Printable View
So yes there is a bunch of new MRT systems due to come online in the next few years which should help a lot. But what else could be done?
Congestion charging for cars?
More expressway buses with dedicated bus lanes so that car drivers on the expressway sit feeling stupid in queues watching the buses zip past them?
More roads?
More stringent driving tests and highway policing to reduce jam-causing accidents?
Ban every Farang from owning and driving a car.
Farang cannot drive like Thai, farang fuk up the road system by actually driving like a human and obeying road rules.
There ya go, problem solved.
Good idea, now will you stop hiring shit clapped out old pieces of crap, which have broken down on you twice I know of.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thedogsbollix
:)
Bangkok has the best if not one of the best transportation systems of any city. There are buses everywhere, MRT/BTS/BRT, inexpensive taxis everywhere (excerpt when it rains:-) ), there are songtaew/baht buses in most large streets, tuk-tuks at most large markets, river and klong boats, mocyc taxis on almost every side street. What more could there be? That they don't meet opinionated farang standards is of no concern to Thais?
If driving there are expressways that go in most directions.
Is there anything I missed? Now the secret is to time one journey to avoid the rush, plan one's journey to avoid right turns where possible and if commuting to live and work opposite to everyone else. Oh and never go to Chinatown until the MRT is finished.
The most important thing is to never plan to achieve more that on task in a day.
^ Have you ever been to other large cities? :confused:
The proof of whether a city has a good transportation system is how it copes in rush hours, when most people need it. Bangkok's severely struggles, as you admit.
in this case less would be more.Quote:
There are buses everywhere, MRT/BTS/BRT, inexpensive taxis everywhere (excerpt when it rains:-) ), there are songtaew/baht buses in most large streets, tuk-tuks at most large markets, river and klong boats, mocyc taxis on almost every side street. What more could there be?
it is the empty taxis cruising around central bangkok and the motorcycle taxis obstructing junctions that are responsible for a lot of the congestion.
add to that the 3 minute red lights, food carts on the road, no enforcement of parking regulations, choked expressways emptying into already choked streets, the large hotel and condos sited in narrow sois and the complacency of the traffic police and the general selfishness of drivers as they ignore the yellow box regulations and block junctions and you have the perfect recipe for the chaos that is central bangkoks traffic.
so, charge heavily for driving into city centres, build car parks around the periphery of the city and expand park and ride systems and abolish free parking both streetside and at shopping centres.
bangkoks other problem is the lack of alternative routes around the city. its either the few main arteries, or the few cuthrouhgs offered by horrible narrow little sois, most of which are dead ends thanks to the way land ownership and a lack of a system of compulsory purchase has obstructed any real traffic planning.
the laziness of the traffic police hasnt helped matters either.
Probably the most cost effective thing to do would be to let the place just flood, and incrementally depopulate it. Start again, somewhere better located- and retain the remaining Bangkok as the 'Venice of the Orient", a tourist attraction, lesser commercial centre, transport hub and tourist destination. Dig more canals too.
Why should the remainder of Thailand have to constantly subsidise wealthier Bangkok? It's a sinking vessel.
Bangkok is a shithole, so no one cares, especially the Thaiophile Smog.
So you have been to Jakarta?Quote:
Originally Posted by Immigrunt
Or tried driving into Los Angeles during rush hour?
If one parked one's car and took a taxi they wouldn't all be empty.Quote:
Originally Posted by taxexile
Like any other city it is the people who insist on driving their own cars into the city that causes problems.
Anyway you guys think what you want. It works for me.
Taxi in Athens in Greece: Even if with a customer inside they always stop for another customer who clearly pronounce his destination (read my lips). Sometimes there are 3 different customers, and they share the fare. Each of them gives an estimation of his share when getting out. I have never seen any complain.Quote:
Originally Posted by VocalNeal
Why in Bkk the taxi never stop for another one standing there soaked in the rain? Most of them go the same main route...
I've been to one, and those two cities are of the few worldwide that are worse than bkk. If that's your benchmark then no wonder you think Bangkok is ok.Quote:
Originally Posted by VocalNeal
Try Singapore, or Tokyo, and even London which has higher car ownership, which all kick Bkk's arse.
what makes you think it will be better in a new location ? they will make the same mistakes, but worseQuote:
Originally Posted by sabang
they fuckup things with a certain art, and can't help themselves but fucking up any urban development they start
Bangkok will be inundated within 20 years, maybe less. No point in building more traffic infrastructure. Pointless place.
I think smeggles should be employed to control the traffic lights
Haven't been to Tokyo. Singapore has punitive car taxes so only well healed people have cars. London has had 150 years of development.Quote:
Originally Posted by Immigrunt
Bangkok works for me. Or maybe I have adapted?
Better yet, ban all cars in Bangkok. Model the transport system after a country like Japan. Bullet trains would be nice. I know I am just dreaming. Dogcrap, westerners at least follow the rules of the road in their perspective home countries which is much more than can be said for Thai drivers. Obviously you do not drive much here in Thailand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thedogsbollix
...and there would be 50% less cars on the road. problem solved.Quote:
If one parked one's car and took a taxi they wouldn't all be empty.
smeggles seems to be unable to heal - continual fester seems to be the norm :)Quote:
Originally Posted by VocalNeal
They could reduce the price of the sky train and get more Thais out their cars and onto the train.
The trains now are meat tubes, they're so full at rush hour.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scottish Gary
They need more carriages but are cheapskates. The unused platform sections are evidence of that.
nuke every second vehicle on the road including its occupants/riders.
Or did the Thais buy the smallest engine possible, which limits the number of carriages it can pull?
Carriages are individually powered I believe.
You can't add on an extra carriage as and when you feel like it. Would be great, and logical, but they wouldn't be able to travel at full speed and on bends it would be painfully slow, with the extra weight of all those people, and the extra length.
The platform lengths are all built to international standard dimensions, but doesn't mean that every inch will be used. In a logical ideal scenario they would have bought 50++ more carriages and run rush hour trains every 1/2 minutes but you gotta realise Thailand is still just getting to grips with having such a modern system operating as it is.