The last time that I was in ChiangMai there were still A few Samlors.I imagine there all gone now.

The last time that I was in ChiangMai there were still A few Samlors.I imagine there all gone now.

There are still quite a few of them clogging up the roads these days. Usually filled with older Thai ladies coming back from the market.

Ban all vehicles in downtown city. Only bicycles and trishaws allowed.

I miss the old yellow buses. They were not air con, but very cheap and very useful routes that they stuck to. They were great for going long distances.

There were some aircon ones too. Specifically on the #3 line.

If they had a loop around the moat and a shuttle to nimmenheimen. Get on get off with a day ticket for 60 baht all day pass or a single 20 baht ride. Everything would be a short walk in town. They have a shuttle to promenada now and it is free I believe. Another one from ksk to airport plaza. But the people that make a living from these vehicles hold sway.

Happy, joyous and free

We must look at the macro picture. Simply too many humans on Earth. There are many solutions. Charge 1 million per flight, that gets rid of many tourists. Charge 1 million for license plate for use in CM. Make it so you must have gold passport to get into old city. Tell everyone the city is radioactive, and must stay 1,000 miles away. Then create commune for only X amount of people. Then elect me King!!!! haha

today i will walk everywhere. i will destroy demand.....do not fear my fellow TV posters.

I miss the old yellow buses. They were not air con, but very cheap and very useful routes that they stuck to. They were great for going long distances.

There were some aircon ones too. Specifically on the #3 line.

Old article saying that 26 modern air condition buses plying fixed routes. That was in February 2006. http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/bus-service_going-for-a-ride.html

I remember in the early 90's a reasonable bus service and bus stops, including covered ones, around the city.

I already see the new Tuk-Tuk, maybe useful for tourist, but not for resolve the problem of the traffic in Chiangmai. Chiangmai is growing quite fast and became a "city", this mean, need to improve the public transport service as other city around the world, with real public bus, real taxi meter, light skytrain and more.

Quitting drinking alcohol; quitting smoking cigarettes; quitting eating foods that make you fat and eating too often.... quitting almost anything.... until you decide you really want to quit (or solve a problem) the odds of being successful are not very good.

I miss the old yellow buses. They were not air con, but very cheap and very useful routes that they stuck to. They were great for going long distances.

There were some aircon ones too. Specifically on the #3 line.

Old article saying that 26 modern air condition buses plying fixed routes. That was in February 2006. http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/bus-service_going-for-a-ride.html

I remember in the early 90's a reasonable bus service and bus stops, including covered ones, around the city.

I'm guessing that those are the same buses running today and that Winnie is talking about the ones in the 90s. I think that he is right about the air-con buses back then, but I always avoided them because they were more expensive and - IMO - not really needed in Chiang Mai back then. There were almost no traffic jams and open windows with fans were good enough for the relatively short trips in CM, compared to Bangkok.

Seems to me that there is a lot of tuck tuck's running around town empty now. So in effect they are adding 50 more to the streets.

Is this their final answer to rapid transit?

I see a simple solution to mass transit in CM that would make all happy using the songthews and tuk tuks already on the roads.

First, make a cross inside the inner moat and have the tuktuks running it north to south and east to west. they would have a fixed price within the moat and mostly cruise that area unless passenger wants to go further, then they could charge more, but don't let the bast#%ds out of the moat empty!!

Then, some songthews would cruise around the moat in both directions and not vary from that route and the remaining songthews would have their routes radiate out from the moat and stick to their route. There would be the remaining songthews running the ring roads in both directions and there would be proper shaded stops at every location where the routes cross............

good simple solution?

Easy for tourist to get around and I think that commuters would take advantage of the songthews to town if they went in a straight line.

I see a simple solution to mass transit in CM that would make all happy using the songthews and tuk tuks already on the roads.

First, make a cross inside the inner moat and have the tuktuks running it north to south and east to west. they would have a fixed price within the moat and mostly cruise that area unless passenger wants to go further, then they could charge more, but don't let the bast#%ds out of the moat empty!!

Then, some songthews would cruise around the moat in both directions and not vary from that route and the remaining songthews would have their routes radiate out from the moat and stick to their route. There would be the remaining songthews running the ring roads in both directions and there would be proper shaded stops at every location where the routes cross............

good simple solution?

Easy for tourist to get around and I think that commuters would take advantage of the songthews to town if they went in a straight line.

I highly doubt the residents would learn the routes much less a tourist just in town for a week. Besides it would leave just as many vehicles on the road.

Just in town visiting friends for a couple of days.

I had always thought that Thai tuk tuks were badly designed, uncomfortable, diffult to access/exit if you are over a certain size/age and you can't bl00dy well see out - not mu h use for sightseeing around CM.

I had always found Cambodian tuk tuks to be far superior - until last night! I took one of the new tuk tuks from Central Festival back to town. 150 Baht fare agreed. They are the dog's <deleted> and a pleasure to ride in Sound system was good as well - people in 2km radius must have heard it. It just needed Born to be Wild on the playlist and I swear we would have topped 120 kph!

The boy said the tuk tuk cost 400,000 Baht.

Saw this elevated light rail under construction last month linking Oakland International Airport with

the BART system. Perhaps the time for CM to consider similar has come.

No doubt a muti-faceted approach is necessary. Park and ride stations with more mass transit. Perhaps fewer songthaew and

introduce proper buses. Private vehicles in the center at peak times can be reduced by tariff or number plate restrictions.

When traffic lanes are reduced and bike lanes increased traffic improves wherever implemented.

It's civil engineering not rocket science.