Bangkok Administration Calls On People To Stop Driving

[soloman]

I know of at least a few average level office workers who are provided with parking under their building in the city. If this is wide spread then it would add to the problem. Improving public transport and a congestion tax (Carrot and stick) would be my suggestions.

[sprq]

Now that is a very sensible thing. I wonder if Thails have ever heard about the idea of Carpooling.. The public transportatin in my view is excellent. The bus system very good, and there no place you cannot travel to. The subway and the skytrain are superb. It would however be good if the skytrain would operate on a 24 hour basis

Oh boy, oh boy, where do you come from -- Central Africa?

[geovalin]

They love their motors.

We have to add "and despise the pedestrians."

You can love the motors but respect the laws and the walking people.

In Bangkok, the pedestrian is the enemy! License to kill or at least to scare.

[pepi2005]

Didn't the government just issue a "first car" incentive which essentially made buying a car dozens of thousand Baht cheaper a couple of months ago?

I mean, not that it would be the first absolutely stupid idea this government had to burn money, it's just a reminder of the slightly contradictory signals sent to people in Thailand...

That being said, I completely agree that cars are an absolute status symbol for Thais (as in most developing countries) and it will be very hard to get that out of people's heads for many years to come. Of course, that would make the government's financial aids to buy such tin buckets even more stupid ...

[Katipo]

I recently saw a photo comparing the Thai I recently saw a photo comparing the Bangkok BTS/MRT system to that in Singapore, but I guess it would be the same for any metropolis in the world. The simple fact is, while the mass-transit systems here are clean and relatively effecient, they are also relatively tiny. Very few parts of the city are near a station.

Build a mass transit system worthy of a city Bangkok's size, and people will use it.

I think that is the long-term plan, but these things take time. There just isn't the money to build a whole system in one go. Not even rich countries can manage that. But it will come in the next 20 years or so.

Yes, you make a fair point. I bet without all the corruption it would be bigger than it is today though

[sprq]

I have a car, but only drive it if I am going out of town, never in Bangkok. Easy solution, however. Look to Singapore. Raise vehicle taxes, and, in particular, new car registration fees.

Plus strictly limit parking spaces in all office buildings and downtown malls, apply a congestion charge for car entry to the city centre, give priority to buses with dedicated bus lanes, allow taxis to use the bus lanes, raise the bus frequencies, rationalise the bus system, retrain the bus drivers to serve the public not themselves, expand the subway and skytrain system by 10 times, institute a suburban commuter railway system, strict and impartial enforcement of the traffic laws, create proper driving tests and strict uncorrupt testing, have a proper professional city planning department with strong powers, pass road traffic system control from the police to professional traffic system experts, institute comprehensive automatic traffic light control systems, create roundabouts (US traffic circles) at all junctions where they can operate better than traffic lights, as in the UK (why in god's name are there virtually no roundabouts in Bangkok?), etc etc etc

All these things exist in major metropoles in Europe, and have done for decades. None of it is rocket science, but in the Thai political and cultural context most of it is impossible.

So dream on, imbecilic gridlock is a part of modern Thai culture and always will be, until Bangkok is drowned by climate change and we can all go back to boats, which used to work better, and probably will again...

[incnoi]

I've always wondered, since cars in Thailand are so overpriced and heavily taxed, where does the money generated by their sale go? It is definitely not reinvested into improving the roads. Ive similarly wondered about tollways, I know they are part privately owned but millions of cars must use them daily, that would result in huge revenues which are again clearly not reinvested to improve any public sector.

Its amusing how, instead of advised not to buy new cars (which would lose revenues) Bangkokians are advised to stop driving their new shiny cars, whilst no viable alternatives of city wide travel are offered.

[JeezeLooeze]

I haven't looked out the window this morning, but has the BMA already cleared the sidewalks for walking.

As a starting point for enticing people to get out of their cars and into the BTS/MRT how about making footpaths and access around station entances a whole lot more pedestrian friendly. Lets start with a 1km radius from each entrance point and then expand from there. The BMA could do a lot in this regard, not only as Payboy mentioned, but also fixing and clearing up the pavements, providing shade trees and all the urban design and cityscaping we see in every other major world city. And for stations located at street intersections, how about giving pedestrians crossing roads priority over vehicle traffic?

[blazes]

As soon as their is a interconnected comprehensive BTS/subway system - my car is being sold. I'm waiting....

How old are you?

