Bangkok To Crack Down On Unauthorized Street Vendors

[Arkady]

My understanding is that every baht goes directly to the police , and is in essence pocketed by them. If it was revenue that actually went to the municipality, and thus could be used to improve infrastructure at that would make more sense. Blocking sidewalks so policemen can have more mia nois is just dam_n annoying ...... I personally like street food, and enjoy interacting with the vendors. With a bit of control, I think it adds a nice touch of flavor to the city. However with the police greed to rent out every square inch of the sidewalk, that is when things turn bad. Meaning I have to go out on walk on the street just to go past.

In Bangkok the bribe money goes to the Thesakhit who are the city's municipal police that wear beige uniforms and have no guns or power to arrest. They are responsible for enforcing city ordinances that actually prohibit street vending everywhere outside designated zones. Any receipted fines levied would indeed go to the city where the money would be stolen by higher level municipal employees long before it could be invested on infrastructure. In addition to income from vendors' bribes the Thesakhit also have a nice sideline in re-selling items confiscated from vendors who foolishly didn't pay their bribes in full or on time. The items are of course re-sold to other vendors for sale on illegal footpath stalls. The police for once are not involved in this.

[sparebox2]

Street vendors are pest of the inner city.

Best to call in the professionals.

Chuwit tried one, and he end up in jail.

[hyperdimension]

Street food is a reality because it is too expensive for the average Thai to go in to a restaurant, sit down, get service, and have lunch. There are also too few food courts where it is more reasonable than a 'restaurant." The government should open more food courts and this would be a good incentive for small business vendors. It would also clean up Bangkok and add some much needed health and sanitary regulations to the food serving business.

Singapore rounded up all the street food vendors ("hawkers") and put them into food courts so that they could more easily control and regulate it. e.g. here are some pictures of The Newton Hawker Centre:

Notice the "B" sign in the last picture, which indicates level of hygiene.

[hyperdimension]

We all knew what was on offer here b4 we moved here and I'd say most people would agree that half the appeal was the raw character and charm this places serves up. Street vendors are a big part of that.

Apart from annoyance when street vendors take up more than half of a crowded footpath, there are issues with health and safety. Have you seen the grilling / barbeque contraptions, big pots of boiling water / curry, or big woks of deep-frying oil on the streets, that are often placed on stilts? They could easily be knocked over.

Edited May 3, 2012 by hyperdimension

[HerbalEd]

Thats a good news , I heard that news for the last 20 years ...and nothing has changed .. so why it would change now ? Thais dont care about laws as they think they are above any laws , you see that in their mentality everyday. sorry but that is only some stuff I observed on daily basis. Many people dont wear safety belt in cars besie the laws , talk on their phone beside the law etc ...etc ... So for street vendors , it look quite exotic for the tourists but when you try to walk on silom road or sukhumvit at 6pm ... you can hardly walk because of the street vendors.

Something have change.

Now the vendors can go to get a job and being paid 300 baht/day, so they have no excuses to hog pavement anymore.

Do you actually think it's that simple??

[CantSpell]

take away vendors take away the atmosphere of bangkok. what a lot of boring old farts. keeps inflation down also - feeds the workers. of course hunger is not something incumbents care about with them making sure khao is expensive.

Yes and no

3-4 years ago, it was still possible to walk on the pavement normally with some areas designated to street vendors, food outlet and so on, and there was space to walk (all closed on Mondays only when the roadsides where fully cleared).

Went back to Bangkok 7 months ago, nearly impossible to walk around MBK and Siam square under the BTS Station: not even 60 centimeter available with shops on both side of the pavement... Try that with a baby push-car...

I should not even mention Independence monument: there is no more pavement available to walk on there

[RogueLeader]

Street food is a reality because it is too expensive for the average Thai to go in to a restaurant, sit down, get service, and have lunch. There are also too few food courts where it is more reasonable than a 'restaurant." The government should open more food courts and this would be a good incentive for small business vendors. It would also clean up Bangkok and add some much needed health and sanitary regulations to the food serving business.

Singapore rounded up all the street food vendors ("hawkers") and put them into food courts so that they could more easily control and regulate it. e.g. here are some pictures of The Newton Hawker Centre:

Notice the "B" sign in the last picture, which indicates level of hygiene.

I was wondering when the 'let's all be like Singapore' cheerleaders would turn up. It's not a city that sets the pulse racing, is it? Still, I'm sure imprisoning and caning public health law violators would 'clean up' the pavements of Bangkok. The question is: is this the sort of country you want to live in?

[Tonyrichard]

Any chance that this could include unauthorized motorcycles on the pavements?

Oh, how right you are: that would be a dream come true! These wretched pavement motorcyclists are a hazard to life and limb. The police etc. do nothing about them. In fact, I often see the police driving their own motor cycles along the 'pavements' (aka undulating, pot-holed rubbish tips). What hope is there?!! TIT.

[transam]

Street vendors are pest of the inner city.

Best to call in the professionals.

Chuwit tried one, and he end up in jail.

From reading stuff here l understand that you are Thai, YET you seem to run down the poor for trying to feed their family in a country with NO welfare state help, am l to assume you are an ''I am alright jack'' Hi-So. ?

[meand]

Street food is one of the few things this country does right. If the vendors make it impossible to walk, and I have to rub up against somebody (of my choice) now and again, so be it

[hyperdimension]

I was wondering when the 'let's all be like Singapore' cheerleaders would turn up. It's not a city that sets the pulse racing, is it? Still, I'm sure imprisoning and caning public health law violators would 'clean up' the pavements of Bangkok. The question is: is this the sort of country you want to live in?

I wouldn't agree with caning or death penalty, but what's wrong with improved health and safety?

[kkup]

We all knew what was on offer here b4 we moved here and I'd say most people would agree that half the appeal was the raw character and charm this places serves up. Street vendors are a big part of that.

Apart from annoyance when street vendors take up more than half of a crowded footpath, there are issues with health and safety. Have you seen the grilling / barbeque contraptions, big pots of boiling water / curry, or big woks of deep-frying oil on the streets, that are often placed on stilts? They could easily be knocked over.

Yeh they could be knocked over and there are hundreds of things that wouldn't pass health and safety in my country. That's why we should take extra care when being around them as we are aware of this. Take a look at the cables/wiring above our heads on nearly every street. Look like a disaster waiting to happen But street stalls are a part of life for thai people, it allows vendors to keep costs down so they can sell cheap meals to people who only earn a few hundred baht a day.

Alot of thai's don't have the space or facilities to cook at home so eating out for cheap is a regular occurrence, especially for students etc.

When I first came here I thought I would easily get sick from eating at those places, seeing raw meat hanging on the street then being thrown into the wok, but I'm yet to get sick from anything I've eaten from a street vendor.

I know things aren't perfect here, but I think it's why I moved to Thailand. If I wanted to be living in a clean city, being told what to do and following every rule in the book I'd be back in Australia.

[pauljones]

The Deputy Governor better speak with the BMA. They are renting the footpaths out like they own it personally. The vendors selling copyright or illegal goods just pay a bit more.

Nobody sets up shop out there without paying.

If they do, the BMA thugs in a pickup truck come and haul away the offender and take his stuff.