Street resistance: Bangkok vendors say new sidewalk rules hurt business

[John_Betong]

How about allowing pavement vendors to trade on even days only on one side of the street and the other side for odd days?

[joshstiles]

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I see what your saying,but soon Thailand won't be Thailand any more.

Yes....then the illusion that thailand is really a boring place will become true!!!!!????!!!!????

[Queenslander]

In the old, old days the stalls were only on one side of the footpath making travel relatively easy. One could stop and browse without inconveniencing other pedestrians. Unfortunately greed took over and now they are an obstruction rather than a shopping experience. If there is to be a compromise, revert back to the use of only one side of the pavement…

[lust]

make them pay a fee for the upkeep of the footpath. I find the idiots who just randomly stop to buy food more annoying than the vendors.

do you think before you post?..

[Kalebiran]

Weak enforcement. thai's are good at easy prey such as falang throwing a cig butt in the sidewalk.but removing vendors from blocking the walkway, weak as water! And to think Bangkok wants to compete with Singapore and other developed cities.. Hahah in their dreams.Bangkok the most unpedestrian friendly city in SE Asia

Edited August 23, 2014 by Kalebiran

[Strangebrew]

I feel the stalls add charm to Thailand but I also feel Suknspit should be stall free it impedes the flow of pedestrians, Hate dodging the local mudhuts with there ample hinies blocking the way. made on side sois would be the better option for them that way if you want to visit them you can or if you want to walk without some knucklehead shoving a porno flick in your face saying buy. But if moved to side sois on one side of the street only. and not block business on the sois.

[Strangebrew]

Oh yes and General if your reading this site Get rid of the cab drivers who park on sukumvit trying to sell drugs to tourists.

[kartman]

How about allowing pavement vendors to trade on even days only on one side of the street and the other side for odd days?

How will that work on a calculator

[xenophon]

This move is enough to make me a committed supporter of military dictatorships.

I had forgotten how pleasant it was to come home from work, go shopping and be able to walk without having to fight your way through shoppers of varying nationalities and manners.

Being a pedestrian is no longer a contact sport. Fantastic!!!

My gratitude to the junta!

[WitawatWatawit]

To the selfish, immoral street vendors.

1. You are business entrepreneurs. You pay your money, you take your chances.

2. You have been offered a compromise to keep your businesses running. But you want more. You are greedy and irresponsible. You no longer deserve special treatment.

3. I pay taxes, you don't. I tell you what to do, not the other way round.

4. I pay taxes so my kids can walk safely on the footpath. The moment one child has to step into the street to avoid your illegal structure is the moment you get kicked out. That moment has passed squillions of times and so you no longer matter.

5. Cities are for everyone, not just tourists and panderers like yourselves. You play fair or f'off. No sympathy for you.

6. All the while you are crying for fair treatment, you are trampling over other people's rights with zero regard, and you contribute to an unhealthy social environment in the form of utter disregard for civic laws, corruption, moral turpitude (pornography etc), poor judgment.

Play the game for everyone's sake. You are not critical to the functioning of society. Yes, you create an ambience for certain people, and that is fine - but you toe the line or suffer the consequences.

[moe666]

It isn't the vendors who block the sidewalk but the idiots who stop to look at that crap and sometimes buy it

[harrycallahan]

"side-walk", now I get it - you have to turn to your side to walk down it.

[gyrosman]

I'm all for people hustling for a living but not at the expense of others needs. Safety, why should I have to walk in the street with cars and motorbikes and risk injury. The trash they leave behind, the chance of fire from the electrical connections, could emergency services get there on time? In Patong where I lived for a year is the same problem, nice sidewalks but after 10am until late evening you have to walk in the streets with all the drunks.

Yes, they need to move to a open space with some parking for bikes and cars. Life changes and ASEAN is coming and people from those countries don't want to see or walk through that mess. Has anyone been to Singapore? I lived there two years and they have areas for markets not on sidewalks like beggars. Bangkok is considered to be an International city, start acting like one.

