Thread: Bangkok urged to promote bicycle communities

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is being urged to promote the creation of bicycle “communities” in the capital, to encourage more people to turn to the bicycle as an alternative means of transport.


Professor Dr. Thongchai Panswad, an advisor to the Thailand Walking and Cycling Institute (TWCI) and a pioneer in the use of bicycles in Bangkok, said that it is difficult, in practice, to use bicycles to travel across Bangkok, because it covers such a large area.


He said that it is, however, possible to travel by bicycle in a limited area, for instance of not more than three kilometres, and suggests the concept bicycle communities.


He explained that the idea is not just about the use of bicycles, but is also about safety for the cyclists, the convenience of travel and short-cut routes.


Dr. Thongchai, who used a bicycle to travel from home to Chulalongkorn University and back when he taught at the Faculty of Engineering decades ago, said that he does not think that creating bicycle routes is difficult, as we have been able to build the metro system, which is more difficult and requires a huge investment.


The institute has conducted a test by recruiting 50 people to use bicycles to travel an average distance of 4.5km a day. The test showed that carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by 30kgs per day.


Dr. Thongchai said that the institute’s idea of bicycle communities has been warmly welcome by about 10 local administration organisations, including the BMA.


Meanwhile, Deputy Bangkok Governor Sanon Wangsrangboon said that the BMA needs to encourage more people to use bicycles, while creating connectivity between communities and the mass transit systems.


Bicycle routes to be improved first are those along the Ramintra expressway and Khlong Saen Saeb, he said.


Bangkok urged to promote bicycle communities | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

Christ, here we go again...

An ambient daily temperature averaging 32-34c, sois with little or no pavements leaving pedestrians, cyclists, motor cyclists and cars alike to dispute progress, an urban road system in which jumping red lights is endemic, an RTA national rate of 25,000 dead annually, and an almost universal indifference to any highway code and designated cycle paths all suggest that cycling in Bangkok is not of course properly appreciated.

Thai truly are something else.

it's bad enough for walkers.

The incident was similar to that where a Thai man fell into a similar uncovered sewerage in Bangkok’s Din Daeng district in July 2014 but unfortunately was drowned in the sewage. It emerged that the sewerage manhole at Ding Daeng had been left open by Bangkok city workers who were involved in road repairs in the area.
British man lucky to survive fall into 3 metre manhole in Bangkok - Thai Examiner

What was the budget for installing then removing the bicycle lanes during the Bike For Dad fad 5 years ago?

Guess they'll give themselves another few hundred million baht now to reinstall them.

Food carts and noodle/bbq hawkers set themselves up in many of those cycle lanes within days of their introduction and in others they were used as ad hoc on-street car parks.

Thai will, and do, fuck up most things.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Food carts and noodle/bbq hawkers set themselves up in many of those cycle lanes within days of their introduction and in others they were used as ad hoc on-street car parks.

Yes. Build it and they will come.
There is a long cycle lane along the Mekong at Nakhon Phanom, a pleasant place to ride except where it meets the Customs House and the street traders, there it is impassable except for the very early mornings.