First-day of passenger van service reorganisation at Victory Monument successful



BANGKOK: -- The first day of the reorganisation of passenger van service at the Victory Monument has proved to ease traffic congestion at the area by 70% as van operators gave good cooperation.

Traffic flowed smoothly even it was the morning rush hours when at normal day traffic would be terrible.

The reorganisation of van service was supervised by metropolitan police, soldiers, and city police under order of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to clamp down on mafias and influential people demanding and extorting money from van operators for rights to park their vehicles around the monument, waiting to pick up passengers.

Illegal parking of hundreds of passenger vans caused daily traffic jams at the monument.

But in today’s operation, traffic jam was alleviated when all van operators parked their vehicles at the Makkasan airport rail link station and at an area under expressway system near the Asoke toll gate and will drive out to pick passengers in sequence when enough tickets have sold for their route.

Metropolitan deputy police commissioner Pol Maj Gen Nipon Charoenpol, and the Saraburi-based Army Cavalry Centre’s calvary school commander Col Sombat Thanyawan, were at the Victory Monument Tuesday morning to monitor the reorganisation.

Pol Maj Gen Nipon said passenger van services were operating in a more orderly manner and, overall, traffic was flowing about 70% smoother than before.

A meeting would be held late today to asses the progress and would inspect the traffic around the monument again after office hours at 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, deputy commander of the Second Calvary Division of the Royal Guards Col Chalermpol Srisawat said after the reorganisation of van service at the monument, all van operators are required to register their vehicles with authorities from July 18-21 and will operate legally from July 22.

All vehicles must pass the required safety standard and condition test before they could be allowed to register for passenger services, he said.

He said the registration of passengers is to ensure safety for passengers and fairer fees as they no longer have to pay kickbacks to officials and mafia gangs demanding protection fees.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/first-day-passenger-van-service-reorganisation-victory-monument-successful/


-- Thai PBS 2014-07-01

Good, really good, Great, especially the mafia & bribes.

Certainly some organisation in the camp.

Just a wild hair suggestion:

When the driver pulls in to the queue to wait for his turn pick up his passengers, have (let's say) 1:1 of them blow into a breathalyzer, and maybe 1:5 of them pee in a cup.

I'm referring to: all van operators parked their vehicles at the Makkasan airport rail link station and at an area under expressway system near the Asoke toll gate and will drive out to pick passengers in sequence when enough tickets have sold for their route.

In any case, kudos for making progress.

Going to BTS Victory Monument a bit past 9AM today I could only progress (barely) because on motorcy we could zigzag with difficulty along Ratchawithi, RamaVI and soi Yohti. Packed even worse than on a Monday.

Mind you, must have been the fact that the road surface has been scraped off to be renewed soon

So does that mean it's only 50 Baht to travel from Anu Sawaree to Narvarnakorn, and not the 100 Baht to get onto a van going all the way to Saraburi or Lopburi? Not that I use such a service now, but I am aware of the previous costs,

Every thing is wonderful!!! never speak of this again!!

Have to ask of course, how was the traffic around Makkasan. One of my usual routes but I'm out of town. Anyone?

Otherwise it sounds like more progress.

All fine and dandy.....now sort our proper testing and licencing for mini-bus drivers, roadworthiness testing for vehicles and fit tachographs.....might be getting somewhere then instead of playing musical chairs with the parking.

Since the coup so many wrong things have gotten right.....this is the way the new government should run this country. Police is doing their jobs and order is restored. Cheers to you general.

I would ask why isn't this the responsibility of the Bangkok Metro Government as opposed to the National Government

all van operators parked their vehicles at the Makkasan airport rail link station and at an area under expressway system near the Asoke toll gate and will drive out to pick passengers in sequence when enough tickets have sold for their route.

If the coup did nothing else, it is at least forcing a little logic on some people.

it seems to be working, great.... got a mini-van easily with no fuss or squabbling back to Ban-Phe..

i was impressed, see how long it lasts when the police / military have departed..

I admire the efforts of the NCPO. It shows that the politicians had no interest in such a reorganization as they were only concerned with raking in mafia fees. I dread the return of the politicians next year.

Subjective trolls about the efficacy of various government bodies/ police/ military/ whatever aside...

With this new system, can we still buy minibus tickets at the garage new VM BTS? And then wait for the bus to come from Makkasan for pick-up? Someone who doesn't know any better told me that the VM garage/ ticket office is closed now and that passengers have to go to Makkasan.

Well done, keep up the great work.

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All fine and dandy.....now sort our proper testing and licencing for mini-bus drivers, roadworthiness testing for vehicles and fit tachographs.....might be getting somewhere then instead of playing musical chairs with the parking.

Agreed, I hope they will get to some of the more nationwide driving issues too, as opposed to trying to improve traffic in BKK, although it's very early days yet. Given how long they have been in power I am impressed with what they have achieved. It's now a question of keeping these changes, I just can't help thinking the mafia boys will just change tactics and or everything will return to normal once the military are not watching. Only time will tell but at least they are doing something sensible to reduce traffic problems.

Just a wild hair suggestion:

When the driver pulls in to the queue to wait for his turn pick up his passengers, have (let's say) 1:1 of them blow into a breathalyzer, and maybe 1:5 of them pee in a cup.

I'm referring to: all van operators parked their vehicles at the Makkasan airport rail link station and at an area under expressway system near the Asoke toll gate and will drive out to pick passengers in sequence when enough tickets have sold for their route.

In any case, kudos for making progress.

Excellent suggestion, that alone would save a lot of lives each year.

Now we need the vans to get their own stops at least 30 feet away from bus stops so they stop taking up 2 lanes in the way of the bus stops and forcing people into the middle of the road to signal the bus to stop from a position where they can be seen then having to walk 30 feet around the vans to get to the bus. The stupidity of the van drivers ( generally but not all ) knows no bounds ! Make the stops close enough so people can go from one to the other easily but far enough that they have clearly demarcated areas. Should ease traffic flow a lot I would think...Also make a rule that the vans can wait at the stop for a maximum of 1 minute. I try to avoid vans at all costs since aside from the crappy driving, I hate sitting at each stop for 5 minutes waiting for people to get in the van. It's detestable.

so i still go from VM to Hua Hin? just have to wait for bus to arrive?