Skytrain in Chiang Mai

[MESmith]

cm skytrain.jpg

found it

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=2084

Just looking at the routes was wondering if a sky train was put on them how many of the roads have the space to allow them. Would it not make some streets far worse?

I can see no way in he-l that it would imp[rove the traffic at the Super highway where Maya is located. They would need three of them to make a difference.

Bulldoze Maya to make way for a multistorey carpark to serve that end of town, with a/c songteaw to take people further into town....

[iancnx]

cm skytrain.jpg

found it

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=2084

Just looking at the routes was wondering if a sky train was put on them how many of the roads have the space to allow them. Would it not make some streets far worse?

I can see no way in he-l that it would imp[rove the traffic at the Super highway where Maya is located. They would need three of them to make a difference.

The map illustrates a project of epic proportions; a much simplified plan will be necessary. For the posters against. Like it or not, CM is the country's second city, and it will grow accordingly. Romantic ideals are great for days gone by, but unfortunately we are in the 21st century. I believe much of the inner city should be traffic free pedestrian walk ways, then there will be room for new transport infrastructure. The amount of traffic cannot be allowed to physically grow much more. A new plan is needed.

[cardinalblue]

You seem to be thinking like a westerner...

CB

[iancnx]

You seem to be thinking like a westerner...

CB

Possibly, but my last post could equally have come from city planners and civil engineers from Singapore, S Korea, Japan, and I am sure many other non western countries.

[Maejo Man]

You seem to be thinking like a westerner...

CB

Possibly, but my last post could equally have come from city planners and civil engineers from Singapore, S Korea, Japan, and I am sure many other non western countries.

Yes, and look how sterile and uninteresting Singapore has become! A poor analogy I'm afraid.

[DaamNaam]

You seem to be thinking like a westerner...

CB

Possibly, but my last post could equally have come from city planners and civil engineers from Singapore, S Korea, Japan, and I am sure many other non western countries.

Yes, and look how sterile and uninteresting Singapore has become! A poor analogy I'm afraid.

It's clean and safe, easy to maintain, has rubbish bins every 15 metres, has full wheel chair access for the disabled, cheap well maintained taxis. Yes at a price of course, but at least the tax payers money isn't being pilfered so much there.

Anyway, Thailand will never be a Singapore, they don't have the discipline nor the drive for it. Hammock under a coconut tree is as far as they want to go...But with 3/4G and iPhones..

[MESmith]

They could build a tram system like Sheffield, UK

They run on city roads & there are also dedicated tracks.

CM traffic would have to be more disciplined & motorbikes might slip on wet rails, but hopefully people would use the comfortable aircon trams rather than scooters.

[DaamNaam]

They could build a tram system like Sheffield, UK

supertram.jpgtram.jpg

They run on city roads & there are also dedicated tracks.

CM traffic would have to be more disciplined & motorbikes might slip on wet rails, but hopefully people would use the comfortable aircon trams rather than scooters.

The chaos this would cause would be mind dumbing.

You would have to completely ban motorised transport anywhere near these trams.

Melbourne and San Francisco yes, Chiang Mai, not in a million years.

[northernjohn]

cm skytrain.jpg

found it

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=2084

Just looking at the routes was wondering if a sky train was put on them how many of the roads have the space to allow them. Would it not make some streets far worse?

I can see no way in he-l that it would imp[rove the traffic at the Super highway where Maya is located. They would need three of them to make a difference.

Bulldoze Maya to make way for a multistorey carpark to serve that end of town, with a/c songteaw to take people further into town....

To the Promenada.

[trainman34014]

There are two kinds of people on the Planet Thailand....the Dreamer's and the Doer's. Sadly the 'Planners' in this country come mostly from the first group who can see it all in their minds eyes and love to create drawings, maps and video images of how things are going to be. Meanwhile the Doer's are busy stealing huge amounts of dosh and have no time for the Dreamer's ambitions, especially if none of the dreams are centered on Bangkok, the center of the Universe, and will provide ample top ups to life at the trough.

In ten years time come back and ask where the High Speed Train Station is, the Skytrain Terminal is and the Cable Car to Pai Station is. You will get the same response you will get today.....people laughing at you !

