Chula Engineering Faculty tackles traffic congestion in Bangkok

[webfact]

Chula Engineering Faculty tackles traffic congestion in Sathorn
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Engineering has developed an initiative, Sathorn Model, to tackle Bangkok's traffic nightmare.

Sathorn here refers to Sathorn Road and nearby Silom Road, which rank among the capital's most congested areas.

According to World Business Council for Sustainable Development, more than 150,000 vehicles jam Sathorn Road every day.

"Lecturers of the faculty have applied traffic management knowledge and technologies in introducing traffic solutions to this pilot area," the university said in a statement.

Funded by the Toyota Mobility Foundation, the initiative has a two-year implementation period.

Also known as the Sustainable Mobility Project 2.0 Bangkok, it aims to encourage people to reduce the use of private vehicles and rely more on public transport.

"It also seeks to engage all sectors," the statement said.

The university said if successful, the Sathorn Model would inspire other zones, not just in Thailand but beyond, to adopt similar traffic solutions.

The WBSCD announced last November that to solve this congestion issue, the Sustainable Mobility Project together with Bangkok authorities had officially launched four new mobility solutions to be tested by the inhabitants in 2015.

They are: school buses with high safety standards for the children; Park and ride places in partnership with local supermarkets; flexible working time arrangements and traffic flow management.

"These measures encourage the users of the Sathorn Road to change their mobility routing, hence contributing to improved mobility in Bangkok," the WBSCD said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Chula-Engineering-Faculty-tackles-traffic-congesti-30260336.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-18

[Chao Lao Beach]

Good luck, simple phyicsmay dictate that to many cars in a small area is imposible to fix.

[rametindallas]

If they can find a cure for those traffic nightmares, they should work on Rama IV next; especially the junction to get onto Sukhumvit Road. There is no alternative to Rama IV.

[deckape]

Pretty light on details. Have the staff at Chula fixed systemic problems like this before? What a joke.

This place does not have the ability to take tough action. That is the only way to fix huge problems like Bangkok traffic.

[whatawonderfulday]

Pretty light on details. Have the staff at Chula fixed systemic problems like this before? What a joke.

This place does not have the ability to take tough action. That is the only way to fix huge problems like Bangkok traffic.

If anybody cares to observe Chula students and lecturers entering and exiting their own campuses then it is clear where many of the traffic problems lie. Perhaps 1st these advanced beings in Chula who think they have a modicum of traffic flow understanding should look at their own problems and solve them 1st before they are let loose on the outside world.

[Thaddeus]

Pretty light on details. Have the staff at Chula fixed systemic problems like this before? What a joke.

This place does not have the ability to take tough action. That is the only way to fix huge problems like Bangkok traffic.

Substance no have, announcements have many.

[lovetotravel]

How about quickly removing cars parked illegally on the major roads. Drove around yesterday and I was amazed at how many were parked in the left lane completely blocking traffic. Even right on lower Sukhumvit. Made the road a mess. Something like this would work great. And the coppers could even make some money off it and help the city all at once!

[Emster23]

Does Chula graduate students with engineering degrees in these areas? Do said graduates get jobs with government in highway department? Perhaps some level of expertise exists in those departments of government.... but then again, it is government, hence all decisions are politics based. Much easier to take mai pen rai attitude than to make some hard choices and decisions...

[Guest]

There are so many common sense solutions to big city traffic congestion.

One that is a real challenge is that as wealth grows, so does the size of cars.

The SUV is an urban plague, and especially in a city where many (smart) people spit lanes on motorbikes. And look at the SUV's, just like in America, very rare to see more than one of two people in them. Bangkok is an old city with a labyrinth of tiny roads. Not only do the SUV's clog up the works by stopping even the motorbikes from getting through, have you seen the nightmare when two of them can not pass while turning on some of the side roads in town? Sadly, like in the USA, management of consumption of luxury / status items is a top down affair, doomed from the start, because the "Top" is the people driving them!!

