Bangkok Orders Demolition Of 14,000 Phone Booths

[katana]

Whenever I tried to use any of those public phone booths in BKK, I invariably found the background traffic noise, particularly the 2-stroke motorcycles droning past, made a conversation nigh on impossible.

[blackthorn2005]

Maybe the phone booths were limiting the free access of the pedestrian on the footpath.

But more likely this is an economic initiative designed to open up more space for the variety of retail and food sellers ...

Plus removing obstacles like this will allow a greater speed for the motorcycle couriers which is a time saving efficiency initiative.

(Almost) Everyone wins ... pity the poor pedestrian.

Yep, itwil;l be even more like Death Race 2.000, score points for hitting pedestrians!

[vijer]

Sure get rid of the phone booths, that will have Thailand looking so much better. 55555

How about cleaning up all the garbage Thai's throw on the ground or purposely dump on the side of the road? Except for the main roads in the heart of BKK all small soi's are basically garbage dumps. I will be ashamed to have my family visit my new house as every road that leads to our brand new development is littered with plastic bags, broken concrete, tires, bottles, etc.

Ya get rid of those useless phone booths but do something about the real eye sore that blemishes Thailand.

[americaninbangkok]

"Theerachon said the March 28 meeting would assign a multipleparty committee to oversee infrastructure and discuss such topics as... the installation of additional CCTV cameras at... mosques"

<deleted>?! Mosques?! Why mosques? Could they be any more crass? Why not include places where fat people congregate? Or leper colonies? I'm sure they could be just as easy prey for this ridiculously blatant profiling. Theerachon: if you don't like some categories of people, then have some b*lls and just put up a sign at the entrance to Bangkok and say so: "No _______ welcome". But to let them live in your city, welcome their money, and then stick up CCTV cameras to spy on them is pretty <deleted>!

[Ferangled]

"Theerachon said the March 28 meeting would assign a multipleparty committee to oversee infrastructure and discuss such topics as... the installation of additional CCTV cameras at... mosques"

<deleted>?! Mosques?! Why mosques? Could they be any more crass? Why not include places where fat people congregate? Or leper colonies? I'm sure they could be just as easy prey for this ridiculously blatant profiling. Theerachon: if you don't like some categories of people, then have some b*lls and just put up a sign at the entrance to Bangkok and say so: "No _______ welcome". But to let them live in your city, welcome their money, and then stick up CCTV cameras to spy on them is pretty <deleted>!

To be fair that's some creative editing on your part, the OP actually said "CCTV cameras at stadiums, mosques and public spaces"

Public spaces would pretty much have covered the former but I guess if you want to make it into an attack on Muslims, that's your prerogative... but if he did deliberately single out Muslims the intention could equally mean CCTV for their protection rather than profiling them rightly or wrongly as terrorists.

I feel you are being a tad too sensitive...incidentally where do fat people congregate, McDonald's? Pretty sure they have their own cameras...

[Payboy]

Theerachon said the March 28 meeting would assign a multipleparty committee to oversee infrastructure and discuss such topics as repairs to lampposts; the installation of additional CCTV cameras at stadiums, mosques and public spaces; and putting electrical wires underground. If the joint projects ran smoothly, Bangkok would be more orderly by December 5, he said.

It would be great to see some wiring disappear underground. Especially the great massed coils of a hundred different wires they like to have resting on the metal railings of pedestrian bridges.

However, having Bangkok looking more orderly by December 5 seems VERY optimistic.

What's the going rate for scrap metal in BKK?.......I can smell an opportunity

Do you really want to compete with cousin Somchai?

[givenall]

Dear BMA, please also consider a cleanup of abandoned derelict cars.

Please also remove the vendors from the side walk. Side wake is for people not stores

But an impossible task since police make money from the vendors so they are allowed to stay

[tw25rw]

Hopefully they will also remove the concrete foundations, or at least use them for something useful like rubbish bins or public seating.