[northernjohn]

Possibly, but my last post could equally have come from city planners and civil engineers from Singapore, S Korea, Japan, and I am sure many other non western countries.

Yes, and look how sterile and uninteresting Singapore has become! A poor analogy I'm afraid.

It's clean and safe, easy to maintain, has rubbish bins every 15 metres, has full wheel chair access for the disabled, cheap well maintained taxis. Yes at a price of course, but at least the tax payers money isn't being pilfered so much there.

Anyway, Thailand will never be a Singapore, they don't have the discipline nor the drive for it. Hammock under a coconut tree is as far as they want to go...But with 3/4G and iPhones..

am I missing some thing here?

cheap well maintained taxis. Yes at a price of course,

[northernjohn]

There are two kinds of people on the Planet Thailand....the Dreamer's and the Doer's. Sadly the 'Planners' in this country come mostly from the first group who can see it all in their minds eyes and love to create drawings, maps and video images of how things are going to be. Meanwhile the Doer's are busy stealing huge amounts of dosh and have no time for the Dreamer's ambitions, especially if none of the dreams are centered on Bangkok, the center of the Universe, and will provide ample top ups to life at the trough.

In ten years time come back and ask where the High Speed Train Station is, the Skytrain Terminal is and the Cable Car to Pai Station is. You will get the same response you will get today.....people laughing at you !

Let's face it a decent traffic system no matter what one would come up with would involve the destruction of many buildings. I think I am understating the many. It would require room and lots of it.

[cardinalblue]

In my definition of westerner I include industrial counties of the world and thus the five tigers of Asia...it's a way of thinking not geography...

Urban planning is non-existent here as in other third world countries so westerners who move here that is not a priority or high value to them..

Will CM look like Bkk down the road? Probably

not but the same mindset exists in both places so one will continue to see development unabated..

One can debate the pros and cons of unregulated or poorly regulated environments it this is not the

platform to delve into this important subject...

As to Singapore it is an aberration as a country..it gets high marks in sustainable dev practices but should only be compared to like environments i.e. Dubai Las Vegas etc....

CB

[OneZero]

CM city planners / authorities should be embarrassed. The Rin Kham (Maya) intersection is a nightmare. They are probably being quiet, but Is anybody aware of any logical explanation the city gives for not demanding left turn lanes be constructed on all 4 corners of the Rim Kham (Maya) intersection (only one corner already has it)?

[femi fan]

I was in ChiangMai in 2008 and traffic was bad then.I can only imagine how it is now.They need to do something.

I was in bangkok in 1991 and the traffic was appalling then. It's still appalling now despite all those skytrains and railways and expressways and all manner of overhead transport ways that have since been built. Bangkok is now a two storey city.

The point is that a city grows according to its infrastructure, or the infrastructure fastforwards a city's growth, depends on the state and development of the infrastructure. Build a skytrain in chiang mai and then what next? You open the pandora's box. If people don't like the traffic go to a quieter town. But buidling new roads and so on does not alleviate traffic, it just creates room for more, like in the Bangkok example.

Do we want a northern Bangkok, or do we want to try and keep Chiang Mai recognisable from its past? The clever way forward is to limit growth while making what growth does occur intelligent growth. Skytrains from the airport to the convention centre would only be for short-term visitors, and not for the benefit of the locals. The locals though would be inconvenienced for years during the building of a skytrain. Bloody madness. I hope for CM's sake it never gets off the ground.

[femi fan]

cm skytrain.jpg

found it

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=2084

Just looking at the routes was wondering if a sky train was put on them how many of the roads have the space to allow them. Would it not make some streets far worse?

I can see no way in he-l that it would imp[rove the traffic at the Super highway where Maya is located. They would need three of them to make a difference.

The map illustrates a project of epic proportions; a much simplified plan will be necessary. For the posters against. Like it or not, CM is the country's second city, and it will grow accordingly. Romantic ideals are great for days gone by, but unfortunately we are in the 21st century. I believe much of the inner city should be traffic free pedestrian walk ways, then there will be room for new transport infrastructure. The amount of traffic cannot be allowed to physically grow much more. A new plan is needed.