[emilyb]

Yes, you make a fair point. I bet without all the corruption it would be bigger than it is today though

Yeah, it's a shame. Still, coming from the US I'm pretty impressed with how far it has come in just the last decade. Take a look at the ten largest cities in the US and only NY and Chicago have a legitimate rail system. Atlanta and Dallas have really half-hearted attempts compared to major cities and Houston's taking twenty years just to build something smaller than what we have in Bangkok, with a single tiny line open at the moment.

Meanwhile, come check out the progress on the new Purple Line up here in Nonthaburi. It's amazing how far they've come in the last year and a half. I won't go so far as to say it's almost finished or anything, but it's really moving along fast. Of course the problem isn't construction in this country, it's getting all the authorities to stop fighting over which bribe to take and threatening one another with corruption cases so someone can sign off and open the dam_n thing. Still, man, it's growing like a weed.

[Tatsujin]

If they hadn't made it (relatively) cheaper/easier to purchase cars/houses by heavily subsidizing them as a political tool to get votes, there wouldn't be such a problem.

[FarangTalk]

all smelly farangs that fail the test should be stripped and scrubbed with scouring pads before being allowed entry.

You're lucky, smelly Thais can't afford to use the BTS.

[hbullinger]

BMA calls on people to stop driving

The Nation

Isn't it funny to see that such an issue in the news always starts a jamboree of all the anti car do-gooders. Most of these are farangs longing back for the war against car drivers in their countries with all the excessive penalties they were obviously happy to pay like the 80 Pounds parking ticket for overstaying a few minutes at a parking meter in London. One wonders what made them come to Thailand.

[FarangTalk]

We have to add "and despise the pedestrians."

You can love the motors but respect the laws and the walking people.

In Bangkok, the pedestrian is the enemy! License to kill or at least to scare.

Absolutely.

We have a zebra crossing with our stop lights outside our Bangkok soi and their arrogance is astounding. The majority of drivers just ignore the lights if they can't see someone crossing, often not even slowing their speed. Some drivers don't stop even when there are pedestrians crossing, even young children. Scooters are the worst though, most completely ignore the lights and try to weave or just drive straight through. I've so far resisted the temptation to administer a shove to these arrogant SOBs.

The culture of arrogant impunity among Thai drivers is the biggest hurdle they face in reducing road accidents IMO.

[jerrysteve]

Most Thais I have been around are very hygenic...and yes every once in a while there is someone who does have body order, but they are

far and few between.

Carpooling still a viable option as well.

Some the empty spaces under the expressways and near a skytrain station could be use as car parks giving close access to the

skytrain.

Sitting in bumper to bumper traffic is not my idea of a holiday thats for sure.

[FarangTalk]

Most Thais I have been around are very hygenic...and yes every once in a while there is someone who does have body order, but they are

far and few between.

No better or worse than any other nationalities.

[jerrysteve]

PORMAX blocking peoples drive ways is a great iea. double parking in cross walks is outstanding.

[jerrysteve]

CelticBhoy: Have you actually tried The Claw Hammer?

[rubl]

When the government came with this policy to implement in the first year

"1.8.4 Introduce tax measures to reduce the general public's burden of purchasing such essentials as the first house and car."

they most likely meant for the car to be purchased and just put in front of the house for all to see. No mention of driving being essential.

[PaulHamon]

Very true. But the answer is to make public transport cool. It can be done. Plenty of cool people use public transport in London.

All my Thai friends that live and work in Bangkok don't drive and don't want a car. They do want BTS/MRT lines to extend further and into more areas. They're all university education in late 20s early 30s, there are plenty of people that want a city that is easier to get around without private transport. I guess these people are not your regular office staff thou with stock standard dreams and asperations.

[MaxYakov]

Meh. Car = status. Car owners can't lower themselves to the level of public transit users. I've got an idea. Let's have a first time car buyers incentive so more people can join the ranks. Oh wait...

[ snipped the smelliness ]

So I guess a first-time bicycle incentive is out of the question, financial incentive or not. I personally find bicycling around the gridlock in central Bangkok psychologically refreshing. And it's bicycle-lonely out there. I can rest assured that bicycles will be sparse on Bangkok streets for a very long time or until the gas/diesel supply gets severely interrupted - which ever occurs first.

[Xonax]

The subway and the skytrain are superb.

The Skytrain is always too crowded. Outside rush hours they have less trains. No way I will use Skytrain where I can go by car.

[MaxYakov]

Bit offended by the sweaty farang comment - There are plenty of sweaty people of other ethnicity (Asian, African, Indian) as well as Caucasian using public transport.