[hellodolly]

Personally I hope they just get carried away with the project and don't stop until there is none left standing in Chiang Mai.

[moonbarman]

Theerachon said the March 28 meeting would assign a multipleparty committee to oversee infrastructure and discuss such topics as repairs to lampposts; the installation of additional CCTV cameras at stadiums, mosques and public spaces; and putting electrical wires underground. If the joint projects ran smoothly, Bangkok would be more orderly by December 5, he said.

It would be great to see some wiring disappear underground. Especially the great massed coils of a hundred different wires they like to have resting on the metal railings of pedestrian bridges.

However, having Bangkok looking more orderly by December 5 seems VERY optimistic.

I cannot see which year is quoted. Just 5th December, which is a "Auspicious day" every year. (BTS, MRT, as example, started on 5th December)

(Rather like Council projects the in UK uses the tax year end, 4 APR, or start, as that is when budgets end or new ones start)

5th december the kings birthday a lucky day to start a business venture, i may have been away too long but i thought the uk tax year started on the 6th april, sorry to be pedantic.

[oops]

I really like the ones that force the children into the narrow streets so they can be killed by flying shrap metal with wheels" BUSES"....or worse a shiny new mercedes with a really important person..

[DeepInTheForest]

Perhaps I am mad. Unless there is some compelling space reason for the abolition of these phone booths, I see no reason to celebrate their demise. And I can't see space as being the main reason, either, while noting that one poster says that some of them are too close to the street and children are at risk while using them. Is that true? I have not seen such examples, but I grant they may indeed occur.

What I do note is that 18,000 phone booths were being run, assumedly for some profit, by smaller operators. I like this. Large mobile phone companies have a hammerlock on our pocketbook. Those of us with adequate means do not suffer from this imposition. Lower class people are another matter. A Thai friend of mine said that she spent 49 baht per day for her pay-as-you-go phone service. This was an egregious sum for someone who, I suspect, made roughly 200 baht per day. I tried to convince her to buy a "daily" only when necessary, and to keep her money from the greedy hands of the mobile companies. To little avail, I fear.

Mobile phone service is seductive to young people. It promises them connection, love, life, and happiness. What it does, however, is strip income from the pockets of those who cannot afford the expense. It is like an enormous vacuum machine, whooshing up hard-earned sums from working people.

And have you looked round the world to see who is controlling it (the world, I mean) these days? Telecom people, that's who, like Berlusconi in Italy, or our fabled exile from the LOS. How do you think they arrived at the top? Telecom, with its natural monopolies, huge revenues, and reliance on the approval of politicians, guarantees exorbitant power to those who are sufficiently unscrupulous. Those who get to the top have mastered the twisted game of state and commercial power.

So when there's a chance to maintain a degree of independence from the greedhead globe-strangling oligarchy that wants more, more, more of our money-- I'm all for it.

Keep the kiosks, frustrating to use as they may be. (I've been there.) Clean up the operators if they're corrupt. But let people have a choice. It's an important service for working-class people. Apparently they were being used; otherwise the local operators wouldn't have kept in business.

There may be a time, when your battery dies, when you may just need a pay phone. Or am I mad?

[arthurwait]

the demolition of 14,000 phone booths

oh great.... just what is Superman supposed to do now?

.

Put his pants on under his suit.

[arthurwait]

Have you ever seen the inside of a scrap metal compactor?

Oh god after all the I was in the special forces, SAS, marines lot we've now got I was Luke Skywalker.

[americaninbangkok]

"Theerachon said the March 28 meeting would assign a multipleparty committee to oversee infrastructure and discuss such topics as... the installation of additional CCTV cameras at... mosques"

<deleted>?! Mosques?! Why mosques? Could they be any more crass? Why not include places where fat people congregate? Or leper colonies? I'm sure they could be just as easy prey for this ridiculously blatant profiling. Theerachon: if you don't like some categories of people, then have some b*lls and just put up a sign at the entrance to Bangkok and say so: "No _______ welcome". But to let them live in your city, welcome their money, and then stick up CCTV cameras to spy on them is pretty <deleted>!

