Traffic around Victory Monument has been smooth from early Tuesday, the first day of the reorganisation of passenger van operations aimed at ending road congestion in the area.
Under the new arrangement, from July 1 all passenger vans are required to park at Makkasan Airport Rail Link station and at an area under the expressway near the Asok toll booth.
They are no longer allowed to wait for passengers in the traffic area around Victory Monument. They are being called in sequence to pick up passengers when enough tickets have sold for their route.
Pol Maj Gen Nipon Charoenpol, deputy metropolitan police chief, and Col Sombat Thanyawan, of the army Cavalry Centre in Saraburi, inspected the first day of the operation at Victory Monument.
The deputy metropolitan police chief said he passenger van services were operating in a more orderly manner and, overall, traffic was flowing about 70% smoother than before.
An area under the Din Daeng expressway has been designated wherer about 150 vans can park, making way for incoming and outgoing traffic during rush hours, he said.