[sustran] Re: Bangkok Transit System ('Skytrain')

[Prof S L Dhingra]

Craig has given an apt justification for Bangkok Skytrain ,"park n'
ride" and it's  limitations as it is for the CBD area only.
I visited Bangkok during Nov 7-13,99 at the time of Intl Conf 'C& EEC'
organised by AIT.My area of interest is coordinated Mass Transit Systems.
I could not have a ride of this as it was to be inaugurated by DEc 5.
I order to make optimal use of the existing system and to relieve the
extreme congestion encountered by one and all ,Iwish to offer the
following additional observations/comments :

1.The skytrain is really in the sky meaning at more height than desirable.
  
It is above the pedestrian over-bridges .Hopefully they are providing
escalators otherwise the it may less
  attractive.  
2.Pedestrian over-bridges are again at great height. As the experience
  shows these are never used  and pedestrians will continue to cross 
  Sukhumvit Road at their will .
3. From pedstrians view point , subways are the best usable alternative
as they have to go down with gravity and lessor headroom ( only manheight
headroom)of course , assured security is a pre-requisite.Although it is a 
costly alternative than the over-bridges.
4. With subways and proper pedestrian railings as well as the skytrain
with escalators can mitigate the congestion in CBD to a large extent.
5. I think the metro,under construction by cut and cover method
perpendicular to the skytrain and radiating from CBD, will further reduce
the congestion .


With warm compliments,
Sincerely,
dhingra

On Tue, 23 Nov 1999, Craig Townsend wrote:

> >I think that the explanation may be that the new mass transit system in
> >Bangkok currently does not extend beyond the inner area of the city which
> >is densely built up.  There is also a danger that by putting park n' ride
> >in such dense, mixed land-use locations could possible even reduce
> >ridership by reducing the amount of human activity in the vicinity of
> >stations. I imagine that Park and ride in Hong Kong would only be in the
> >outer New Town areas (please correct me if I am wrong).
> >
> 
> I can't comment on the Hong Kong situation, but Paul is correct that
> Bangkok Transit System's inner city routes (it runs down the middle of
> Bangkok's busiest inner city roads) make park n' ride unfeasible.
> Furthermore, I would argue that parking supply should not be increased in
> any manner or form in inner city Bangkok. In 1990, parking per 1,000 CBD
> workers in Bangkok was 397 spaces. By comparison, in Singapore it was 164,
> in Tokyo 43, and in Hong Kong 33. Bangkok's "American levels" of parking
> provision have contributed to Bangkok's high private car use and hostile
> conditions of the public environment, and in many cases represent a subsidy
> from the poor to the rich! Building park n' rides in Bangkok would cancel
> out many of the benefits that will be derived from its first mass transit
> system. 
> 
> Craig
> ________________________________________________
> Craig Townsend
> Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy
> Murdoch University
> South Street, Murdoch
> Perth, Western Australia 6150
> 
> tel: (61 8) 9360 6293
> fax: (61 8) 9360 6421
> email: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au
>