[martin carter]

I'd like to be able to walk down Silom and Sukhumvit free of crappy stalls and naive tourists who seem intent looking for a non existent bargain

[laobali]

I see what your saying,but soon Thailand won't be Thailand any more.

Is that such a bad thing?

[scorecard]

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cup-O-coffee, on 23 Aug 2014 - 04:43, said:

How about just scrapping the ones on the footpath, and then the whiners can simply walk on by? At least these people are gainfully employed. If I am not there, then it does not bother me. If I am there and want to walk on by, then this should be made possible. If I want to browse and enter into the chaos, then I should also have that choice. There is no middle way here. The poor have no other means to eek out a living. Scrapping the whole lot of these stalls and turning the people aweay will only add to the compounding problems. It's like sucking on a bottle to get the air out. The better way is to pour water into the bottle and save your lips. Provide an alternative for these people, or prepare for the long term backlash on society.

Only a very few have no other options, most of these vendors do have options. In reality a good % of these vendors make a lot of money, but have no concern for a balanced view - respecting the right of the citizens and visitors to walk safely on a footpath, which is the reason why the footpath is there in the first place.

They set up a stall (capitalism at work) and they therefore take the risk of making some money or business failure. Nobody forced them to set up their stalls.

They know they are breaking the law but greed / capitalism takes over, they want freedom to do whatever whilst deliberately ignoring laws and deliberately ignoring the rights of others.

If the BMA or whoever got it's act together they could find many places where markets could be set up which don't infringe on other peoples rights.

Footpaths belong to pedestrians so that they can walk safely.

Edited August 23, 2014 by scorecard

[lvr181]

Personally I don't have a big problem with them, they are a part of Thai life and the stalls give an income to many people.

BUT, I do think that the amount of footpath space used is too much in that it is cutting down on the area where people can walk safely. So, only allow them a set amount of space (proportionate to the footpath they are working on) by regulation thus allowing safe walking for pedestrians. And above all else be prepared to "police" it (without corruption).

[sae57]

simple, pull them down and cart them all off. They dont own the sidewalks but expect everyone to dodge all their sh*t, time for the police/govt to get tough and enforce the rules for once. This is why nothing ever gets done here, everyone knows no one will enforce the rules, as soon as they do people will realize they cannot simply do as they please. Send in the troops/police and just start removing them, any that refuse, lock them up or issue big fines.

As much as I like the markets, the fact that they roof them so low you have to walk through them bent over or you keep hitting your head or you simply have to walk down the road and dodge cars/bikes to avoid the crush is simply bullsh*t, of a night it is fine but during the day they are just too much.

It's not really so simple. First, custom always trumps law--laws that go contrary to general custom will not be obeyed (c.f. gambling) and are uninforceable except by extreme force which will not be recognized as legitimate--i.e. the rules & enforcement will be seen as unjust. It has become (or always has been) customary for people to set up shops along the side of the foot paths and on the beaches, perhaps paying a fee to local authorities. People make investments, commitments based on what is ordinarily done and never even ask about the legalities. Second, the Thai legislature makes laws that look good in some way and to some audience (e.g. outlawing prostitution, or, say, polygamy because it looks good internationally and pleases the Buddhist moral fundies--yes, there is such a thing. They tend to be wealthy.). It is not contemplated that such laws will be enforced, so there is not much sweat wasted thinking through consequences or consistency with other laws--or seeking public comment. Thai law expresses ideals as much as lays down rules--its more Roman than English.

If they enforced the law, they'd shut down Nana, Cowboy & Pattaya. And arrest the customers.

