Traffic: This is going to be fun to watch
 

The metropolitan police chief has been ordered to reduce traffic congestion in Bangkok by 40-50% by February.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/777317

Yeah, like that's going to happen.

According to the Bangkok Post: "Acting Metropolitan Police chief Sanit Mahathavorn has been given three months to solve Bangkok's traffic gridlock otherwise he could face the music, police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said." Most amusing. :)

Acting Metropolitan Police chief Sanit Mahathavorn


The key word being "Acting", one assumes this is just a way to remove Sanit.

FWIW, there is a massive struggle on-going between factions within the RTP, and the RTA. Old grudges are being settled, and new ones fomented. Definitely not a good time with so many potential conflicts.

Got here a day or two after the article was posted, but have to agree:

Traffic: This is going to be fun to watch

There is really nothing that could be done in three YEARS, and then only if .....

How does that saying go? Chances are slim and none, and Slim just left town.

Got here a day or two after the article was posted


There have been/will be quite a few practice sessions for the "Bike for Dad" event (Dec. 11, may be declared a holiday) so that has been messing things up quite a bit with road closures, people on public tranpo. with bikes, practice viewers, etc.

Next week Dec 7, 10 and (possibly) 11 are holidays so traffic should be down (except for 11th) but public transpo. is swamped already as we enter high season, so expect challenges there.

They've had the answer for years but refuse to implement it.
 

A civil engineer, which I am not, could explain to you that traffic flows in a predictable wave pattern. This reality is what's used to keep other major cities from encountering gridlock.

The answer to the problem was presented to the Metropolitan governor years ago: get rid of all the policemen sitting in booths manually switching their own intersection's lights and put in a city-wide automated system which is calibrated for the ebb-and-flow of Bangkok's traffic. Will that cure everything, of course not, but it would make things flow a lot more smoothly.

So the hurdles to simply implement the solution are two-fold: 1) what to do with the hundreds (thousands?) of obsolete button pushers? and 2) how to replace the revenue streams from all the folks that pay to have their route turn green for them when they call ahead?

This is a hidden fact of Bangkok life: people pay to keep their intersections moving. Ever wonder why a light is 2 minutes one day and 7 minutes the next at the exact same time of day? This wreaks havoc on all the other sois and thanons into feed into that intersection and the waves of traffic that begin spiralling outward behind them...

The answer to the problem was presented to the Metropolitan governor years ago

Meh. Many, many contributing factors. The light management is but one minor factor. And without the thousands of police to manually direct traffic, Thai drivers would hopelessly gridlock themselves for days. I can't even begin to describe how hopeless they are as drivers.

The current Bangkok Governor is a right twit.

Too many cars, no restrictions (inner city fees), illegally parked vehicles, not enough public transpo., poorly designed roadways/intersections, surface trains, VIP convoys, weather, road conditions and a gazillion other factors contribute to the traffic woes.

Too late. Challenges have already arrived for those days. There are planned road closures on 7, 10, 16 for a funeral procession and rehearsals (Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara). Roads closed starting 8:00 for most of the day. The procession route starts on Phra Sumen Road at Sip Sam Hang intersection, and runs to Mahakan Fortress intersection, turns left to Lan Luang Road, right to Krung Kasem Road, and right to Luang Road before Wat Debsirindrawas.

A couple of years ago I had been at Bumrungrad and walked out to Soi 3 to grab a taxi. Traffic was 100% stopped. Couldn't see the sense in sitting in a taxi going nowhere watching the meter tick. So I decided to just walk toward Sukhumvit. I could see the red light at Suk and Soi 3. I figured when I see the light turn green I would grab a cab. Walked all the way to Sukhumvit and the light never turned green once. A good 10 minutes if not more. I'm sure traffic on Soi 3 was backed up well beyond Petchaburi. Not sure how this was supposed to help traffic.

I noticed all the cars illegally parked on my soi were booted today.



Police to launch 5 measures to ease traffic in Bangkok in 3 months

The Metropolitan Police Bureau has meted out five measures to ease traffic gridlock by 60 percent in Bangkok in three months’ time. The measures include: strict enforcement of traffic laws focusing on illegal parking with illegally-parked cars to be towed away and the motorists heavily fined; no double-parking by buses at bus stops, initially at 46 problematic bus stops; traffic rearrangement at 11 Bangkok-bound routes in four corners of the city.

Traffic police will be stationed at entrances and exits of expressways to coordinate with expressway officials to endure there is no gridlock and to arrest offenders who cause traffic problem.

There are about 300,000-400,000 new cars in Bangkok but there is no new road, said the officer.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pol...ok-in-3-months

How about picking a few problem intersections (Ploenchit/Wittayu or Ratchprasong or I'm sure many others) and put a couple of cops on foot. Any car still in the intersection when the light turns red gets cited. On the spot. Any car entering the intersection after the light turns yellow cited. Any car changing lanes in the intersection cited. Paint all the curbs on Ploenchit red and cite and tow anyone who parks.

The cops would probably get enough money from the fines to pay the salaries of the cops at the intersections.

Don't know if it's related to the demand for decreased traffic congestion, but I sat near JJ yesterday evening while a traffic cop waves various cars through the process of merging into traffic. I only had to sit there for 5 minutes as opposed to the usual smooth entry onto the expressway. .... arrggh!