Tackling the car culture

EDITORIAL

Published: 13 Oct 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Playing the numbers game in recent weeks have been two of the agencies paid to solve Bangkok's worsening traffic problem. It all started when the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) posed the question of what would happen if all seven million cars registered in Bangkok tried to occupy the capital's road space, sufficient for only 1.6 million vehicles, at the same time. This puzzle of what to do with an exploding car population that is now 4.4 times greater than the space available for it gave rise to some good cartoons but no solutions. Nor was there much enthusiasm for the BMA's plea that citizens use their cars less and public transport more.

Now it is the turn of a government transport agency to warn that the 1,200 cars a day being registered in Bangkok have reached an unsustainable level. Proof lies in the fact that traffic flows are slowing down and bottlenecks are worsening. But unlike the BMA, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning has some suggestions for improvements.

Short-term recommendations are to eliminate many of the worsening bottlenecks on major roads by relocating some U-turns and bus stops. But the agency's main proposal is to vary the hours of government offices, schools and businesses to lessen peak traffic loads. In other words, businesses would open and close later to avoid clashing with the hours at which students and government workers are on the roads. At present primary school students start first and department stores open last with the main crush coming in between. Some companies have avoided this by using flexitime, satellite offices in the suburbs and home telecommuting.

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robins
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Discussion 8 : 13 Oct 2012 at 11.318
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@ Discussions 3 and 4 The main reason it's so nice living here is that Thailand does not resort to draconian police state tactics like Singapore with their Orwellian tracking and pricing, or Britain with their 10 Pound congestion fee that is nothing to the wealthy and a hindrance to the working class.
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dao
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Discussion 7 : 13 Oct 2012 at 10.367
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Maybe the silly governemnt could stop encouraging people to buy cars by offering loan programs encouraging people to going into debt and creating more traffic .Public transport is what is needed .Trains ...a lot of trains .In Bangkok and all over the country .The rolling SRT museum is cute but hardly fit for the job .We need standard gauge track so we can connect with other countries .
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Asian Hand
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Discussion 6 : 13 Oct 2012 at 10.286
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D1, you must be joking. Your solution = major road carnage and further jams as freelance ambulances rush to converge to pick up the bodies. A key starting point is a total lack of respect for traffic laws and a complete failure in their enforcement. It needs to be become incredibly expensive for cars to enter the downtown core. Fees can be collected at the major toll gates and that revenue less the 30-40% for the government officials used to improve public transit. People who drive alone inbound and outbound from downtown should not be allowed to do so. But I guess it will remain ok for hi so's driving sportscars to kill people, which they don in off peak hours so its ok. Adopt at least a 2 in 1 rule and then a 3 in one rule. Hit the city commuters where it hurts - their pocketbooks for violations and paying to get in.But I suspect the Thai way will be to wait until there is total gridlock as the solution. You can't tell anyone what to do in Thailand that can afford a car.
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onlyme
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Discussion 5 : 13 Oct 2012 at 09.305
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Please add more passenger cars to the BTS trains. The overcrowding is becoming unbearable and certainly doesn't encourage anyone to park and ride.
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pete
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Discussion 4 : 13 Oct 2012 at 09.034
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Singapore has had the electronic road pricing system in force for some years, and for them it has worked wonders. Roughly 70% of commuters now use public transport, and the reduction of CO2 emissions is significant. The revenue generated from the varied toll levels was sufficient to pay for the implementation of the ERP system in only four years.
The system has curbed traffic demand and managed road space for highest productive capacity, cutting congestion, pollution, emissions, and fuel use. Bangkok needs such a system urgently.
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pete
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Discussion 3 : 13 Oct 2012 at 09.013
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Singapore has had the electronic road pricing system in force for some years, and for them it has worked wonders. Roughly 70% of commuters now use public transport, and the reduction of CO2 emissions is significant. The revenue generated from the varied toll levels was sufficient to pay for the implementation of the ERP system in only four years.
The system has curbed traffic demand and managed road space for highest productive capacity, cutting congestion, pollution, emissions, and fuel use. Bangkok needs such a system urgently.
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OldThaiHand
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Discussion 2 : 13 Oct 2012 at 08.452
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Within the Thai psyche, the car is the modern-day war elephant and they tend to drive it as such. It would be very hard to get Thais to give up their cars.

However, the government could do what has been done in other cities suffering from grid-lock: even-odd days based on licence numbers (think of the police revenue in fines for violators!!), consumption tax on cars, gateway tolls at city entrance roads, a transit system that's more accessible, seamless and interconnected (one pass for BTS, MRT, Buses and Boats), parking lots at all transit terminal stations and proper bicycle paths to encourage bike riding.

Above all, Thai drivers need major re-education. They are among the rudest, most selfish and un-skilled drivers in the world.
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robins
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Discussion 1 : 13 Oct 2012 at 06.561
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Maybe allowing motorcycles on the highways into Bangkok during peak traffic hours would relieve some of the traffic by encouraging people not to use cars. The policy of not allowing motorcycles on certain streets within the City is likewise counterproductive.
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Tackling the car culture | Bangkok Post: opinion