harris campaign, clean up on aisle Electoral College

[h90]

Bla Bla Bla.....yet more lip service. Ms Yingluck; it's easy to talk the talk....but when will you walk the walk ??

isn't the walk we are talking about. But is is a positive proposal. It will not fix it but if some of he infrastruchture changes more will.

No it is not a positive proposal. It is abusing people in wheelchairs to make some extra money with corruption.

When you look at the purchases of public buses in Thailand in history, I think every purchase was full of corruption.....

Now taking the wheelchair thing to silence any critics. Whoever says something against it will look heartless not carrying for the weak.

I do not care who is abused as long as wheelchair travel is facilitated. But the people who are oppposing this are the ones that are abusing the disabled. If one companyh pays more than another who cares.

I care, because for the same amount of money you could help them somewhere else much more efficient.....For example on the sidewalks.

And I doubt many could reach the nice bus anyhow, as the sidewalks can not be used by them.

Think for the price of 1 bus. With that money you could clear all sidewalks (because it doesn't cost anything) and make hundreds or thousands of ramps that will help them come around the city without help.

Or for 3000 buses you could nicely support them financially or medically. Buying 3000 buses which won't be used much by them will only help the Shinawattra clan.

And who cares for the payment? The money is missing somewhere else....You only need to look at the public hospitals. On of our staff might have gotten disabled if she wouldn't went into a private hospital after the public one told that everything is OK. Very old XRay, no one who can operate it and an incompetent doctors (or the nurse decided). But putting more money in the public hospitals won't bring any tea money....

[harrry]

No it is not a positive proposal. It is abusing people in wheelchairs to make some extra money with corruption.

When you look at the purchases of public buses in Thailand in history, I think every purchase was full of corruption.....

Now taking the wheelchair thing to silence any critics. Whoever says something against it will look heartless not carrying for the weak.

I do not care who is abused as long as wheelchair travel is facilitated. But the people who are oppposing this are the ones that are abusing the disabled. If one companyh pays more than another who cares.

I care, because for the same amount of money you could help them somewhere else much more efficient.....For example on the sidewalks.

And I doubt many could reach the nice bus anyhow, as the sidewalks can not be used by them.

Think for the price of 1 bus. With that money you could clear all sidewalks (because it doesn't cost anything) and make hundreds or thousands of ramps that will help them come around the city without help.

Or for 3000 buses you could nicely support them financially or medically. Buying 3000 buses which won't be used much by them will only help the Shinawattra clan.

And who cares for the payment? The money is missing somewhere else....You only need to look at the public hospitals. On of our staff might have gotten disabled if she wouldn't went into a private hospital after the public one told that everything is OK. Very old XRay, no one who can operate it and an incompetent doctors (or the nurse decided). But putting more money in the public hospitals won't bring any tea money....

Just look at most cities. The busses can be used by anyone and are. They are not exclusively for disabled people. It just means the 3000 busses they are currently buying must be accessible.

Yes it is a slow job to make a city accessible...about 15 years in most cases. But it can and has been done in most other cities. you do not get a city accessible to all overnight but you have to start somewhere.

[Yunla]

I use a walking frame most days, and wheelchair occasionally. Will eventually be in wheelchair 100% this is inevitable for me. I give Yingluck a tentative thumbs-up for this proposal. Asia generally still has a cultural out-of-sight philosophy to disabled people, in some villages disabled relatives are pushed out to the barn and left there when prominent visitors arrive. It is seen by some as a source of shame, this stems partly from alpha-male cultural factors where healthy sons are considered the only show in town. But this is obviously changing gradually and thank heavens for that. Especially as many disabled people do work fulltime and need to be able to get to work without having a terrible experience on the way. More investment is needed not just on wheelchair access but on road and sidewalk improvements, and general public transport investment initiatives. And of course road safety education / regulation, so that able bodied people don't lose their mobility due to needless traffic accidents. The amounts of money required to overhaul everything are huge, and it remains to be seen if this will happen.

[Xonax]

Great idea which will generate massive kick-backs to the involved politicians on the purchase of the busses. Unfortunately the wheelchairs cannot get to and from the bus stops due to broken and congested sidewalks, with electric poles and vendors where you least expect it.

