This year's Car Free Day is approaching this weekend -- with little fanfare.
The lacklustre public attention has prompted some social media members to ask what's happened to the annual event that was known unofficially as ''Bike Day'', on which an army of cyclists triumphantly took to the streets.
But Car Free Day should go beyond the use of cycling despite cyclists being the main group of people who make an effort to celebrate the day. The exact day is Sept 22 when people around the world celebrate it, but in Thailand, we must hold it on a Sunday to avoid traffic chaos. Isn't that ironic?
Car free Day should mean the day when commuters abandon their cars and take any kind of public transport. But the sorry state of our public transportation system, particularly city buses, make it understandable why so many people still use cars even if it means they get stuck in traffic for hours.
When I was a reporter covering the city and environment beat, the editor assigned me to check on certain senior officials to see whether any of them recognised the special day and indeed left their cars home to use public transportation. There was no underground train or skytrain in those days.
We don't need to be geniuses to know that the best, most efficient way to tackle our notorious traffic problems is to remove as many cars as possible from the road.
We do not have enough roads to accommodate the millions of cars at certain times of the day.
So to alleviate the problem we need clear policies and strong measures, including incentives, as well as other means, such as taxes, to make people leave their cars at home. Unfortunately, our public buses are not an incentive, while our electric rail systems, which in principle must ensure convenience, are too costly and at times impractical (the Purple Line).
Like previous governments, the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration does not have such a clear policy. It still prioritises the use of private cars.
However, Gen Prayut deserves some credit for promoting cycling in his first few months of taking office. He did allocate a big portion of the budget to it. Unfortunately, the policy evaporated as officials on the ground misinterpreted it.
Instead of promoting cycling as a mode of public transport, the authorities treated it as a health and recreational pursuit. That's why we do not have enough bike lanes that are practical, safe and convenient. A number of motorists believe cycling should be confined to public parks, and are reluctant to share the road with cyclists.
I still believe that cycling is one of the most effective traffic solutions, but a lot more needs to be done, both at policy and operational levels. In fact, cycling was also one of the policies espoused by MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra when he ran for office. But it turns out that the City Hall under MR Sukhumbhand, like the officials with the central government, simply treated cycling as a leisure and tourism activity. Not to mention that the bike lanes in 50 city districts are in disrepair.
Even worse, city officials have done nothing to regulate existing bike lanes, which has resulted in some being misused as parking strips, especially along the roads in Lat Ya, Thon Buri.
What is more worrisome is the attitude of city officials against cycling. A few months ago, a senior official suggested some bike lanes be scrapped as they were "rarely used" and too costly for maintenance -- instead of looking into the problem of why they are not popular (maybe they are not safe enough?) and find ways to fix them.
We should take a leaf out of the Netherlands' book. It's amazing the Dutch never stop thinking of ways to improve bike infrastructure even though the existing ones have gained wide recognition. There is a competition among Dutch cities to become the "Cycling City of the Netherlands". The contesting cities must outline why they deserve the award, which this year went to Nijmegen.
The jury that gave the city the award said: "Nijmegen is a city that made a great impression with the high quality fast cycle routes, the enthusiasm of the entrepreneurs in the Dutch Bicycle Centre and the upcoming Velocity-congress and other events such as the Giro d'Italia. The jury sees a vision coming true, with large investments in ground-breaking projects."
Some people may say this will not happen in Thailand, or in Bangkok. I agree. Unless those policy-makers adopt a paradigm shift, we're unlikely to see any progress.
Ploenpote Atthakor is editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.