Could Pattaya tram be the answer to the resort's transport woes?

[webfact]

Could Pattaya tram be the answer to the resort's transport woes?

 

Picture: Manager Online

 

PATTAYA: -- Manager reported that an upbeat meeting chaired by the Pattaya mayor was told that a tram system would be the answer to the resort's transport and traffic crisis.

 

The meeting of business leaders and local officials was held last week.

 

The model for the development of light rail or tram projects in both Udon Thani and Khon Kaen was presented to the gathering.

 

It was felt that these were proceeding well and a similar scheme could easily get off the ground in Pattaya with no need to wait for government funding.

 

The cash investment could come from private investors, the meeting was told by the agency developing the systems in the north east.

 

 

The tram in Pattaya would be a boon for the economy and would solve traffic problems.

 

Bus routes would be introduced first to get the public used to the routes first before the tram became fully operational.

 

Manager did not mention a timescale or any precise details of routes for the proposed tram.

 

However, Thaivisa notes that many Pattaya residents will be skeptical about the chances of success for such a scheme.

 

The baht bus services and taxis in Pattaya represent a powerful lobby while people will point to the Pattaya tunnel as an example of slow infrastructure progress.

 

The tunnel has disrupted traffic on Sukhumvit Road for more than three years with still no definite completion date announced.

 

Source: Manager Online

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-07-11

[Chang_paarp]

Wow!!

 

This hasn't been brought up for at least a year or two. Lest's see if it has more traction this time.

[mok199]

the tram iis the only answer ..this city has run out of room..it is choking itslef to death...PARK AND RIDES ...the only solution to any city where the core cannot sustain the growth...

[LennyW]

Simple answer .......NO!

[donkeykong]

We're getting a tower as well!  :-)

 

[Techno Viking]

How will it fix the clusterfluck that is the hundreds of tourist buses choking the place ?

[BigBadGeordie]

There is only one solution, proposed by a previous mayor, several years ago.

 

[charmonman]

16 minutes ago, donkeykong said:

We're getting a tower as well!  :-)

 

If the trams looked like this I'd be all for it.

[Geoffggi]

The tram system is a good way to reduce pollution, however, for this system to have any real meaning and reduce congestion ALL busses would have to be banned from entering the city limits thereby allocating more parking for cars & motorcycles as these tourist coaches are taking up much needed roadside space, and also reducing pollution around town. Pattaya roads were never built to handle coaches which take up all of the available space and cause traffic hold-ups. 

[mikebell]

Pattaya needs several multi-storey car parks; it needs a bus park outside the centre with tourists taking a shuttle of baht buses; it needs the taxi Mafia taken off the street clogging up the roads; clothes drying racks should be taken off the streets after dark; businesses should not be allowed to commandeer the road in front of their premises with cones; oh and a police force.

[mark01]

Yes. Spend, spend, spend...!!!

Make some people (more) wealthy while providing a substandard product.

 

Alternatively...

Same a lot of money for more deserving causes and solve the problems by -

Banning tour buses, especially on smaller sois.

Stop taxi and baht bus mafia.

Stop boats being towed all over the place.

Introduce something like the Phuket tuktuks, the Filipino motorbike with sidecar,  and legit meter taxis.

[catman20]

1 hour ago, mok199 said:

the tram iis the only answer ..this city has run out of room..it is choking itslef to death...PARK AND RIDES ...the only solution to any city where the core cannot sustain the growth...

yes but never going to happen in our life time.

[phantomfiddler]

Pattaya has the best, cheapest, and most frequent transportation in the world, why change it ? If it ain,t broke don,t fix it !

[hansnl]

2 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

Wow!!

 

This hasn't been brought up for at least a year or two. Lest's see if it has more traction this time.

Actually there is a much cheaper and more flexible system.

Trolley buses on dedicated lanes where possible.

No track laying in the road, only overhead wires.

Clean and quiet transport.

[Emster23]

" Bus routes would be introduced first to get the public used to the routes first before the tram became fully operational. "

that worked out so well last time they tried that..... BTW how those metered taxis working out?

Tour buses out is easiest solution, but no money to be made from that

[Techno Viking]

1 minute ago, Emster23 said:

" Bus routes would be introduced first to get the public used to the routes first before the tram became fully operational. "

that worked out so well last time they tried that..... BTW how those metered taxis working out?

Tour buses out is easiest solution, but no money to be made from that

Pass a law that says any vehicles with more than 4 wheels can only enter city between 8pm and 8am, any vehicle outside of these hours will receive a fine of Bt.2,000 per person traveling in the vehicle.

[pattayadon]

Charge an extra 2000 bt per "quality tourist" as they enter the Kingdom, It'll help pay for any new transportation methods or fix up current roads. Those so-called quality tourists that don't spend a single baht just stand around cluttering the Pattaya Beach walk during the day. If they stop coming, traffic problem solved! Yeah, you know what I'm talking about!  K.I.S.  Keeping it simple!

