Bangkok Transport
Bangkok public transport network: The good, the bad and the ugly
Bangkok has added two new Skytrain stations. For the first time in over 12 years, the Skytrain was successfully expanded on the Silom line, crossing finally the Chao Praya River to serve the Thonburi side through two new stops, Krung Thon Buri and Wongwian Yai.
Does it mean the start of a new era of fast-expanding public transport for the Thai capital? Thailand can so far be proud of detaining probably the world record for the longest planning in any public infrastructure. It took some 40 years to build a new airport for the capital and almost as much time for the Skytrain (BTS) and the Underground (MRT). Just to add trains on the Silom Line crossing the bridge over the Chao Praya River took almost seven years.
However, not all is gloom. A new Skytrain extension is making progress. By the end of next year, the Sukhumvit line will be prolonged by another 6 km, adding five new stations to Bang Na, on the way to Suvarnabhumi airport.
Hurray? Not completely. With the next projects, Bangkok is back to its old woes. Let’s look for example at the future Purple Line, planned since 2000. According to the latest information, there is little chance to see a train running along its tracks before 2013 at best - most probably not before 2015.
And let’s forget about the future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), almost completed over a year and a half ago and playing already “Sleeping Beauty.” Aimed to cut time to 15 minutes between Silom and Rama III Boulevard, the new line is blocked due to “irregularities” in the concession attributed by the City of Bangkok.
And what about the Airport Express Line? It was originally planned for 2007 offering a non-stop connection from Makassan station in the city center, as well as a commuter line. Earlier this year, the government then announced that the Airport Express would open in August.
Unfortunately, Serirat Prasutanond, president of the Airports Authority of Thailand, officially confirmed in exclusivity to eTurboNews that the link will not be available to the public before December of this year.
Well, let’s look at it in a typical Thai “Mai Pen Rai” way (meaning “never mind”). An additional four-month delay is still nothing compared to 40 years!
Comments
More on bad & ugly: BTS Noise
When the skytrain was being built, engineers promised that it would help reduce the city's noise pollution. Instead, the concessionaire soon installed televisions inside the cars that pump noisy advertisements that riders cannot escape.
Loudspeakers on platforms also blast annoying commercials at passengers as they wait, and at residents of nearby buildings. This affects hundreds of thousands of Bangkokians every day.
The concessionaire, the Bangkok Mass Transit Public Company, claimed respond to customer complaints in its successful application for OHSAS 18001 certification, even though groups like the Quiet Bangkok campaign have called for the loudspeakers to be turned off.
The BTS should live up to its claims of corporate social responsibility and switch to silent advertising using on-screen subtitles.
Quiet BTS please!
The reason infrastructure projects take so long in Thailand is that they have nothing to do with infrastructure whatsoever. It's just a big game wherein politicians try to make the most money possible. The extension that was just opened and the ones about to open exist entirely because of Thailand's political problems. The wongwianyai line and sukhumvit lines were being constructed by competing political parties during a time of intense political fighting with an uncertain outcome. After the coup constuction moved to the airport link, with the new govt trying to prove they get stuff done too.
The airport which took 40 years was actually a rushed job with lots of corners cut, the ousted prime minister only put it together in the last few years because his excellent business connections and know-how allowed him to make more money off the project's quick completion than all the other politicians made combined in the previous 40 years of "planning."
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