A majority of Bangkokians disagree with the planned traffic congestion charge in the capital but supported its new garbage collection fee aimed at encouraging waste separation, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or NIDA Poll.
The Nida Poll was conducted by telephone interviews on Nov 27-29 with 1,310 Bangkok residents aged 18 and over of various levels of education, incomes and occupations to gauge their opinions on the city's two new measures.
The Transport Ministry has proposed imposing a congestion charge of 40-50 baht on motorists who enter inner Bangkok streets to raise money to subsidise a flat 20-baht fare policy for all electric rail lines in Greater Bangkok.
Bangkok's new garbage collection structure, effective next June, will charge 20 baht a month for households that produce less than four kilogrammes of waste per day and separate their waste, or 60 baht otherwise.
Asked for their thoughts on the congestion fee plan, 49.92% of respondents said they strongly disagreed with it, 18.24% moderately disagreed, 17.10 definitely agreed, 13.98% moderately agreed, and 0.76% did not answer or were not interested.
Asked if the plan would be successful, 55.50% said it would definitely not be successful, 28.47% moderately unsuccessful, 12.29% moderately successful, 2.44% definitely successful, and 1.30% did not know or were not interested.
When asked about the new garbage collection fee, 50.31% respondents strongly agreed, 23.66% moderately agreed, 15.73% strongly disagreed, and 10.30% moderately disagreed.
Asked how cooperative Bangkokians would be to the waste collection fee next June, 44.81% of respondents said they would not fully cooperate, 28.93% moderately cooperative, 15.65% not cooperative at all, 9.69% very cooperative, and 0.92% did not know or were not interested.