[Toshiba66]

I hope the new Tram runs between Walking Street and Soi 6 via Soi LK Metro!!!

 

Go Go on I say!!!!

[Pdaz]

Ridding the city of the damn coaches and around half the baht buses would havevan immediate effect and be far cheaper. How about parking wardens to ticket all the double parkers and the @ss4oles who just put on their hazards and stop wherever they fancy ? 

Would raise enough revenue to pay the wardens wages easily.

 

Personally I'd like to see the end to easy credit. Can't buy a car for cash ? You can't have one. Would remove dozens of vehicles. 

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Geoffggi said:

The tram system is a good way to reduce pollution, however, for this system to have any real meaning and reduce congestion ALL busses would have to be banned from entering the city limits thereby allocating more parking for cars & motorcycles as these tourist coaches are taking up much needed roadside space, and also reducing pollution around town. Pattaya roads were never built to handle coaches which take up all of the available space and cause traffic hold-ups. 

 

Or, they could ban cars and scooters in town to make room for the buses.  They do carry the majority of the tourists nowadays.  The best "solution" always depends on where you're sitting.

 

Personally, I'd like to see them make the beach road and one block in a walking mall with no traffic during peak hours except electric golf cart type people movers with easy on/ easy off design like they have in thousands of amusement parks around the world (as opposed to the disastrous design of the baht buses).  But that's based on my personal situation and would probably be unacceptable to some subset of the people.

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by impulse

[Yann55]

The one thing I would like, with this tram project, is that it would help redirect public funds to something other than destroying Dongtan Beach in Jomtien and turning it into yet another ugly, dull, treeless, hyper-cemented 'promenade'. A promenade where the heat will be so unbearable most of the day that even 'mad dogs and Englishmen' (*) won't promenade on it.

 

The main goal of these big projects is no secret to anyone.. sometimes they also happen to serve an actual public purpose, sometimes not. It doesn't matter, because all that matters is the percentage that goes MIA. But even if public funds are impressive in the rich city of Pattaya, they are not infinite, so yes, please, please, please, spend them on that tram, LEAVE DONGTAN BEACH AS IT IS, and stop cutting down those beautiful old tamarisk trees.

 

(*) A song by Noel Coward, check it out on YouTube it's a moment of pure genius.

[Rimmer]

Multiple off topic pictures have been removed

[pattjock]

59 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Actually there is a much cheaper and more flexible system.

Trolley buses on dedicated lanes where possible.

No track laying in the road, only overhead wires.

Clean and quiet transport.

Agree completely.

 

No point what so ever for any construction. Just use medium or large size electric buses on busy routes and get the bahtbuses properly organized for the rest. Make the taxis use their meters. Have a few large parking areas near Sukhumvit for visitors and tour buses with bahtbus/minibus transfer to city. Charge for parking in the city or have an entry charge.

[Penicillin]

Not "could" but rather "would " 

[mikiea]

4 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

Wow!!

 

This hasn't been brought up for at least a year or two. Lest's see if it has more traction this time.

it could be a 2fer  ,  subs and trams , or subs with tram retractable wheels , oh those clever Chinese . 

[Guderian]

Didn't the Thais ever hear of congestion charging? It's been used in Singapore for over 40 years and in London for 14 years. A nice little money-earner, too, that could help improve the city's inadequate infrastructure.

[Jasonron]

One of the biggest problem in Pattaya is the hordes tour buses from Bangkok. They need to stop the buses at some point before the city entrance. Irregular parking of taxis and vehicles anywhere should be dealt with severely. Yes definitely multi level parking facilities would make the roads wider at least to some extent.. 

[Asernume]

2 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

How will it fix the clusterfluck that is the hundreds of tourist buses choking the place ?

Don't allow the big buses inside the city, make some huge parking for them somewhere on sukkumvhit and have tram stop there.

Now I am not really sure how they would make a tram, the roads aren't wide to begin with... so they would probably have to do something like a BTS which would be prohibitively expensive.

 

At this pace we're better of waiting for self driving cars (and buses/taxis) to solve this issue.

[Juan B Tong]

[ross163103]

Ha ha ha ha, so after Pattaya gets a tram we'll have; trams, double decker tourist buses, baht buses, pick-ups, cars, motorcycles, noodle carts, and millions of chinese/indian tourists clogging the roads, not sure how this will help! And if anyone wants to believe they're going to get rid of the baht buses and tourist buses.....keep dreaming! 

When you think about adding more infrastructure you've got to ask yourself how the Sukhumvit tunnel project/Soi Siam Country Club road projects are going? Hmmmmm, maybe Pattaya should finish/get something right before moving on to other projects.......just a thought.