BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) Opens in Bangkok

[Gaybutton]

BRT service starts on Sathorn

 

By JEERAWAN PRASOMSAB

THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Published on May 30, 2010

 

Bangkok's first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service between Sathorn and Ratchapruek was officially opened yesterday.

 

The service will run free of charge for a test-run period up until August 31.

 

BRT service starts on Sathorn

 

I haven't been able to find anything in English. I can't find an English route map and the following YouTube presentation is in Thai, but it still gives you an idea of what it is all about and where it goes.

 

If anyone can post English language information, please do.

 

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Try this link:

 

http://www.citilabs.com/.../NChanchareon_Dynasim_Application_in_Bangkok.pdf

[Guest lvdkeyes]

For some reason that didn't work. Try this one.

 

NChanchareon_Dynasim_Application_in_Bangkok.pdf

[Guest fountainhall]

I have been wondering why there were road works on both sides of Naratiwat last week. Whilst I applaud any effort to get more effective public transport systems in the city, the 4-lane Naratiwat leading to Sathorn, Chongnonsi Skyrain station, Silom and Suriwong is an important vehicle artery from the expressway. Reducing it permanently from 4 to 3 lanes in each direction is going to lead to even more horrendous congestion for those with cars, or who like me often use it in a taxi to avoid the congestion on Sathorn.

[Gaybutton]

For some reason that didn't work. Try this one.

 

NChanchareon_Dynasim_Application_in_Bangkok.pdf

That doesn't work either.

 

This link will work:

 

http://www.citilabs.com/usergroup/files/futurapresentations/NChanchareon_Dynasim_Application_in_Bangkok.pdf

 

However, all that file really does is tell what a good idea this BRT is. There is still no English language map of where it goes, where the stations are, the times of operation, or anything else.

 

Is there anyone in Bangkok who can post some good, solid, English language information so that we can know what we need to know?

[Guest fountainhall]

Is there anyone in Bangkok who can post some good, solid, English language information so that we can know what we need to know?

This should work -

 

http://www.chinabrt.org/maps/maps-bangkok.aspx

 

It does not give all the station names, but it clearly illustrates the route and the stops.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Strange, the last link I posted worked when I posted it, now it doesn't work. The link GB posted goes to the site of the link I posted. Does anyone know where the park and ride lot is located?

[Gaybutton]

It does not give all the station names, but it clearly illustrates the route and the stops.

When I click on those red icons, names pop up. Are those not the station names?

[Guest fountainhall]

Are those not the station names?

Yes, they are. I never even thought of doing that!

[Gaybutton]

Yes, they are. I never even thought of doing that!

If you were not aware of it, you can also use that central wheel button on your mouse to zoom in and out on that map.

[Guest fountainhall]

you can also use that central wheel button on your mouse to zoom in and out on that map.

Thanks - yes I was aware of that, but not that clicking on the icons would bring up more information.

[Guest fountainhall]

Reducing it permanently from 4 to 3 lanes in each direction is going to lead to even more horrendous congestion for those with cars, or who like me often use it in a taxi to avoid the congestion on Sathorn.

Around 4:15 this afternoon, I took a taxi along Naratiwat and then on to Nanglingchee (the extension of Suan Phlu where the old Immigration Office was sited) ). As I feared, permanently blocking off one of the four lanes on Naritiwat so that no other traffic can use it - despite the relative infrequency of the new BRT buses, has led to worse congestion on both roads.

 

One thing I fail to understand is why it is necessary to have two lanes on Naratiwat exclusively for the BRT. Since it only takes 3 minutes to get from the Chongnonsri terminus (this is about 100 meters from the BTS station but linked by a skywalk) to Rama 3, I reckon one lane would have been perfectly sufficient provided there was some simple form of direction control.

 

I suggest anyone in that part of Bangkok wanting to head for the expressway anywhere near rush hour should seriously consider joining it further down Rama 3 or further north on Rama 4 or Ploenchit.

[pong]

the 4-lane Naratiwat leading to Sathorn, Chongnonsi Skyrain station, Silom and Suriwong is an important vehicle artery from the expressway. Reducing it permanently from 4 to 3 lanes in each direction is going to lead to even more horrendous congestion

when they opened that road-in the 90-ies, actually it ALSO had a same type of separate busway-but the bus ran then only every 20 mins or so and there were only scarce buildings

The very thing of this is to show the cardrivers that there is an alternative to sitting too long in their cars-speeding by (well, I hope).

the full story of this thing: on the forum of www.2bangkok.com

now that I am in Indonesia-in the superbig town of Jakarta they have now an elaborate system of separate busways-acting like a cheap BTS there, and it works, with several buses per minute!

