Deputy Bangkok governor Amnuay Nimmano has proposed to retire underused bike lanes in Bangkok as they cause traffic congestion in some areas and several lanes are occupied by other vehicles.
He was speaking during a meeting with agencies under the supervision of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), chaired by Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang at City Hall yesterday.
Pol Lt Gen Amnuay proposed the plan to the BMA's Traffic and Transportation Department (TTD), saying bike lanes obstructed traffic flow on narrow streets. Also, several bike lanes which were left unused have been occupied by tuk tuks and pushcarts.
Pol Lt Gen Amnuay, however, said the department should not immediately scrap all bike lanes, suggesting the agency should study which bike lanes were underused, left unused, or caused traffic congestion, particularly on narrow streets such as in the Pratu Phee area in Phra Nakhon district.
Besides the bike lanes, Pol Lt Gen Amnuay said City Hall also should scrap the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service to save 200 million baht in annual contract costs.
He said other modes of transport can get commuters to their destinations faster, adding that BRT lanes have been used by other vehicles as well.
Meanwhile, TTD deputy chief Suthon Arnakul said yesterday the agency has worked with civic groups and city cyclists to improve city infrastructure through a mobile app, called Punmuang, since July.
The app was created by the Green World Foundation, aimed to improve safety of cyclists in Bangkok. Users also can lodge a complaint on a range of issues with the 50 district offices via the app.
The app has about 14,700 subscribers. Of them, about 1,600 use the app each day.
Apart from the app, the BMA's hotline, 1555, received 263 complaints from cyclists of which 63 were solved, Mr Suthon added.
Earlier in July, the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) asked the BMA to revise its plan to improve or build new bike lanes in the city, saying the existing 8km loop in old town area is underused.
The OAG also said the 28-million-baht budget which had been spent on improving city bike lanes was not worth the investment.
The BMA mulled scrapping the BRT earlier this year after the Bangkok City Council questioned the cost of the service, which resulted in a loss of 1.2 billion baht after six years in operation.
The council found the service was underused and did not really help ease traffic congestion.