Lights that rotate far too slowly. Gents, holding a light open on green for FIVE minutes is a recipe for gridlock. In San Francisco, the lights rotate quickly, BUT they are PERFECTLY TIMED. You can drive off the Golden Gate, and all the way across the city without stopping, if you go exactly the speed limit. I have done this on my motorcycle ... it is amazing. (That being said, the city is still in gridlock ... I only can do that because California allows lane splitting ... much like Thailand. I am sure scooting across BKK on a motorbike is a whole different story too ... fast and easy)

To the students looking into this .. dear friends, this is not rocket science. Get your smart phone out, go to Google maps, it accurately highlights in yellow and red, choke points and gridlock. Take that information and use it to MANAGE flow in real time. Stop giving cops the job of managing only one intersection .. without regard for the big picture. It is like a circle of boats, and each one is bailing the bilge into the one next to it .. until one sinks.

Here is a thought. get a map, some binuculars, go to one of the dozens of rooftop bars and gardens, have a pint, and just watch the traffic flow. After about a week, you should have a very very very clear idea of the problem, and hopefully .. the obvious solution.

You see, traffic flows in very predictable patterns that repeat like few others. It is child's play to predict flow and choke points. The name of the game is to manage flow so it DOES NOT choke .. and learn how to change rules so one SOB doing a U Turn on Monday morning can not bring a city to its knees.

Note to the Thai Bash Department: Traffic management is a universal problem and not one major city in the world that matches Bangkok's per unit per hour traffic flow has solved it. Just for once, can we please have a conversation about a problem, without the selective amnesia? Without forgetting about the cities we left behind that are a traffic nightmare? Without forgetting that this is an article saying "We see a problem and want to fix it." I know that is folly, and wait for the rivers of comments about how, and I will never understand this considering the global story .. somehow .. this will only be a Thai thing.

[fred Kubasa]

It has been accepted, by many, that "Engineering" is not a strong suit in Thailand and, at least 10 +

reasonable/practical/logical solutions have been offered, some proven in other countries so, a long term study is not necessary nor likely to

produce any NOW solutions !

[maidee]

i have a cheap study : close the road for cars, problem solved

[Andreas2]

How about quickly removing cars parked illegally on the major roads. Drove around yesterday and I was amazed at how many were parked in the left lane completely blocking traffic. Even right on lower Sukhumvit. Made the road a mess. Something like this would work great. And the coppers could even make some money off it and help the city all at once!

Is this proof that efforts to finally enforce already existing traffic laws and regulations like this Wheel Clamping Campaign (http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/752957-bangkok-first-day-of-wheel-clamping-campaign-nets-80-offenders/, remember?), which appeared to have some decent effects (at least that's what the article suggested) were allowed to have a silent death? Once more, again? Or is the campaign still up and running and the police do their job?

If "follow up reports" only exist in observations like the one of lovetotravel, which are very sad indeed, then it appears to be silly to expect that any "new technologies" (or operations research of any faculty for that matter) will have any better effects as they also base on the assumption, that regulations and rules are enforced... Which by now seems to be a false assumption.

First of all, existing rules have to be enforced and then, based on the findings, technical optimizations / innovations can be introduced; Whose rules, of course, have then also to be enforced.

Without enforcing neither the existing nor new rules, nothing will change for the better.

I think at least that's an indisputable fact. And that lies at the core of the problem and must be solved.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Andreas2

[razer]

HeHe ... walked about 500 meters to a major intersection on the west side by the river. Traffic was backed up as far as I could see on that road. Traffic was light and moving freely on the other major road. Stood at the corner for 12 minutes (I timed it) and watched the traffic cop chatting on his mobile phone. How do I know? He was very animated and laughing while he talked. So what the hell ... I walked across the road against the light. Traffic was that light. The cop never noticed me since a lot of people crossed during that 12 minute period.