A much better idea, would be to have wheelchair friendly taxi´s, which could drive to and from the elevator at nearest BTS or MRT station. Costs of fares could be shared between BMA and the handicapped persons. But of course with the always congested trains, this idea unfortunately wouldn´t work anyway.

Edited September 28, 2013 by Xonax

[cup-O-coffee]

Impossible. Thailand has woven itself into a cocoon of steel with no elbow room to make space without cutting off some limbs, and that is not going to happen by a long shot.

There are too many mavericks and freelancers doing their own thing alongside the government processes and operations that I am sure that no one knows who is who and what is what. Additionally, there is no database tracking of who and what, as well as who has licenses, and what it is exactly that they are licensed simply because greed won't allow this out of greedy, corrupt activities.

If some kind of restrictions or bans or reductions aren't enforced against all these illegal, decrepit fleets owned by scumbags who operate privately and without legitimate license and oversight, and pollute the roads with their broken down rigs that belch out noxious fumes and put everyone's life at risk, all for the mighty profit... well, then there is no use ever hoping for a single fleet of same make and model of government owned and operated buses that are safe and cover all needed routes and all public personal needs.

But this is impossible. Thailand is built on greed and the feudal system of ages gone by. Too many Dukedoms and Lordships.

Government is a Frankenstein built by this feudal system, with its arms, legs, head and body each separately owned by this feudal Duke or that feudal Lord.

The PM is a sock puppet, about the same as every other government leader in the known world today; sock puppets all; and they are owned by and are the mouth pieces of corrupt corporations and people that do not exist in the public eye.

So to the wheelchair bound people, I say this; "Don't get your hopes up beyond getting a sympathetic ear, ... and leave it at that."

[Businessman]

I'm all for it. And will she also consider pedestrian friendly footpaths?

[Carl64]

It's not just the busses that need attention. It's everything in the whole country that needs a massive upgrade to make it suitable for disabilities.

But have to start somewhere.

[Johnnie99]

Passenger-friendly bus drivers would be a start, those, for example who understand the need for the buses to actually stop to let people on and off.

And while I'm at it, how about bus drivers who stop inside the bus stop rather than blocking the road and otherwise driving like they own the road?

[Norabone]

All wind,

[atyclb]

Even for an able bodied person most of the sidewalks are like obstacle courses. Loose concrete and or pavement, uneven surface, utility poles dead center, obstructing stairs, curbs without ramps. Then add the food vendors and clothing vendors and motorbike taxis combined with the "slowwww erratic walking style". I almost always walk on the road due to the above. People in wheelchairs have my heartfelt sympathy although the able bodied that that would benefit from walking lessons from Downs syndrome people do not.

[cgphuket]

Thai Government announces to disabled people: "If you don't have the good taste to die at home, please stay out of our line of site because we don't like to look at unpleasant things". It would take 5000 years to make even Bangkok remotely handicapped accessible. Why else would the BTS be built with only a few elevators and then on only one side of the street?

[hellodolly]

At last she has my vote...and I thought I would never say that.

She would never get my vote. None of these initiatives are followed through on. She gets involved in these things, sees it might make a great headline, says a few meaningless words, then she moves on to the next thing and forgets what she promised. A barbie doll.

Not so I have yet to see a Barby Doll built like a fire plug.

[hellodolly]

Bla Bla Bla.....yet more lip service. Ms Yingluck; it's easy to talk the talk....but when will you walk the walk ??

isn't the walk we are talking about. But is is a positive proposal. It will not fix it but if some of he infrastruchture changes more will.

Well what you say is true but she is going about it the wrong way. (what's new) The buses can all go any where using the ramps that Seattle uses. Her idea to redesign half of them to do half the job is a half wit idea,

[hellodolly]

No it is not a positive proposal. It is abusing people in wheelchairs to make some extra money with corruption.

When you look at the purchases of public buses in Thailand in history, I think every purchase was full of corruption.....

Now taking the wheelchair thing to silence any critics. Whoever says something against it will look heartless not carrying for the weak.