[Guest fountainhall]

So the new BRT transport initiative is on the point of failure due to inefficient planning and operation. This is the headline in today's The Nation -

 

The Bt2-billion Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)'s Sathorn-Rajapreuk route - which was trial-launched in late May - is reported to be facing many problems, and public dissatisfaction has prompted another four routes in the pipeline to be suspended and possibly cancelled.

It goes on -

 

Krungthep Thanakom executive Amorn Kitchawengkul said traffic congestion in the Rama III Bridge area was prompting police to direct cars into the BRT lane. This, combined with BRT drivers' lack of expertise, meant buses were taking longer than usual. He said there were 20 BRT buses running on the route during the morning rush hours from 6am to 9am (one bus released every five minutes) - and 10 BRT buses from 9.30am to 4pm (one bus every 10 minutes) . . .

 

Wat Phraya Krai precinct Colonel Methee Rakpan said the Rama III area had already been notorious for traffic congestion and, after the BRT opened, it had lost one lane while the number of cars remained the same. The traffic police's short-term solution was to dispatch 20 officers during rush hours to direct traffic at the problematic intersections and to give a green light signal to the side with the largest volume of cars first . . .

 

A 26-year-old company worker, who gave his first name as Pongsak, said he drove his car to work every day using the Phetkasem-Rama III-Asoke route. As one lane of Rama III Road was now reserved for the BRT, the traffic became jammed, and it took him up to two hours to drive home compared with the previous one-hour journey.

 

The BRT system had also made some spots accident-prone - such as at the Sathorn Bridge towards Tha Phra Intersection where traffic lights for the BRT and other cars were side by side, confusing motorists, he said. After using the BRT for two days, he felt it took longer than driving a car to work. Halting at bus stops was a slow procedure and the buses still suffered from traffic jams because they had to share some HOV parts of the route with other vehicles.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/09/02/national/Troubled-rapid-bus-route-gets-deadline-30137076.html

 

Well, I more or less predicted this!

 

Whilst I applaud any effort to get more effective public transport systems in the city, the 4-lane Naratiwat leading to Sathorn, Chongnonsi Skyrain station, Silom and Suriwong is an important vehicle artery from the expressway. Reducing it permanently from 4 to 3 lanes in each direction is going to lead to even more horrendous congestion for those with cars, or who like me often use it in a taxi to avoid the congestion on Sathorn.

In the last 3 months, I have seen horrendous jams build up all around the Sathorn and Rama 3 areas. Anyone with any sense - certainly any traffic expert - could have told the planners that you simply can not lop off one traffic lane in each direction and expect anything but a huge extra build up of traffic all around. This is especially true when you have the buses running at only 5 and 10 minute intervals. It's a total waste of roadspace. Bus-only lanes work in other major cities only because they have a large volume of buses using them, as Pong points out in his post above. Not so Bangkok.

 

It's basically a good idea, but it desperately needs some experts to come in and sort the mess out!

[bkkguy]

perhaps Bangkok should be trying this instead:

 

China to build ginormous buses that cars can drive under

 

bkkguy

[Guest fountainhall]

perhaps Bangkok should be trying this instead:

What a fantastic idea. But it's more like a giant train than a bus I reckon.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Now that's what I call ingenuity and thoughtful planning.

[Guest beachlover]

What happens if cars want to change lanes?

[Guest fountainhall]

What happens if cars want to change lanes?

The model in the photo clearly shows there are two lanes of traffic under the "bus" with a broken white line down the middle. That clearly means traffic can interchange between these two lanes. Obviously there must be entry and exit points along the route to access these sub-"bus" lanes.

[Guest beachlover]

True... It would mainly work for main roads and freeways. Don't think it will work for small streets though. Interesting idea.

[Guest fountainhall]

Don't think it will work for small streets though. Interesting idea.

Looking at the size of these "buses", I believe that is an accurate but rather superfluous comment.

 

Talking of small streets, 20 years ago, I worked in the Japanese HQ of an American company. At the time, there was a huge fuss in the USA about how the US was importing zillions of Japanese cars but Japan was importing only dozens of US made ones. Lawmakers and others who led the charge for Japan to "open its doors" totally failed to understand that the Japanese drive on the left, whereas no US automaker provided left-hand drive cars (the Japanese of course imported only right-hand drive vehicles to the US); and that the vast majority of streets in Japanese cities are so small, no American car then being built was small enough to safely drive through them.

 

The Chairman of the company would visit 2 or 3 times a year. He insisted on being driven in a Lincoln sedan to his meetings. I once happened to be in the car as the chauffeur was desperately trying to negotiate his way down one of Tokyo's very narrow side streets and then turn into an even narrower one. With many cars coming in the opposite direction, the driver had no way to avoid a major crunching scrape with a corner building. OK, this was partly the chauffeur's fault. But blame also fell on the Chairman in my view who should have known better or been better advised.