Hey Chula ... Hint ... Hint

[Prbkk]

Time to adopt the Singapore model...you enter certain areas at particular times and you pay ( by electronic means rather than ridiculous toll gates). USER PAYS.

[Time Traveller]

The Silom model:

Left lane: Cars/Taxis stopped in no stopping zone blocking traffic

Middle lane: Bus stopped to let off and pick up passengers blocking traffic

Right lane: One car waiting to do illegal u-turn blocking traffic.

You don't need univeristy educated people to work out what the problem is.

[lovetotravel]

Just walked about 4km up and down Suk around Ekamai. Bloody hot! Almost the whole way I had to dodge scooters on the sidewalks. So much for that crackdown!

But, NO restaurants on the sidewalks on Thong Lor. At least they got that part right.

[NickJ]

Blah bla blah blha bla. BLA!! blah blah blaha bla.

Blah bla Traffic.

[ourmanflint]

Like almost every other problem the solutions have already been implemented many years ago and ignored. This country deeply needs actual law enforcement, get the police to do their jobs properly and fairly, and all of Thailands problems bar none will become manageable.

[Humberstone]

Time to adopt the Singapore model...you enter certain areas at particular times and you pay ( by electronic means rather than ridiculous toll gates). USER PAYS.

I agree, they should've done that years ago when the first stage of the BTS was completed.

Also, they should ensure that only one floor of an office building is a car park not the first ten as it is now. If you can't park you won't drive

[LuckyLew]

First two things I thought of were teh old buses and the buses that zig zag like snakes

Then I looked closer at the photo with the article and you can see two old buses doing exactly that

They need to revamp and get newer more modern buses and they need to get buses to stay in the left lanes only

Get people to stop going double and triple around all U-turns

Get drivers to realize that when they pass an intersection on a yellow and block the intersection it actually stops traffic flow and is an inconvenience to others as they cannot go when their light turns green.

Asking Thai drivers to be more respectful on the road will be the hardest ask as it is not part of their driving culture but Rome was not built in a day

[nisakiman]

There are so many common sense solutions to big city traffic congestion.

One that is a real challenge is that as wealth grows, so does the size of cars.

The SUV is an urban plague, and especially in a city where many (smart) people spit lanes on motorbikes. And look at the SUV's, just like in America, very rare to see more than one of two people in them. Bangkok is an old city with a labyrinth of tiny roads. Not only do the SUV's clog up the works by stopping even the motorbikes from getting through, have you seen the nightmare when two of them can not pass while turning on some of the side roads in town? Sadly, like in the USA, management of consumption of luxury / status items is a top down affair, doomed from the start, because the "Top" is the people driving them!!

Lights that rotate far too slowly. Gents, holding a light open on green for FIVE minutes is a recipe for gridlock. In San Francisco, the lights rotate quickly, BUT they are PERFECTLY TIMED. You can drive off the Golden Gate, and all the way across the city without stopping, if you go exactly the speed limit. I have done this on my motorcycle ... it is amazing. (That being said, the city is still in gridlock ... I only can do that because California allows lane splitting ... much like Thailand. I am sure scooting across BKK on a motorbike is a whole different story too ... fast and easy)

To the students looking into this .. dear friends, this is not rocket science. Get your smart phone out, go to Google maps, it accurately highlights in yellow and red, choke points and gridlock. Take that information and use it to MANAGE flow in real time. Stop giving cops the job of managing only one intersection .. without regard for the big picture. It is like a circle of boats, and each one is bailing the bilge into the one next to it .. until one sinks.

Here is a thought. get a map, some binuculars, go to one of the dozens of rooftop bars and gardens, have a pint, and just watch the traffic flow. After about a week, you should have a very very very clear idea of the problem, and hopefully .. the obvious solution.

You see, traffic flows in very predictable patterns that repeat like few others. It is child's play to predict flow and choke points. The name of the game is to manage flow so it DOES NOT choke .. and learn how to change rules so one SOB doing a U Turn on Monday morning can not bring a city to its knees.

