1 hour ago, topt said:

Maybe signs of change (but not holding my breath). Third Road south of where it joins Pattaya Klang they were repainting the red and white check on the kerb stones and moving on all the parked vehicles around 2pm today. This included MC taxis. There were 2 tow trucks, a pick up for bikes and a number of BIB having discussions with what I presume were somewhat pissed off business owners. On my return journey the only blockage was caused, ironically, by a contractor's pick up as they were still painting. Absolutely nothing else was parked along that stretch at that time.

 

Be intrigued to see how long this lasts or how often they enforce it?

 

Hope they do enforce it, I came out of the cut through road from opposite Big C Extra around 5.30 today and couldn't believe how easy it was to get onto 3rd Road with all the through traffic sitting on the right hand side as usual making it simple to merge from the side turning.   

Just now, gmac said:

 

Hope they do enforce it, I came out of the cut through road from opposite Big C Extra around 5.30 today and couldn't believe how easy it was to get onto 3rd Road with all the through traffic sitting on the right hand side as usual making it simple to merge from the side turning.   

Was still like it at 8pm with only 1 or 2 bikes outside the first 7/11 and the rest on the pavement.............oops

I think your idea of clearing the walkways is a good one, but I don't think this would reduce traffic much. Most people won't walk further than a couple of hundred meters if they own a car. Bike Paths in Amsterdam seems to work very well and it is not uncommon to see a man dressed in a suit and tie peddling his bicycle to work. Being in good shape and healthy besides that.

 

What seems to work well in Big Cities is the odd even days. If your license plate ends in a odd number then on 3 days of the week you can drive, and 3 days you can't, as it is the even number days then. On Sunday anyone can drive. It forces people to car pool or take other modes of transportation. Buying a Special License for high traffic areas seems to work well to. 

 

Without a doubt the most effect way to reduce traffic is Good Cheap Public Transportation. I recall a city I lived in where Public Transportation was so good that I much preferred taking the bus then driving my own car to city center. Faster to. I wouldn't even get on a bus here in the city.  

 

Besides all these measures Singapore for example had a restriction on how many cars they allow on the road. If you wanted a new car you would have to normally wait years to get one, even if you had all cash. Needless to say this reduced road traffic but it also caused the used car price to skyrocket in price. To a point in which a Used Car was worth more money than a New One. Since this rule did not apply to a taxi drivers, it is no small wonder they bought the most expensive cars they could afford, as in a year or two they could always sell it for more money than they paid for it.    

15 hours ago, pegman said:

The town is mostly Thais and they don't walk. Secondly very few streets have the room for proper side walks. If the cops enforced the no parking areas that would greatly improve flow. Also the traffic lights last way too long.

The traffic lights are a good point. The sequencing is archaic.. Sometimes the police take control and they are left green where there is no traffic and the other 3 directions are tailing back causing frustration and road blockages elsewhere. They are better left alone, When in automatic I often see green on an empty direction. Filtering, although it seems to confuse the locals, would also help. On a main junction where 75% of traffic wants to go straight on the lights should accommodate that rather than giving each direction 25% green time. As said parking and illegal U-Turns creates a lot of issues. It is the job of the City to alleviate traffic flow issues rather than facilitate a shop house/business owner his own parking, place to set up dining tables, customer parking or extension of his mechanics workspace. A few flyovers would not go amiss.

Great suggestions but one problem persists:  Thais are problem creators, not problem solvers.  

If the so called first world countries can't or won't stem the car epidemic and massive tail backs what chance Thailand.

Stop the police from controlling the intersections.

 

Have them us all that saved free time to enforce the traffic laws.

19 hours ago, Pdaz said:

Do away with credit purchases of vehicles.

If you can't pay cash. No car. Would remove 60% of the problem. Maybe more.

 

19 hours ago, Pdaz said:

Do away with credit purchases of vehicles.

If you can't pay cash. No car. Would remove 60% of the problem. Maybe more.

 

Ban the sale of all new cars.

 

That was the solution proposed by the mayor of Bangkok to solve the problem back in the 90's

19 hours ago, newnative said:

All good ideas, Banana7.  A couple things I would add.  First, excellent public transportation at a reasonable cost will get many people out of their private cars, as will taxing them if they insist on driving in congested areas.  Hong Kong is very densely populated but the traffic moves well because the people mostly use public transportation--an excellent subway and  bus system--and good, wide sidewalks.  The buses I see in Bangkok look mostly old and horrible and seem to be designed only for the  poor to use--that's not going to get anyone out of their air conditioned cars or taxis.  By contrast, many of the Hong Kong public buses look like luxury tour buses.  If you have an excellent public transportation system in place, you have less need for taxis and can start putting limits on the number of them allowed.  Pattaya needs to realize that it is now an urban city and some of its major roads can no longer offer parking. It should start with Pattaya Beach Road and Pattaya Second Road.  Eliminate the parking and widen the sidewalks--some places on Pattaya Second Road don't have sidewalks at all!  Manage the pedestrians with low fencing or shrubbery and designated crosswalks.  Include cutouts for buses and taxis to pick up passengers out of the traffic lanes. 

Pattaya/ Jomtien have  ONE roundabout, but need 100.

Kick out all these stupid city planners and find people who has some common sense. 