To be fair that's some creative editing on your part, the OP actually said "CCTV cameras at stadiums, mosques and public spaces"

Public spaces would pretty much have covered the former but I guess if you want to make it into an attack on Muslims, that's your prerogative... but if he did deliberately single out Muslims the intention could equally mean CCTV for their protection rather than profiling them rightly or wrongly as terrorists.

I feel you are being a tad too sensitive...incidentally where do fat people congregate, McDonald's? Pretty sure they have their own cameras...

My editing wasn't meant to be creative or opportunistic. I put in the "..." to show I was editing and focusing on a specific aspect of the OP. Stadiums: fine. Public spaces: fine. Neither of these single out any precise demographic (well... sports fans and non-introverts, perhaps). But stating "mosques" really does seem to hone in on a specific subset of society. Proceeding with your argument, do Muslims require some additional element of protection in Bangkok?

Sure I'm being sensitive. Typcally any time you identify a subset of society, you're usually attaching some sort of label to them. What did the writer intend in this case?That Muslims and sports stadiums both require some additional degree of scrutiny? Substitute another category and see how it sounds to the general population: Blacks. Homosexuals. Chinese. Jews. Call me crazy... just sounds pretty f'in' racist. But I forget... it's for their protection.

As for fat people: they wouldn't be caught dead at McD's... not enough fat. They're all at Polo Chicken... cameraless.

[sbk]

Unfunny troll post in violation of forum rules removed. Do it again and you will be suspended,

[gand]

I thought they were being used by the street vendors?

[harrry]

Possibly a security move so bombs canot vbe left in them in the same way they removed the rubbish bins from most public places in other countries.

[nurofiend]

the demolition of 14,000 phone booths

oh great.... just what is Superman supposed to do now?

.

use his iphone?

can't believe this didn't get the critical acclaim it soooo much deserved...!!!!

i was very proud of that one lol

i was waiting for a "to call batman" response, but, ah well...

[chrisinth]

In this day and age, the age of mobile comms., ever wonder why there were ever so many phone booths put up in the first place? The majority of these installed after the introduction of cheap mobiles. Not just in Bkk but nationwide.

That is a pretty nice contract for someone to get. Reckon the same people will be bidding to remove them as well, so Blether & Bookman, watch your backs!

As an aside, I really do wonder how the private companies actually make money from this/these public phones.

[David006]

In this day and age, the age of mobile comms., ever wonder why there were ever so many phone booths put up in the first place? The majority of these installed after the introduction of cheap mobiles. Not just in Bkk but nationwide.

That is a pretty nice contract for someone to get. Reckon the same people will be bidding to remove them as well, so Blether & Bookman, watch your backs!

As an aside, I really do wonder how the private companies actually make money from this/these public phones.

100 years ago in the UK they were used as public urinals,defacate'oriums and cheap renta- bonk rooms ..atleast every one I ever had to fix was......a bit of cardboard in the coin/cash box slot was a nice little earner though...

....and what about Tardis.... oh no that was a police box...never mind..

[WarpSpeed]

Theerachon said the March 28 meeting would assign a multipleparty committee to oversee infrastructure and discuss such topics as repairs to lampposts; the installation of additional CCTV cameras at stadiums, mosques and public spaces; and putting electrical wires underground. If the joint projects ran smoothly, Bangkok would be more orderly by December 5, he said.

It would be great to see some wiring disappear underground. Especially the great massed coils of a hundred different wires they like to have resting on the metal railings of pedestrian bridges.

However, having Bangkok looking more orderly by December 5 seems VERY optimistic.

Yes and given that many of these phone booths now have flood slime all over them that will never by cleaned off they are nothing but eye sores now..

[rotary]

With mobile phone usage so cheap and mobile phones themselves so cheap I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone use a pay-phone to be honest with you.