Note to the Thai Bash Department: Traffic management is a universal problem and not one major city in the world that matches Bangkok's per unit per hour traffic flow has solved it. Just for once, can we please have a conversation about a problem, without the selective amnesia? Without forgetting about the cities we left behind that are a traffic nightmare? Without forgetting that this is an article saying "We see a problem and want to fix it." I know that is folly, and wait for the rivers of comments about how, and I will never understand this considering the global story .. somehow .. this will only be a Thai thing.

The traffic light situation in Bangkok is something that has always puzzled me. It is obvious to even the casual observer that when the roads are busy, holding the traffic on a red light for ages creates numerous problems further back down the road as the traffic backs up beyond the next set of lights, which compounds the original problem. You also have people who want to turn right into a soi across the backed up traffic, blocking the opposite lane as they wait for the traffic to start moving again.

In fact I can't see any advantage whatsoever in having long traffic lights, but the disadvantages are numerous and obvious. I'm sure that just by the simple expedient of making all the lights rotate faster they could improve traffic flow at a stroke.

[Guest]

There are so many common sense solutions to big city traffic congestion.

One that is a real challenge is that as wealth grows, so does the size of cars.

The SUV is an urban plague, and especially in a city where many (smart) people spit lanes on motorbikes. And look at the SUV's, just like in America, very rare to see more than one of two people in them. Bangkok is an old city with a labyrinth of tiny roads. Not only do the SUV's clog up the works by stopping even the motorbikes from getting through, have you seen the nightmare when two of them can not pass while turning on some of the side roads in town? Sadly, like in the USA, management of consumption of luxury / status items is a top down affair, doomed from the start, because the "Top" is the people driving them!!

Lights that rotate far too slowly. Gents, holding a light open on green for FIVE minutes is a recipe for gridlock. In San Francisco, the lights rotate quickly, BUT they are PERFECTLY TIMED. You can drive off the Golden Gate, and all the way across the city without stopping, if you go exactly the speed limit. I have done this on my motorcycle ... it is amazing. (That being said, the city is still in gridlock ... I only can do that because California allows lane splitting ... much like Thailand. I am sure scooting across BKK on a motorbike is a whole different story too ... fast and easy)

To the students looking into this .. dear friends, this is not rocket science. Get your smart phone out, go to Google maps, it accurately highlights in yellow and red, choke points and gridlock. Take that information and use it to MANAGE flow in real time. Stop giving cops the job of managing only one intersection .. without regard for the big picture. It is like a circle of boats, and each one is bailing the bilge into the one next to it .. until one sinks.

Here is a thought. get a map, some binuculars, go to one of the dozens of rooftop bars and gardens, have a pint, and just watch the traffic flow. After about a week, you should have a very very very clear idea of the problem, and hopefully .. the obvious solution.

You see, traffic flows in very predictable patterns that repeat like few others. It is child's play to predict flow and choke points. The name of the game is to manage flow so it DOES NOT choke .. and learn how to change rules so one SOB doing a U Turn on Monday morning can not bring a city to its knees.

Note to the Thai Bash Department: Traffic management is a universal problem and not one major city in the world that matches Bangkok's per unit per hour traffic flow has solved it. Just for once, can we please have a conversation about a problem, without the selective amnesia? Without forgetting about the cities we left behind that are a traffic nightmare? Without forgetting that this is an article saying "We see a problem and want to fix it." I know that is folly, and wait for the rivers of comments about how, and I will never understand this considering the global story .. somehow .. this will only be a Thai thing.

The traffic light situation in Bangkok is something that has always puzzled me. It is obvious to even the casual observer that when the roads are busy, holding the traffic on a red light for ages creates numerous problems further back down the road as the traffic backs up beyond the next set of lights, which compounds the original problem. You also have people who want to turn right into a soi across the backed up traffic, blocking the opposite lane as they wait for the traffic to start moving again.