I think the problem is that apart from buses, public transport BTS / MRT as a % of income is actually quite expensive for a family if the journey is any distance - 55 baht from On nut to Mor chit (220 for four people each way). The bus is cheaper, but probably involves a change of bus and at least 1 hour slowly chugging through traffic. Hardly great alternatives for the average Bangkokian family.

Obviously if your single the BTS is perfect

I sure if the BTS was a flat 10 / 20 baht fare its popularity would soar. But then would the riff raff be welcomed by the middle classes, Hmmmm

Back in the car i guess

Farang does not necessarily mean Caucasian.

That's what I thought until recently when I was corrected by someone more knowledgeable. There are, according to him (and the Wiki entry), several Thai adjectives to differentiate various 'species' of farang. But, of course it probably depends on who you ask: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farang

And if anyone is interested in the origin of the Caucasian race: http://en.wikipedia..../Caucasian_race

Edited September 14, 2012 by MaxYakov

[Om85]

Personaly , I don't like driving, but the transportation system here is not so good as it should, sometimes is very dangereous to take a ride in a bus or a taxi because many of these drivers drive like crazy people, they just don't pay much attention to the security of the passengers, another problem is that the BTS and the MRT only cover a little part of the city and the prices of the tickets are too high for must of people pockets it should be like in Beijing in which you can take the MRT and pay only 5 yuan(25 bat) for the whole trip.

[MaxYakov]

1. Update smelly buses with no windows and educate the drivers to remain in the bus lane and not play dodgems

2. Remove police overriding traffic lights

3. Sync all traffic lights in with time lapse down the same streets and cross roads at no more than 30 second intervals

4. Add at least two extra carriages to MRT and BTS - it's only rolling stock

5. Pour the money from overhead bridges and flyovers to multiple sub strata rail links to all parts of Bangkok

6. Get police to enforce traffic rules and make the fines worth obeying them and introduce a points system - three strikes and you're out - for at least 6 months.

Having a nice snooze?

[jimbeam1]

Just a thought. I wonder how many motorbikes there are, that are not registered, in Bangkok?

I don't know about sweaty farang. Have you ever been on the back of a motorbike taxi. Mostly they stink.

jb1

[MaxYakov]

I have recently began using the buses (primarily the decrepit ones) and it's quite a trip, but very cost-effective. My major gripes are: most of the buses should be replaced because they're hazardous and polluting, aren't handicapped-friendly, aren't A/Cd, can't take bicycles ... what else? ... Oh, yes, they are real shaking-rattletraps with manual transmissions with drivers that ... . Also, to add insult to potential injury, some major routes (mine to Din Daeng from Central, for example )are not covered after 23:00.

Here is a/the gratuitous Bangkok bus route site for those of you thinking of taking this article just halfway seriously and are willing to risk their lives, time and comfort on a Bangkok bus (there actually are some decent buses, but they are less common and cost more):

http://www.transitba...gkok_buses.html

Note: I discovered that the #52 bus from Mo Chit BTS to the Chaeng Wattana Government Complex (Immigration) is not on this bus map. It is very cost-effective to take it to Immigration from Mo Chit BTS ... but that's about all it is (not too bad if one can get a seat and has a gas mask).

Edited September 14, 2012 by MaxYakov

[jimbeam1]

I get around pretty handily in this city, as I keep all the options open. When I go to my language school, I take a motorcycle taxi, then BTS, then a 10 minute walk. I went to Bang Pho yesterday to buy some lumber... motorcycle all the way there then a tuk-tuk back. When I go to Mega Bangna or someplace like that, I drive. I love having the option of a car, but often it's the least convenient mode of transport.

One thing I love about Bangkok is that many neighborhoods are fairly self-contained, so you don't have to traipse all over creation to run simple errands, unlike in my home country.

Anyway, I have a feeling that the situation will start to correct itself as we approach permanent gridlock.

I like the ferry. You even get a commentry?

jb1

[aht]

That's the one hand speaking. The other hand is saying "Buy a new car. Hell, we'll even subsidize you!"

[remobb]

Try waiting to catch a bus with 100 others that just push in without thought or courtesy.

Try waiting for a bus when the sun is beating down and there is no cover or seats.

Try standing for 2 hours on the bus being pushed and squeezed so they can get more than the required amount of passengers allowed on the bus.

Try doing the weeks shopping and catching a bus with bags of shopping including frozen food.

Try waiting for an hour for the next bus to come along and it drives in the outside lane and doesn't bother to stop.

Try, oh bother, try it yourself, I have and no more thank you.