The Transport Ministry plans to use traffic jam-busting methods on Sathon as a model to solve the problem on other roads in the capital.
Attempts to solve congestion on Sathon Road are part of a pilot project to tackle the city's traffic jams under a campaign called "Sustainable Mobility Project 2.0" launched in June.
Arkhom: Sathon traffic speed up 20%
The campaign is being jointly undertaken by the Transport Ministry, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Royal Thai Police and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).
Under the project, a three-kilometre stretch of Sathon was chosen for the pilot campaign because the route mainly serves transport between the western and eastern sides of Bangkok.
It is also one of the most heavily congested roads in Bangkok where scores of businesses and schools are located. It has an average speed for vehicles of 20 kilometres per hour during rush hours, said Ninnart Chaiteerapinyo, vice-president of Toyota Motor Thailand, the co-chairman of the campaign.
There has been a 20% increase in traffic speed since the campaign was launched in June, he said.
Deputy Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said the campaign had aimed to seek cooperation from private business operators along the road to solve traffic problems.
For example, he said, Bangkok Christian College had worked to ease traffic congestion in front of the school.
School buses have been provided to transport students to school with several shopping malls, such as Central, Tesco Lotus and the Mall, being used as drop-off and pick-up spots for students, instead of in front of the school, which is a major cause of the problems.
"Radio Frequency Identification technology has been installed in school buses to let parents know whether their children have reached school or neared the parking spots so they will not have to be worried about their kids' safety," Mr Arkhom said.
Businesses along Sathon and Silom roads have also been asked to alter working hours to help reduce traffic.
Traffic light timing was changed to account for the number of vehicles in a bid to boost traffic flow. He said the bottlenecks on the road have been cleared and four bus stops close to Taksin Bridge removed.
The campaign is expected to reduce the number of vehicles on the road by 10,000, which serves about 390,000 vehicles a day.
"The project received cooperation from several private companies in providing shuttle buses to transport people to various spots," the deputy transport minister said.
They also supported the use of public transport, such as electric trains and Bus Rapid Transit buses, which has helped cut the number of cars on the roads, he said.
"We will forward the Sathon model to the Commission for Management of Land Traffic meeting so it will be formulated as a policy later," Mr Arkhom said.
"The campaign is planned to cover three more roads troubled with traffic jams − Rama IV Road around Witthayu intersection, Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Road and Charoen Krung Road."
He said the expansion of the campaign would be carried out in May and September next year.