's notorious traffic congestion.

One of the items we pushed hardest for was shortening the duration of certain key traffic signals by almost half. The city gave it a try and the results were dramatic. Less gridlock, less running of lights, less congestion on intersecting streets, less traffic on nearby residential streets.

The time it would take to travel between certain points at certain times was measured both before and after the changes were made. In most cases, travel time was more than halved.

Vehicles in motion tend to stay in motion; vehicles at rest tend to stay at rest.

Yes it's pure common sense. So why do they insist on implementing these arcane practices? I wonder who is in charge of these policies and if writing them a letter citing your experiences would make any difference.

[Curt1591]

...

Lots of congestions are there because people are selfish and the police wont punish offenders. Many times people block a whole lane to park their car and buy stuff. Or people block a lane that is going straight to get in front at the line of lane that is going to go left. The people who want to go straight are then needlessly waiting for the anti socials who want to cut the cue.

I often use one of my bikes instead of my car because of all the traffic jams.

As someone who's soi exits into one of the construction zones, I can attest to the fact that the single biggest contributor to the jams is people parking and blocking what is left of the lanes. The traffic will back up forever, with people needing to merge around the stopped vehicles.

In Southern California, tow truck operators contract with the PD's to make mega-bucks snatching up these fools as fast as the park. Here, in Bangkok, the idiots cops slap on a boot, tying up traffic even longer!

BTW,

Anyone who thinks that the current BTS and MRT are "so convenient", definitely doesn't get out much ...

[tw25rw]

Maybe they need Singapore type restrictions on car ownership.

[Kilgore Trout]

You can force people onto public transport. England is a perfect example. Put the price of gasoline to $8 a gallon & then tax the bejesus out of folks to own a car. Add extra fees for driving in the city center. They'll be on buses soon enough.

Apparently they are doing just the opposite, this was in the TV news today

halt to oil levy article

Oh yeah, they are also offering tax exempt new cars for first time buyers!!

Edited August 28, 2011 by Kilgore Trout