One-way bus system trial for Phuket's death hill

[webfact]

One-way bus system trial for Phuket's death hill
Wiparatana Nathalang


Buses coming from the north of the island into Patong will be barred from the red route and will have to go via the green route.

PHUKET: -- Despite grumbling from some bus owners, a scheme to limit the use of buses on Patong Hill will be introduced soon.

For a trial period of one month, tour buses will be barred from travelling over the Hill from Kathu to Patong. Instead, they will have to travel to Patong via Cherng Talay, Kamala and Kalim.

Buses going from Patong towards Kathu will still be allowed to go over the Hill.

The start date for the experiment has yet to be set. At a meeting this afternoon at Phuket Provincial Land Transportation Office, to which bus owners were invited, Vice-Governor Jamroen Tiphayapongtada said that the precise route would first have to be worked out, bus operators must be notified and signage installed.

The new system is being brought in after the fatal bus crash on December 29, in which two people died and 26 were hurt.

There have been 11 bus crashes on Patong Hill in the past two years, almost all of them happening when buses went out of control on the final part of the Hill leading down into Patong.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/one-way-bus-system-trial-for-phuket%E2%80%99s-death-hill-43935.php


-- Phuket News 2014-01-10

[webfact]

Phuket greenlights trial ban on buses over deadly Patong hill
Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: -- Within two weeks, buses and trucks headed to Patong will be barred from using the Patong Hill road, government officials and bus operators agreed at a meeting yesterday.

The one-month trial ban will force most heavy vehicles to choose alternate roads into Patong, but will permit them to use the hill road when they exit the resort town.

Not all buses will be banned – the airport express bus and local buses may continue to enter Patong via the hill road.

Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada explained the rationale behind the new regulation.

“All the Patong Hill accidents happened when vehicles were going toward Patong,” he said.

“Bus drivers should use the Kamala Hill road instead, it’s much easier to navigate than the Patong Hill road,” he added.

During the three-hour meeting, officials and bus operators considered the safety proposals presented to Governor Maitri Inthusut following the deadly bus crash on the hill on December 29 (story here).

Of the nine recommendations from the PLTO, the group chose the one-way option, said Vice Governor Chamroen.

“We will prepare everything necessary before introducing the ban,” he said. “We’ll make sure signs are posted so buses from other provinces know that they are not allowed to enter Patong via the hill road,” he explained.

Phuket bus operators who attended the meeting agreed to the decision, but thought it should not apply to them.

The accidents, said Nopparut Pittayanitchakun, General Manager of JE Siam Holiday Phuket, are “all about drivers who do not have experience driving over the hills to Patong”.

“The PLTO is very strict on the annual bus checks. We operate more than 20 buses, and some of them have to be checked five times before they pass PLTO standards,” Mr Nopparut said.

“So you can see Phuket buses are in good condition, and drivers who regularly drive over the hills to Patong never have a problem,” he asserted.

The bus operators also noted that the re-routing would cause traffic problems on the alternate routes through Kamala and Karon.

“Traffic at Chalong Circle is already bad, and this will make it a lot worse,” said Mr Nopparut.

Those traffic delays could cause their own safety problems, he added.

“When the buses get stuck in the traffic, the drivers may rush when they get to the hills and cause accidents,” Mr Nopparut warned.

“However, we will co-operate with the Phuket authorities on this,” he concluded.

Officials are aware that the one-way solution may create new problems.

“People complained about the dangers of buses being driven over the Patong hills. They asked us to do something to prevent accidents, and this is what we are starting with,” said V/Gov Chamroen.

“We will try it for one month, then we will see what the next step will be,” he added.

The proposal is not the only one on the table for improving safety on the dangerous hills. The Phuket Highways Office has also secured 10 million baht to widen the road at the bottom of the hill on the Patong side.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2014/Phuket-greenlights-trial-ban-on-buses-over-deadly-Patong-hill-23243.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2014-01-10

[andreandre]

So , is this thread correct or is yesterdays thread correct?;

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/695325-lethal-phuket-tour-bus-crash-prompts-b10mn-budget-to-fix-road/

Or is it to be a combination of the two?

Or as is more common, neither of them...

[KarenBravo]

There is a stretch on the Kalim to Kamala road that is steeper than anything on the Patong hill road.

Oh well, very few houses to crash into on the alternative route.

[Pomthai]

So what about when the Heroines is closed from about 7am to 9am and 5pm to 8pm as is the case on most days? Are we gonna have tons of buses negotiating the u turn near to the Isuzu dealership? That's gonna be lol's for everyone isn't it! Especially when the impatient ones decide that they are above queuing and decide to drive around the person waiting properly completely blocking that person view and delaying everyone else further.

"Magic, forward thinking. There are plenty of steep spots between Surin and Kalim. Using a low gear and popping up a few signs to remind drivers is far to easy, anyway signs are too cheap there is no skimming room.

Lets move the problem somewhere else for a while, whilst we spend millions of baht making Patong hill road wider. Then we can pretend we fixed it."

[steelepulse]

>>We operate more than 20 buses, and some of them have to be checked five times before they pass PLTO standards

Reading between the lines, the first four times the busses were inspected, they weren't safe!

[LivinginKata]

What complete nonsense. No thought to driver education. The real problem here is driver inability to understand the mechanics of gear box use for braking. Really no hope.

[Shot]

Just what we need. More buses racing through Kamala.