11 minutes ago, gintis0604 said:

Pattaya/ Jomtien have  ONE roundabout, but need 100.

Kick out all these stupid city planners and find people who has some common sense. 

Actually, there are 2, or maybe I should say 1 and 3/4's of one.  The Jomtien one seems to be working ok; the Dolphin Circle one has too much traffic to work well, resulting in part of it being closed and an awkward intersection. Probably needs to be re-thought with Terminal 21 on the way.

24 minutes ago, newnative said:

Actually, there are 2, or maybe I should say 1 and 3/4's of one.  The Jomtien one seems to be working ok; the Dolphin Circle one has too much traffic to work well, resulting in part of it being closed and an awkward intersection. Probably needs to be re-thought with Terminal 21 on the way.

 

Go down to the  Jomtien one  at 17:30 and report back how great it works.

 

7 minutes ago, onemorechang said:

 

Go down to the  Jomtien one  at 17:30 and report back how great it works.

 

Go anywhere at 17:30 and report back how the roads are.  And, I didn't say it was working 'great', I said it was working 'ok'--and for most of the day I think it does. 

6 hours ago, gintis0604 said:

Pattaya/ Jomtien have  ONE roundabout, but need 100.

Kick out all these stupid city planners and find people who has some common sense. 

 

3 actually but the problem is that nobody knows how to use them properly.

4 hours ago, newnative said:

Go anywhere at 17:30 and report back how the roads are.  And, I didn't say it was working 'great', I said it was working 'ok'--and for most of the day I think it does. 

 

No your wrong.

If went and watched what is going on at that roundabout

you would understand your wrong.

 

Bikes and cars stop midway round.

Cars and buses just crash the roundabout now.

Boats on trailers doing the same.

 

It's madness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, newnative said:

Go anywhere at 17:30 and report back how the roads are.  And, I didn't say it was working 'great', I said it was working 'ok'--and for most of the day I think it does. 

 

The Jomtien roundabout only partly works because one of the roads is blocked off, same as Dolphin partly works because one exit is blocked.

 

The problem is that drivers stop ON the roundabout to give way to traffic entering it and that causes the problems.

57 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

3 actually but the problem is that nobody knows how to use them properly.

Correct. Majority of Thai road users in Pattaya are clueless as to how a roundabout works. 

I had to ask my Thai friend if the rules are different here. No he said,  people are just **ckin stupid!

I go thru jomtiem roundabout everyday. Traffic slows down & some stop when they see me waiting. When I go round there are buses, trucks, cars speeding onto the roundabout without stopping making me have to brake. 

2 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

The Jomtien roundabout only partly works because one of the roads is blocked off, same as Dolphin partly works because one exit is blocked.

 

The problem is that drivers stop ON the roundabout to give way to traffic entering it and that causes the problems.

The problem is you are expecting the roundabout to work like it does in your native country.  You are in Thailand.  When I go through the Jomtien roundabout, yes, there is some stopping and some going too fast and some too slow and so on but we eventually work our way around and it's probably faster than the traffic light at Chaiaphruek--or at least it seems faster because at least we are moving. 

On 1/10/2017 at 8:12 PM, newnative said:

The problem is you are expecting the roundabout to work like it does in your native country.  You are in Thailand.  When I go through the Jomtien roundabout, yes, there is some stopping and some going too fast and some too slow and so on but we eventually work our way around and it's probably faster than the traffic light at Chaiaphruek--or at least it seems faster because at least we are moving. 

 

Roundabouts are designed to keep the traffic moving.

 

As LammyTS1 states above, the roundabout rules here ARE the same as in my native country, so they should work the same, just like stopping at red lights.

 

On 1/10/2017 at 6:35 PM, LammyTS1 said:

I had to ask my Thai friend if the rules are different here. No he said,  people are just **ckin stupid!

 

38 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

Roundabouts are designed to keep the traffic moving.

 

As LammyTS1 states above, the roundabout rules here ARE the same as in my native country, so they should work the same, just like stopping at red lights.

 

 

Key word here is 'should'.  As I said before, this is Thailand.  Most of the time, in my experience using it, the Jomtien roundabout works ok--for Thailand. Yes, there is some stopping and sometimes backups at busy times--as there are at a lot of other intersections.   But, in the larger scheme of things, this is pretty small potatoes.

On 2017-01-10 at 5:31 PM, LongTimeLurker said:

 

3 actually but the problem is that nobody knows how to use them properly.

A roundabout where you can´t drive around is not a roundabout.
The problem is not only that thais don´t know how to drive there, first of all, the authority don´t know how to build them.
Other countries learn from countries who can, but the thais always know best!  

If you are a visitor you just have to deal with it. I don't see any huge changes here, where can it happen no Skytrain sorry.

As a resident, a motorbike is by far the best way to get around this place. Just pray you can stay alive.

 

On ‎12‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 0:07 PM, newnative said:

Key word here is 'should'.  As I said before, this is Thailand.  Most of the time, in my experience using it, the Jomtien roundabout works ok--for Thailand. Yes, there is some stopping and sometimes backups at busy times--as there are at a lot of other intersections.   But, in the larger scheme of things, this is pretty small potatoes.

 

The TiT attitude is the main reason why this country doesn't improve or develop.