Grandpa, tell us about Bangkok before the Skytrain

[Inspire]

Grandpa, tell us about Bangkok before the Skytrain

Orlando Barton

 

 

I rode the Skytrain in Bangkok the week it opened.  It was new, it was free and it was the first time in my life I ever took public transportation.  Since I am an American, this is not all that startling a statement.  Taking an American’s car away is tantamount to castration.

 

It was so easy and clean and efficient.  Most importantly, it took you where you wanted to go.

 

I’ll never forget my Thai girlfriend’s reaction.  She asked me to meet her at a café in Silom.  When I arrived right on time she asked, “How did you get here so fast?”  Beaming with pride I said, “I took the Skytrain”.  She looked at me like a dog who just heard a funny noise.  “The what?”  “The BTS … the Skytrain … don’t you know about it?” I asked incredulously.  “Is that thing finished?” she asked.  From the window of her car, I pointed out the transportation marvel whistling by overhead.  She still didn’t get it.

 

And for a long time, nobody got it.  I remember riding in sparsely populated trains all over town at all times of day.  Foreigners were taking advantage of the BTS, but Thais were mistrustful.  It seemed as though Bangkokians wore their traffic scars like a badge of honor.  Bangkok traffic is the traffic all other bad traffic is measured by.  They acted as if it should suck to get around, it’s part of Bangkok charm.

 

Full story: http://www.inspirepattaya.com/pattaya/grandpa-tell-us-bangkok-skytrain/

 

[bert bloggs]

I remember it being started ,we had an office in Sukhumvit , also remember when it collapsed

[humqdpf]

I remember Bangkok before Skytrain was opened. This Back in 1991, the traffic was so terrible that it took several hours to get to Don Muang, the only airport. This was when many of the highways were also to be built and no fly-overs. THe pollution was awful with people walking with handkerchiefs over their noses. TukTuks and taxis were still using regular fuel as opposed to gas (LPG).

 

Tourists who had experienced it once would always plan their arrival in Bangkok by air without ever staying in the city. 

[Card]

No-one believed it would get started, then they didn't believe it would ever get finished, but it did. Then came the other impossibility of the MRT. Both have made Bangkok a modern city with less pollution overall, less congestion but also less light. The BTS  made all the streets where it ran very dark and fore-boding. Young people don't realise how light streets like Silom were in those days. Car exhaust fumes are also kept closer to the road, but overall both systems are great.

Edited July 23, 2017 by Card

[gunghang]

My first trip to El Mango Grande was in 1983. There were no metered taxis.  It was shocking how much faster a tuk-tuk was than a city bus. Don Muang was no problem.  It was in the middle of nowhere.  What is now the Sirikit Convention Center was still the tobacco monopoly.  The friendship bridges on Rama IV had yet to appear.  What is Central World was a collection of food stalls.  The expressways had just been begun. 

 

Unrelated but from the period, KFC wasn't there.  McDonalds had just signed a deal with McThai Corp.  If you wanted a burger, you went to Hoburger.  There were no 7-11's.

 

Fast forward to 1994.  On New Rd., somebody gave me flyer.  It showed what looks like MRT.

 

I commuted from NgamDuphli to Sena.  That took me Rajdamri/Rajpropop (I neither know nor care) and Phahon Yothin.  I was witness to the very first pilings for BTS.  I left in 1996.

 

I returned in 2001.  It was up and running.  I didn't realize the S'vit and PH were the same line; I had expected the lines to run N-S and E-W.  It started the driver when I didn't change at Siam, but rode to Natl. Stad. and didn't get off.

 

In spite of all my "old Thai hand" savvy, my life was all about five minute walks from a Skytrain station.  Fortunately, Villa Supermarkets and Sukumvit porn star experience massage parlors were a few minutes from BTS.

 

I was there when MRT opened.  That's how I got to work and it's now being extended to a former job. Maybe I will ride MRT &/or BTS to work again!

[Xobtsiwt]

Opened only twenty years late while politicians haggled over the division of the spoils. Barely fifteen years later and it's bursting to capacity pretty much all hours. Meanwhile, the Bangkok transport masterplan goes through revision after revision, and you can be sure that the city will be behind the curve when new lines are finally opened. Contrast with my time in Shanghai, which when I first lived there in 2006 had but two metro lines; there are now  fourteen and counting.

[Mansell]

The first time I was in BKK was 1963 when the frigate I was on docked there. Not many cars, and people rode on bicycles everywhere.....and I would guess not very far. My main memory was getting a horrible case of food poisoning which put me in the sickbay for a week. I also slept on the upper deck whilst in BKK and just got horribly munched by the mosquitos. I guess it was a city back then, but I don't remember much in the way of big buildings.

[Thingamabob]

Traffic in Bangkok was a nightmare, far worse even than today. I the '60s and '70s  it could take 4 hours to get from Don Muang to Silom. Everything else was better though...

[free123]

5 hours ago, humqdpf said:

I remember Bangkok before Skytrain was opened.c This Back in 1991, the traffic was so terrible that it took several hours to get to Don Muang, the only airport. This was when many of the highways were also to be built and no fly-overs. THe pollution was awful with people walking with handkerchiefs over their noses. TukTuks and taxis were still using regular fuel as opposed to gas (LPG).

 

Tourists who had experienced it once would always plan their arrival in Bangkok by air without ever staying in the city. 

oh i remember the times before very well...and looking back it was good times for me regardless the train operated or not...bkk looked much nicer without this monster above everything...traffic was horrible that's for sure a few highways and traffic jams was common...( like today ... for car traffic flow  only nitnoi change) wanna  don muang ? better start early... also remember the times short after Asia's 90 s financial crisis...suddenly the streets was empty cause all the big toys was taken away from songchai and co...anyway a functioning puplic transport system should be the base of every big city..in Singapore it is ten times better..it was there ten times earlier and looks also ten times nicer compare w. bkk

[tryasimight]

I grew up in a hole in't groud wi a hand of gravel fer breakfatst

[Ulic]

Bangkok traffic versus Manila traffic. At least in Bangkok the horns

are not used.

[Aussie69]

No 7-11's! You obviously have memories of another country. [emoji3]

[Chou Anou]

11 hours ago, Xobtsiwt said:

Barely fifteen years later and it's bursting to capacity pretty much all hours. 

This December 5 it will have been open 18 years.

[Ulysses G.]

I remember before, during it being built and after. It really was wonderful when it first got going and was never crowded. 

[Rc2702]

I am sure pattaya is inspired.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎7‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 1:01 PM, Card said:

No-one believed it would get started, then they didn't believe it would ever get finished, but it did. Then came the other impossibility of the MRT. Both have made Bangkok a modern city with less pollution overall, less congestion but also less light. The BTS  made all the streets where it ran very dark and fore-boding. Young people don't realise how light streets like Silom were in those days. Car exhaust fumes are also kept closer to the road, but overall both systems are great.

There was a lot of official opposition to it. one politician said that people would be scared to ride on it as too high!

The only problems are that the trains are not long enough, still, the stations were not designed for the numbers using the system and they should have lifts on every platform available to all- dragging a heavy bag down those stairs is not easy.

I would have preferred larger windows as I like to look at the scenery.