Bangkok Traffic
I recently reported that I was in Thailand for a couple for weeks a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed a sign for Bangkok (BKK) car free day, however the rest of the text was in Thai so I was unable to ascertain when it was. This sign intrigued me because BKK is one of those cities that doesn’t hide that its a city, traffic is a huge problem there. Imagining Bangkok without cars for a minute let alone a day is a refreshing thought, I wished for it often as I wandered on her network of roads and streets and allies. Food and fumes merge in the streets of BKK, At night the gutters become cafes and through the day the treacherous sidewalks become swamps in monsoonal rains. People live and eat in the streets, they walk, sleep, beg, buy, converse in between the cars out under the smog filled sky.
I have since found out that Car-Free day was facilitated by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and actually happens every year on the 20th of September and this year there is mixed reports about it success, some say it had no effect what so ever, as even BMA staff still hopped in their cars to get to work. Cyclist Sopon Benjakosonpreecha who cycles 60 kms to and from work everyday, reported to the Daily Xpress / Asia New Network that it had made little impact as people were still in there cars and few people participated in car-free day.
Bangkok is the country’s biggest pollute, in 2008 alone there were 2.5 million new cars in, and Bangkok residents make an average 12 million trips by car in the capital each day, which contributes to the average speed of 10km per hour in peak hour. However the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) is an efficient way to get around Bangkok, and I was often perplexed that people even bother driving in a city that has a walking speed faster than the driving speed.
It would be an amazing feat if Bangkok Car Free day took off, and although after 3 years it doesn’t seem apparent that change is on the horizon, there is hope and history says that ‘from little things big things grow.’
I think this car free day is an awesom idea. I think Brisbane’s Lord Mayor would be on board. We could have free (and extra) public transport.. a festival to coincide. A feel inspired!