[sustran] Re: Bangkok BRT cancelled (doesn't make driving easier)

[Carlos F. Pardo SUTP]

This decision is the shoe that hadn't dropped. Time and again, Bangkok
officials said that they didn't understand what would happen to cars if a
BRT would be in place. The fright of removing space from cars was such, that
one of their designs (from BMA TTD, the transport authority) removed the
sidewalk so cars wouldn't lose so much space. Seemingly, they weren't aware
of the fact that people would actually use the buses, or walk to the
stations.

A funnier anecdote was when they asked me about the Car free day, and after
some time of discussing, they said "but wait, cars are not allowed on the
streets during that day? It's impossible!"

If Bangkok doesn't address demand properly, and keeps expecting to relieve
congestion by providing more space to cars, it will keep on being a bad (or
worst) practice in transport. Their policy decisions on transport are only
aesthetic and based on paramenters of "what looks more modern" or "what
would make us look wealthier to others". That is stranger when their society
is 85% Buddhist.

Best regards,

Carlos F. Pardo 
*views expressed do not represent those of employers.


-----Original Message-----
From: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Jonathan.E.D.Richmond at ns-mr11.netsolmail.com
Sent: Viernes, 24 de Febrero de 2006 02:17 a.m.
To: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] Bangkok BRT cancelled (doesn't make driving
easier)

-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+eric.britton=ecoplan.org at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+eric.britton=ecoplan.org at list.jca.apc.org]
On Behalf Of Jonathan E. D. Richmond
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 4:24 AM
To: Sustran List
Subject: [sustran] BRT cancelled


>From The Nation

Feb. 24, 2006

CITY TRANSPORT
Rapid bus service runs out of steam

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service, a pet project of Bangkok Governor
Apirak Kosayodhin, is likely to flop due to several setbacks, especially
the lack of money, demand and governmental support, a city official said
yesterday.


The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is planning to shelve the
Bt2.7-billion project and blame the government for its lack of support and
deliberate delay in granting an operating licence, the BMA source said.


The BMA's Traffic and Transport Department has been assigned to plan the
exit strategy.


The source was referring to the initial findings of a meeting of officials
at the Traffic and Transport Department and divisions under the BMA's
Public Works Department on Wednesday. Apirak's secretary Sukij
Kong-thorranin called the meeting.


Officials agreed it would be difficult to persuade motorists to switch to
the BRT, the source said. The BRT was one of Apirak's most high-profile
campaign pledges. Its goal was to cut traffic congestion.


Under the plan, special buses would run on the lane beside the median
strip of certain streets. Unlike city buses, the BRT buses would have
doors on the right to allow passengers to board and get off at stops on
the median strips.


Traffic Police, however, complained that the loss of one lane to the BRT
would only worsen traffic congestion while the BMA has yet to decide
whether to buy or lease the first batch of BRT buses.


The first two routes - Nawamin-Kasetsart roads and Chong
Nonsee-Ratchaphruek roads - were to open last October.


The Highways Department, which oversees the Nawamin-Kasetsart route, was
reluctant to support the BRT project because the median strip on this
route supports columns for a section of a raised expressway that is being
built.


Officials were afraid that BRT commuters could be injured or killed by
falling debris during the expressway's construction.


The Interior Ministry, which supervises the BMA, recently issued a
directive asking it to put the BRT project on hold while it consults other
government agencies on the BMA request to obtain a permanent operating
license for the BRT service.


The BMA source also said Sukij was satisfied with progress on the
extension of the Skytrain's Silom route from Sathorn Road on the Phra
Nakhon side to Taksin Road on the Thon Buri side.


The 2.2-kilometre elevated railway viaduct was built solely with the BMA
funding.


Jeerawan Prasomsap


The Nation



-----
Jonathan Richmond
Visiting Scholar
Department of Urban Planning and Design
Graduate School of Design
Harvard University
312 George Gund Hall
48 Quincy St.
Cambridge MA 02138-3000

Mailing address:
182 Palfrey St.
Watertown MA 02472-1835

(617) 395-4360

e-mail: richmond at alum.mit.edu
http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/









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