[britpop]

I simply can't believe what i'm reading, the hill up out of kamala and down the other side is a waiting death trap to happen, how are they going to get through patong once they hit the temporary roundabout at the beginning of kalim, please tell me i'm dreaming this, someone has spiked my tea and i'm hallucinating this story, mark my words, lets have a sweep stake on the first crash and fatality, if only the innocent tourists knew all of this before they arrived, crazy beyond belief

[bangarang]

I would think it would be safer from the Karon side. Also Heroines monument being closed throughout the day will cause issues. Maybe take that shortcut to the airport from cherng talay? Also, The Kalim/Kamala area is pretty steep. Not as many house to hit if breaks fail but now you can risk flying over the cliff.

These guys really need to rethink everything.

Edited January 10, 2014 by bangarang

[Tboy928]

So what about when the Heroines is closed from about 7am to 9am and 5pm to 8pm as is the case on most days? Are we gonna have tons of buses negotiating the u turn near to the Isuzu dealership? That's gonna be lol's for everyone isn't it! Especially when the impatient ones decide that they are above queuing and decide to drive around the person waiting properly completely blocking that person view and delaying everyone else further.

"Magic, forward thinking. There are plenty of steep spots between Surin and Kalim. Using a low gear and popping up a few signs to remind drivers is far to easy, anyway signs are too cheap there is no skimming room.

Lets move the problem somewhere else for a while, whilst we spend millions of baht making Patong hill road wider. Then we can pretend we fixed it."

Make PATONG hills wider do not stop the problem,, is the steep hill that make problem with buses that should no have passed the control of buses, and a driver in a hurry that not know how to put in right gear down ,and has also probaly no Retarder to help out with breaking

[thhMan]

Cant wait till Tourist Buses are banned from residential streets and high volume streets...

[keestha]

What complete nonsense. No thought to driver education. The real problem here is driver inability to understand the mechanics of gear box use for braking. Really no hope.

Always using the brake when going downhill, the rubber around the brake disks will erode away, and at some point the disks will break. Easy to just use second gear, you go down slowly automatically, but true many Thai people don't know this.

[phuketrichard]

Buses coming from the north of the island into Patong

Phuket town is not north>>

“We will prepare everything necessary before introducing the ban,” he said. “We’ll make sure signs are posted so buses from other provinces know that they are not allowed to enter Patong via the hill road,” he explained.

hahahhahaha start the signs at the Monument and whats to say they will read them?

More than i can count trucks heading from Kamala to Kalim have not had enough power to make it up an have slid backwards,

Kamala has been so peaceful, ( except the min vans in and out of Fantasea),

looks like that will change ;-(

Expect the price of good to go up as well with the additional gas needed for the trip

[Peterphuket]

This is ridiculous, what has been stated above the hills by Kamala what about steepness concerns similar to those at Patong, it is not more than moving the problem or worser. It should be also mentioned that the road is much to narrow there on the spot. Unbelievable, how do they get it up again!

[cuhullan1]

If the air system on the brakes fail a spring engages the brakes as a safety overide.Every time a bus crashes they blame brake failure.Each cause is speeding and too late to stop.What about when buses coming into Rawai flash their lights for people to get out of the way when the bus is coming down the centre reservation.Install humps on all these hills and roads into and out of Phuket towns.Only way to reduce the speed.Every week someone is killed on Viset road because some idiot is coming down on the wrong side at high speed.Or maybe ,here,s an idea,Get the police to have checkpoints monitoring the buses and mini vans!

[kwaussie]

No use applying band aids, bring on the tunnel or alternate route.

[schlog]

Totally insane.

[eezergood]

THAT road is properly lethal anyway! Cant wait to see the morons overtaking each other on this one........

Edited January 10, 2014 by LivinginKata
profanity removed

[Lokie]

Smoke and Mirrors...

Introduce yet more danger to other routes into Patong then it will be safer by Sea....

(now there's an idea, where was that thread on the 'Hydrofoil' that they said wouldn't work? is there share options available yet, by the time they have finished making another crazy traffic arrangement an Hydrofoil will be the quickest and defiantly the safest option)

Unbelieable a bit like all these Taxi driver returns 1000s of Bhat to stupid farang stories (see now started in Pataya also lol)

[brianlg]

A GREAT idea [AND long overdue] ...

Also MANDATORY Drug and Alcohol TESTING [DAILY] as has been introduced in some Bus Companies here in Australia would certainly help.

Positive test FIRST time [not allowed to drive for 24 hours] Positive test second time ... INSTANT DISMISSAL !!!!

AND; of course; regular Driver Training and proper Licensing and heavy vehicle qualifications ...

AND FINALLY ... Going downhill in LOW GEAR [NOT just relying on your BRAKES ie very quickly [repeated braking] = LOW air = NO BRAKES !!!] would prevent many of these on-going regular/repeated disasters AND consequent loss of innocent lives.

I am a bus/coach driver [with an OPEN Bus/Coach HC Licence for both NSW and QLD] here in Australia; with several years experience in MOUNTAIN driving; AND [as a frequent visitor to TH since 2001] have unfortunately witnessed some of these [largely preventable] disasters.

[hansgruber]

Pile up the old mattresses at the base of each hill. Problem solved.

[eezergood]

Pile up the old mattresses at the base of each hill. Problem solved.

SOmeone would have them on bahtsold before the end of the day!

[Tboy928]

What complete nonsense. No thought to driver education. The real problem here is driver inability to understand the mechanics of gear box use for braking. Really no hope.

Always using the brake when going downhill, the rubber around the brake disks will erode away, and at some point the disks will break. Easy to just use second gear, you go down slowly automatically, but true many Thai people don't know this.

they also use old chassi on heaver top frame, and brakes not upgraded, and not used to Hills. Buses with no RETARDER system should not be allowed in Phuket and drive down this hills. drive Kamela on top of the hill there, is a shorter steep downhill than Patong one.. so might work better for the useless drivers..