I do not care who is abused as long as wheelchair travel is facilitated. But the people who are oppposing this are the ones that are abusing the disabled. If one companyh pays more than another who cares.

I care, because for the same amount of money you could help them somewhere else much more efficient.....For example on the sidewalks.

And I doubt many could reach the nice bus anyhow, as the sidewalks can not be used by them.

Think for the price of 1 bus. With that money you could clear all sidewalks (because it doesn't cost anything) and make hundreds or thousands of ramps that will help them come around the city without help.

Or for 3000 buses you could nicely support them financially or medically. Buying 3000 buses which won't be used much by them will only help the Shinawattra clan.

And who cares for the payment? The money is missing somewhere else....You only need to look at the public hospitals. On of our staff might have gotten disabled if she wouldn't went into a private hospital after the public one told that everything is OK. Very old XRay, no one who can operate it and an incompetent doctors (or the nurse decided). But putting more money in the public hospitals won't bring any tea money....

Just look at most cities. The busses can be used by anyone and are. They are not exclusively for disabled people. It just means the 3000 busses they are currently buying must be accessible.

Yes it is a slow job to make a city accessible...about 15 years in most cases. But it can and has been done in most other cities. you do not get a city accessible to all overnight but you have to start somewhere.

You do realize she is talking about only certain parts of the city. She could use the buses from Seattle in all parts of the city. Why defend a half thought out plan. As I said in an earlier post just call the company that built the one's for Seattle and they would be more than happy to send a team of qualified engineers to check the whole city out and give them a design that will work in the whole city.

Forget the sidewalk nonsense that is not what the article is about. If some one wants to go off on a tangent talk about proper education that would benefit even people who live where there are no side walks or buses.

You people do realize there are people living that way I hope.

Edited September 28, 2013 by hellodolly

[harrry]

Bla Bla Bla.....yet more lip service. Ms Yingluck; it's easy to talk the talk....but when will you walk the walk ??

isn't the walk we are talking about. But is is a positive proposal. It will not fix it but if some of he infrastruchture changes more will.

Well what you say is true but she is going about it the wrong way. (what's new) The buses can all go any where using the ramps that Seattle uses. Her idea to redesign half of them to do half the job is a half wit idea,

In fairness to her (and in truth she is one politician i have no respect for) the proposal is that the 3000 new busses allready planned and approved for purchase should be wheelchair accecisble. It is not about retrofitting anything. As new busses are bought they should be accessible and as busses go out of service the percentage of accessible busses in the fleet will increase. As I previously said it takes at least 15 years to make a city reasonably accessible.

[kimamey]

Not to be glib, what is the point of wheel chair friendly buses, when there isn't 10m of flat unoccupied pavement in the whole City?

I certainly can't fault her objectives but we'll have to see what actually happens. It will be a long job because as you point out a wheelchair friendly bus is one thing but many footpaths are difficult even without a wheelchair.

As far as it goes full marks. Now she has the opportunity to show what she can do to get things done.

She has had many opportunities to show she can get things done. This is just another item on her on going list of failures. She is going to set up a committee. All she has to do is pick up the phone call the company that makes the buses for Seattle have them come look the situation over and give her the answer. They are professionals with many years of experience. Just one phone call away.

She will probably have some clown such as Jutuporn heat this inept committee.

I'm just trying to be fair and unbiased. I certainly don't support her, her brother or their government but I don't see the point of criticising her for a failure that hasn't happened yet.

There's already plenty of other things to complain about that have happened and are happening now. I'm sure if we wait this statement will join the rest of the failures but at least let's give her the benefit of the doubt......for now.

[planetdweller]

Nice legs but don't cover them up with a gray skirt , raise the hem a bit , Yingluck.

[moradave]

I thought the Skywalk would be wheelchair friendly. Nice and smooth with few vendor stalls and easy to roll across busy surface streets. But no. Numerous steps with no wheelchair ramps. Can't something be done very quickly and cheaply to remedy this?

I know it's not much, but it's a start.

Edited September 28, 2013 by moradave

[jpduggan]

She should start with wheelchair sidewalks!

[outsider]

Can we please have 'friendly public buses' for a start? Learn how to walk before you learn how to fly.