In fact I can't see any advantage whatsoever in having long traffic lights, but the disadvantages are numerous and obvious. I'm sure that just by the simple expedient of making all the lights rotate faster they could improve traffic flow at a stroke.

Then the final punchline. I was in a taxi and I actually times this:

To favor "the main road' they got green for five full minutes, and we got green for 25 SECONDS. The traffic was backed up for a kilometer, and as you said, through the intersections behind us.

And what happened in those 25 precious seconds the light was green?

The drivers sucked up half that time taking off the emergency brake and getting into gear.

Swear to God, on a three lane one way, only nine cars were getting across at a time.

I got out of the taxi four times for a cigarette break, and inconvenienced no one. One hour to go one kilometer.

2 minute lights that are timed so drivers can get several green in a row. 75% of the problem .. resolved.

[Srikcir]

"The university said if successful, the Sathorn Model would inspire other zones, not just in Thailand but beyond, to adopt similar traffic solutions."

Getting a little ahead of themselves aren't they?

Currently the "model" is just a name of an ambition. There is no model per se for traffic solutions. The model now is just a recognition that there is a sever problem and that doesn't take any effort to know.

[waxon]

Pretty light on details. Have the staff at Chula fixed systemic problems like this before? What a joke.

This place does not have the ability to take tough action. That is the only way to fix huge problems like Bangkok traffic.

Substance no have, announcements have many.

Just like the announcement that Thai scientists developed a cure for Ebola. Solution will be provided just after the problem goes away.

[Doc46]

If they have plenty of money they can sort out a lot of congested roads and crossings,,,over and under passing crossings and double decker roads or maybe tunnels ,,,tunnels are not very good in Thailand ,they would be flooded all the time.

[Lukecan]

Very easy to do actually. Introduce a congestion charge like London.

500 baht daily or 10,000 baht per month for the pleasure of driving in Bangkok.

The traffic will be reduced by at least 25-30 %

Problem solved

[Langsuan Man]

I'm sorry but whenever I hear that the academics here in Thailand are going to tackle a problem it is almost like a kiss of death since you know nothing is going to be done about whatever problem they are supposed to solve

Just look at their success rate whenever they propose something dealing with politics, another massive fail

[exbikey]

Many years ago, wasn't there a government minister of something that claimed he was going to solve the Bangkok traffic problem within six months (6 months, a popular time frame for resolving issues in the LoS). As I recall, part of the plan was to do an aerial survey of the problem using a helicopter. From what I can remember the minister's grand scheme was thwarted by the simple problem of his motorcade (they'd have to be a motorcade?) couldn't make it to the airport to meet up with the helicopter because it got stuck in the traffic. Cancelled the helicopter ride and while he was at it cancelled his scheme to resolve Bangkok's traffic

[Thaddeus]

I wonder if any of these potential Degree holders has managed to work out that vehicles only interested in going north can proceed at the same time as vehicles only interested in going south.

Wait there''s a flaw in that, as some vehicles may pretend they only want to go north, and then go east, got it.

[Tomtomtom69]

Pretty light on details. Have the staff at Chula fixed systemic problems like this before? What a joke.

This place does not have the ability to take tough action. That is the only way to fix huge problems like Bangkok traffic.

If anybody cares to observe Chula students and lecturers entering and exiting their own campuses then it is clear where many of the traffic problems lie. Perhaps 1st these advanced beings in Chula who think they have a modicum of traffic flow understanding should look at their own problems and solve them 1st before they are let loose on the outside world.

You're right; they should follow the example of many Australian universities (amongst others) who have over the years prevented the possibility of driving onto campus by making most of them car free zones. Nowadays many Aussie universities only allow you to drive in to park your car inside an expensive car park, or you can also pay for a parking pass which allows unlimited parking on an annual or other regular basis. There is no way to drive through campus like there is at Chulalongkorn and every other Thai uni. Oh, but the poor students, who would otherwise be forced to walk a few metres, how would they fare if such changes were implemented here? Ridiculous...