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An anonymous executive is a key player in a project to reduce reliance on cars

Published: 4 Oct 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: Life

The sight of several thousand cyclists gathering on Bangkok streets might be unthinkable. But what seemed beyond imagination became reality when over 14,000 cyclists turned up in force in a campaign to mark the recent Bangkok Car-Free Day.

Nobita joins his cycling buddies on a trip upcountry.

Apart from the Thai Cycling for Health Association and its partners that helped organise the event, the webmaster of www.thaimtb.com who is known in the cycling circle as "Nobita" _ the name of a spectacled boy in the popular manga series Doraemon _ has every right to claim credit for the event's phenomenal success. The webmaster prefers to go by the pseudonym as he's an executive of a big company and afraid his career will be affected.

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spiceman
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Discussion 5 : 05 Oct 2012 at 02.415
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There is no doubt that replacing cars with bicycles is a very intelligent way of solving traffic problem in BKK, as well as, health problems, namely, lack of exercise and obesity. BKK especially is such a suitable place for bicycles since it is relatively small and flat. However, serious commitment and planning need to be done to separate bicycles from automobiles as much as possible. Also, companies should provide for showering facility, so the bicycling employees can take shower and change clothing from bicycling ones to normal working ones. The benefits will include reducing importing of foreign oil, less air pollution, less space set aside for parking cars, and much healthier population. Someone need to go to the bicycle capital of the world, Denmark, and see how the Danish people perfected the concept.
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elvis
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Discussion 4 : 04 Oct 2012 at 14.544
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"share the road". That would be a wonderful idea in a perfect world, but in that perfect world people would already have abandoned their cars and use public transportation or hit the pedals. Alas, as long as Thai people remain obsessed with status and prefer to live in a one-room apartment, while having a BMW parked in the parking lot, I'm afraid that these idealistic cyclists will be frowned upon and discarded as a moronic tree-huggers by the majority of the Bangkokians. I take off my hat for these people though. Good luck to them. Oh by the way, I don't have a car. I hate cars.
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JP

Discussion 3 : 04 Oct 2012 at 13.053
Serious planning needs to be done by the government to get more cyclists on the roads of Bangkok and let less vehicles in.
from iPhone application.
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bern1005
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Discussion 2 : 04 Oct 2012 at 12.382
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The idea of converting a significant percentage of Bangkok residents to cyclists is unrealistic (unless there is a sudden rise in a desire to be killed or injured). Without either a massive change in driver attitudes and skills OR physically separate cycle lanes, taking a bike ride through the city is just too dangerous for most people to want to try it.
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dao
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Discussion 1 : 04 Oct 2012 at 12.301
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A bicycle is such an intelligent way to get around Bangkok .Cars take up a lot of space and are usually at a stand still in traffic belching fumes everywhere .The Airport Link and BTS should allow bikes on board .I respect anyone that rides .
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