Yes it can be allowed to grow more. At whatever point locals and others who live here find the traffic too much, they will migrate to other places to live. Many will do that if CM gets developed with skytrains and so on. But who wants another two storey city like Bangkok?

And that old chestnut, 'it's the 21st century' can be seen from two viewpoints. My viewpoint suggests that yes, we're no longer in the madcap develop the infrastructure and see-what-happens 20th century, we're now in the 21st so lets be intelligent about growth and how it should proceed. 21st century does not have to mean western style mega-malls all over the place (which of course creates huge traffic jams) with poisonous western fast food joints and running up mega western household debts.

Proper city plannning will in the 21st century will focus on things other than shopping and traffic congestion. The people want healthy things to do in their free time, they want sports and dance and music and arts and all those other things. Mega concrete jungles do not effect positive feelings in the heart and soul, all they do is create consumer monsters.

It's not romance, it's just intelligent debate about the way forward, rather than just leaving it to city planners who will make a personal fortune for building concrete jungles, and bequeath the rest of us an ugliness that is very much not the 21st century way. It's the past, not the future. Let's have a beautiful future, not more of the 20th century madness.

Edited August 21, 2014 by femi fan

[Tham1]

Cable cars are the way forward - small footprint and cheap to run, also transporters as used in Star Trek - they can be also used to transport songteaw drivers to another planet where they can get on someone else's tits

[PJcm]

I have lived here in Chiang Mai for 37 years, and for most of that the city has been talking about some Mass transit scheme, so I know give my suggestion, within the old city and out to the airport and the zoo they should have a trolley system, the cables are under the ground and run constantly and the trolley has a grabber to hook on to the cable that travels at about 30KM an hour, you only need brakes as when the are engaged you are unhooked from the below ground cable. The would at least leave the inner city with a little charm as it has lost most of that over the last 20 years. Should have been done 20 years ago but that's how it is here, sadly we won't get any public transportation until traffic is so bad it will take an hour to get from the airport to Kad suan Kaew

[Beetlejuice]

What would be the point of installing a sky train system or any other new forms of major public transport systems in Chiang Mai? Who would actually use it?

At present and what has sufficed for many years, the Songthaews, tuk tuks, bus transports and the more recent additions of meter taxis have been more than adequate and consider that any additional means of public transport for Chiang Mai would not only be a total waste of time but could never be cost affective, it would not pay for itself, especially in the outer provinces of Chiang Mai.

[scottishjohn]

Cable cars are the way forward - small footprint and cheap to run, also transporters as used in Star Trek - they can be also used to transport songteaw drivers to another planet where they can get on someone else's tits

I thought songteaw drivers (and tuk tuk drivers) were on another planet. They certainly don't drive on planet earth!

[CMNightRider]

CM city planners / authorities should be embarrassed. The Rin Kham (Maya) intersection is a nightmare. They are probably being quiet, but Is anybody aware of any logical explanation the city gives for not demanding left turn lanes be constructed on all 4 corners of the Rim Kham (Maya) intersection (only one corner already has it)?

What makes the Rin Kham (Maya) intersection even worst, is the intersection was never designed for pedestrians. I see tourists trying to figure out how to cross this intersection without getting run over all the time. I have lived here for over six years, and have had couple of close calls at this intersection myself. Sometimes, I feel like the Thai drivers are trying to run me over, lol.

If the CM city planners were ever hung for being city planners, they would die innocent people. OMG!!

[masuk]

You seem to be thinking like a westerner...

CB

Possibly, but my last post could equally have come from city planners and civil engineers from Singapore, S Korea, Japan, and I am sure many other non western countries.

Yes, and look how sterile and uninteresting Singapore has become! A poor analogy I'm afraid.

So you'd rather have our footpaths here bunged up with motor bikes, no public bus system, traffic snarled up as song teows stop anywhere, no bus stops. Fares go up 300% depending on the colour of your skin.

As one reader states, we are the second biggest city in the country; vehicles get bigger and more numerous, and the main highway from the North dead-ends at Huay Keow Rd.

