Traffic snarls to last five years

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Traffic snarls to last five years

Railway projects, vehicle boom battle for space

Published: 1 Jan 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The Transport Ministry is warning Bangkok residents to brace for what could be five years of extraordinary traffic congestion.

Traffic at the Silom-Rama IV Road intersection is flowing well, particularly now with so many motorists having left Bangkok to celebrate New Year in the provinces. The Transport Ministry is warning Bangkok motorists to brace for traffic congestion this year from a dramatic increase in the number of private cars. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

The addition of more than 1 million new cars as part of the first car-buyer scheme, coupled with less road space during the onset of several new electric railway projects could make Bangkok commutes even more miserable.

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Renaissance
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Discussion 39 : 01 Jan 2013 at 14.2339
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I think that part of Thaksin's strategy is to create a scheme, any scheme, and a good scheme is one that causes loads of problems and can provide lots of money, such as the rice and the traffic schemes, for example. Milk as much money out of the scheme as possible. Then when your government gets kicked out, which will happen one day, the new government will inherit the problems resulting from all your schemes. After a while you can blame them for the mess and tell the people how, if they voted for you, you would solve the problems. It works time and time again as Thais have a short memory. Meanwhile, you and your friends are very rich.
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dao
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Discussion 38 : 01 Jan 2013 at 14.0338
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Diss 28
Well put .
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tansri
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Discussion 37 : 01 Jan 2013 at 14.0137
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Bangkok ranked below average on 22 Asian cities study by Siemens. Apparently we are increasing road surface, mass transit and rail transport but still lack of congestion control. Cars older than 15 years and taxis/lorries older than 7 years must be off the road or destroy and number of new cars must be controlled and limited by licence plate auction.
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tamsin
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Discussion 36 : 01 Jan 2013 at 13.4236
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I truly wonder just how stupid/ignorant this country can get.
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moody
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Discussion 35 : 01 Jan 2013 at 13.3935
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Many people choose to drive because they do not have other options. Bangkok is bigger than many people think and the city needs at least 10 train lines to offer access to all. Today, there is only BTS Sukhumvit and Silom lines, MRTA subway and City Line going to airport.
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dao
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Discussion 34 : 01 Jan 2013 at 13.2634
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Government should be like parents and the country like its children .Parents make the hard decisions and the umpopular ones sometimes for the higher good .Our governemnt now spoils the child make lazy and impatient for quick shortsighted fixes .Which parent would you rather have .
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bkk-farang
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Discussion 33 : 01 Jan 2013 at 12.3833
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@Renaissance #28: Obviously you are right with Thaksin and his “create a problem to solve a problem” policy. But again millions of people voted for that policy and millions bought a new car. I don’t want to speculate here how many of these people thought about what they did…
Personally I use most of the times motorcycles. They are relative small and fast. Yes, they can be also dangerous – but that is live in the big mango anyhow.
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jacksprat
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Discussion 32 : 01 Jan 2013 at 12.3032
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"if you can afford one then you can afford to pay a levy to use inner roads" Try driving in London and see what it costs you.
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bkk-farang
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Discussion 31 : 01 Jan 2013 at 12.2931
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@drsmith: I think you are long enough in Thailand that you should not expect any LOGIC in anything what is happening here.
I gave up with logic in Thailand years ago and it makes live a lot easier.
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jacksprat
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Discussion 30 : 01 Jan 2013 at 12.2130
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The late Jorges Orgibet, founder of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, arrived in Bangkok in late 1945. He wrote about how polite Thai drivers were in the 1940s and '50s. That was largely gone by the 1970s, but at least there was very light traffic. Nowadays, astonishingly, Thais place ownership of a car over ownership of a house. That tells you something is wrong right there.
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