[sustran] BRT cancelled

[Jonathan E. D. Richmond]

>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
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e-mail: richmond at alum.mit.edu
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