The city needs professional town-planning, and a decision has to be made if it's a city for vehicles, free for all parking of motor bikes and smoking song teows, or for people.

Large parking complexes needs to built on the outskirts of the city, and an efficient rail system taking people to their work or shops around the city.

[evenstevens]

The city needs professional town-planning, and a decision has to be made if it's a city for vehicles, free for all parking of motor bikes and smoking song teows, or for people.

Large parking complexes needs to built on the outskirts of the city, and an efficient rail system taking people to their work or shops around the city.

gosh..another pig has just flown past my window

[masuk]

The city needs professional town-planning, and a decision has to be made if it's a city for vehicles, free for all parking of motor bikes and smoking song teows, or for people.

Large parking complexes needs to built on the outskirts of the city, and an efficient rail system taking people to their work or shops around the city.

gosh..another pig has just flown past my window

The sky is full of 'em just now! oink!

[Nolster]

cm skytrain.jpg

found it

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=2084

I have a map of Solomons temple too, doesn't mean it's going to be rebuilt anytime soon.

I saw the map and read the article. First, they are talking about street running mass transit therefore it cannot be called 'Monorail' as Monorail entails having the transit vehicle straddling a single guideway beam-well above the street- Disney Monorail is the first and best example of a Monorail.

Street running transit could be either a rapid bus system with its own right-of-way or a Light Rail System running in either mixed traffic or exclusive right-of-way. Running speeds could be improved by giving signal priority to the buses or Light Rail trains. This usually requires a central traffic command to control the traffic lights.

In terms of cost, street running or 'at grade' can be cheapest, with the elevated trains running above costs in the middle and the underground or subway option being the costliest; however in many developed urban areas going underground might be the only option available. While metropolitan areas urbanize and grow outward, ensuring the space or the right-of-way for public transportation makes it easier and cheaper to comeback and build a transit system at a later date; this requires planning and forethought from the public/government authorities, which a majority of them fail to do. Almost of a third of the cost of building a transit system is in relocating underground utilities, hence preserving a 'clean' right-of-way clear of utilities is the best way to build a future transit system. Even street running Light Rail Systems have the problem of stray currents corroding utilities nearby.

I would add two street running 'historic trolley' type loops crossing each other in the Old City though; these could be one-way loops. Doing this would make the master plan 'whole' as this will allow people to access the regional system encircling the moat. There are newer technologies allowing 'induction' type vehicles that draw power from the street under the vehicle, they are safe for pedestrians to cross; this way the 'historic trolleys' would not require unsightly overhead wires to power the trolleys.

Of course, the obvious questions would be what about the Tuk Tuk and Songthaew drivers? My thought is that they could act as feeders to the transit system as well as undertake trips that are not convenient to take on the transit network. I also think that the new transit system will generate many new jobs. Generally different transportation modes rearrange themselves after a major transit project is implemented. The alternative to not doing anything is to endure inevitable traffic congestion and delays as well as worsening urban environment as well as quality of life.

Another thing to keep in mind are the rapid technological advances made in the world today, surely they will bring totally new ways of getting people from one place to another, but retrofitting such new technologies in older cities will present a whole new set of problems; in the meanwhile working with older proven technologies might be a prudent way to plan and hope that better solutions will emerge in the process. Let’s keep the discussion going and hope that someday we can hop on board the Chiang Mai Skytrain!

[BillyBobThai]

A San Fransisco style cable car to the top of Doi Suthep would be nice.

[CMNightRider]

It appears the Chiang Mai, city planners, are continuing to sit on their hands, and are doing nothing to implement some type of mass transportation system in CM. I think a subway system should be considered. It would have minimal impact on the current roads and streets. During my last visit to Tokyo, I saw less traffic in that city than they have in CM. The Japanese have an incredible subway, train, and buss, transportation system. Just a thought :-)

[Nolster]

A San Fransisco style cable car to the top of Doi Suthep would be nice.

Would be nice to have them in the Old City too!

[Tokay]

I would love to have such a thing here and would use it daily until around 7pm or so. The traffic around the inner city in the day time is ridiculous.

[bristolgeoff]

the skytrain is Honda 125 scooter round chiang mai until further notice I think.unless you know better