Silom vendors calls on BMA to relax street vending regulations

BANGKOK, 29 October 2014 (NNT) – Around 60 Silom vendors have gathered at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in a bid to ease the ban on street vending during daytime on the busy downtown area.

The BMA earlier announced the policy to reorganize the pedestrian walkway along Silom Road starting on November 1st. Street vendors will be banned from setting up their stalls from 5AM to 7PM in order to regulate foot-traffic. However, they will be permitted to sell at night from 7PM to 2AM.

According to the group of Silom vendors who came to protest, the new policy has affected up to 200 vendors in the area, as nighttime vendors have already occupied the area after 7PM. The group also said that they primarily operate their businesses during daytime selling food items.

The group commented on the BMA’s assistive measures as well, saying that the lease rate for the new area is around 5,000 to 10,000 baht per month, which is much higher than their current rate.

The BMA has so far told the group that the City Hall will not adjust the terms of the new policy, as pedestrians have consistently been forced to walk on the streets due to overcrowding on the footpath, prompting safety concerns. The BMA also noted that the new lease rate at the area designated for these vendors is not as high as they claimed.


-- NNT 2014-10-29

welcome to the new deal like it or be treated the same as you have treated pedestrians up until now lump it

If the BMA back down now they will be more of a laughing stock than one could ever imagine, " Say what you will do" and "Do what you say".I know it's not very Thai to do so, but can make a start. never too late.

Thank god! I hope the BMA pullS it off. Bangkok will be a dreadful place without s street vendors, but Silom Road around the Sala Daeng area has become impossible to navigate on foot. From MRT Silom to my place of work next to Saladaeng I have to either take the skywalk our walk in the road. I've already been bumped by a motorbike going the wrong way. The vendors will take every inch of the pavement if you let them. And then the uneven paving! I'd rather gave death on the road than a heart attack on the pavement.

Street stalls are part of the charm of Bangkok ,Thailand, but people must be able to walk in safety .