One of Thaksin's mistakes was to try and enforce the letter of the law, at least in some cases, with some absurd results. E.g. the Adhere Blues Bar in Banglamphu wasn't allowed to have live music, though recorded was okay, because they didn't have the right kind of license--and the beat cop was squeeky clean, no bribes! When they finally got the license, dancing was forbidden because there's a cabare liscense for live music, one for dancing, but not both. Anyway, The big T got deposed, the music & dancing came back and the girls in Nana bared their breasts once more.

[amse]

Yea Yes, the western way of thinking by westerners here, you completely forget this is Thailand, and their way of thinking is more gentle, compared to the militant thinking farangs. This will eventually be resolved ending up with a balance between the street vendors and authorities.

[asdecas]

Seems an awful lot of people on these pages want Thailand to be like the developed world.

One wonders what attractions will remain for them here once their objectives are met.

[Johnniey]

Vendors say new sidewalk rules hurt business

How much tax do they pay? how many actually registered as a business?

You haven't been here long have you.

They pay about 10,000 b a day 'tax'.

[monkey4u]

I wonder if the electricity supply for the lights in that photo is legally provided.

If you believe in Santa Clause you will believe they pay for electricty

[Keesters]

They should send the sidewalk vendors away to make more room for motorcycle parking

Edited August 23, 2014 by Keesters

[jpeg]

These people need to make a living but they need to find another place to do it and only sell legal goods. Blocking sidewalks and selling illegal and copied goods are the main problems that we see but add to that supporting corruption and it is something that has to be stopped. Many of the actions taken so far throughout the country revolves around taking the money out of the pockets of corrupt officials. You can rest assured that these street venders are paying someone to stay open and sell these illegal goods.

Shut them down !!!

I see what you're saying but let's substitute your 'vendors' for 'beerbars aka streetside brothels'. It's exactly the same excepting that they don't usually encroach onto the pavements. But let us not kid ourselves that the police don't corruptly make money from them. So enough with the 'illegal' and 'goods'. The only difference is the goods on the pavement are usually tat bought at Pratunam and BoBae, whereas the goods being sold at beerbars are tat being bought from Isaan.

[rondii]

who cares? i mean really. i live on lower sukhumvit and can not think of one instance where i was genuinely delayed or inconvenienced.

Exactly, they are part of what most of us who love living here like about it. Wish the NCPO could find a way to deport all the anti-everything Thai TV posters back to where they came from and everything was perfect, rather than these anti-thais trying to change Thais and Thailand into the USA or UK.

[jayceenik]

Some years back I bought a shorts at what was then Carrefour.

Lasted only a couple months.

Then I bought a shorts at a night street stall at Nana Sukhumvit. About same price.

I cannot wear it down.

[atyclb]

the street vendors also obstruct many non tourist areas. some thai people like to live in Ari because supposedl there are less/no vendors since its close to a military base. the street bars that setup at night also block sidewalks. that is just thai style. many smaller soi's effectively lose any sidewalk as business and houses place their own structures on them. i live in a non tourist area and usable sidewalks are rare. people must walk on the road with traffic. slows down everything. tourist area vendors dont bother me so much but they are everywhere and not just where tourists are.

the military are not just trying to improve they must reform an entire mindset if they are to accomplish their goal. i will believe it when i see it.

[Sydebolle]

What helps is butyric acid on the floor. If I would know where to get it I would have made use of this harmless but extremely foul smelling agent to rid illegal hardliners like karaoke bars blasting until 4 am or under stalls which block the entire passing pedestrian traffic.

I wold not mind a decent evening market with parking and ample space between the stands selling handicrafts, little snacks etc. like Jatujak or Lumpini Night market but Sukhumvit caters to the fakes like watches, bootlegged CDs and certain products not essentially suitable nor beneficial to minors.

[ravip]

Third world, and always will be.

Example of a exemplary First World attitude.

The developed humans are extraordinary, indeed!

Hold your heads up!

[chooka]

Sidewalks/Footpaths, do they have them in Thailand? I don't think I have ever seen one. Why does everyone walk on the road dodging traffic if they have footpaths?