UMEÅ UNIVERSITY Department of Social and Economic Geography Social and Economic Geography C Spring Semester 2006 Supervisor: Olof Stjernström
The Bangkok Skytrain
- The transportation solution for Bangkok people?
Magnus Bengtsson
Table Of Contents
Table Of Contents .......................................................................................................1 Abstract .......................................................................................................................1 Acknowledgment .........................................................................................................2 GLOSSERY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS...........................................................3 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................4 2 THE PROBLEM ......................................................................................................6
2.1 Aims................................................................................................................6 2.2 Method ............................................................................................................7
3 BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................9 3.1 Thailand ..........................................................................................................9 3.2 Bangkoks fast development .............................................................................9 3.3 Transportation facts in Bangkok ....................................................................10 3.4 The Skytrain ..................................................................................................11
4 PREVIOUS STUDIES – FRAMEWORK FOR MRT PROJECTS.....................13 4.1 Economy and Finance of a MRT project ........................................................14 4.2 The poor and travel disadvantaged people......................................................15 4.3 Metros and land use .......................................................................................20 4.4 Requirements for MRT Planning ...................................................................22 4.5 City Development Plan ..................................................................................23 4.6 MRT - Metros................................................................................................24 4.7 Route.............................................................................................................26 4.8 The Vertical Alignment decision....................................................................26
5 RESULT .................................................................................................................28 5.1 Interview with Mr Vasin Thammanuban............................................................28 5.2 Results from Secondary Data.............................................................................37
6 DISCUSSION .........................................................................................................41 7 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................44 8 REFERENCES.......................................................................................................47
8.1 Books and Reports.........................................................................................47 8.2 Internet ..........................................................................................................49 8.3 Interviews......................................................................................................49
Figure 1. The Bangkok Skytrain at Thong Lo Station. 5
Figure 2. The Skytrain Legend in Bangkok. 5
Figure 3. The parking space at Mo Chit Skytrain Station. 8
Figure 4. Public transportation with a canal boat. 12
Figure 5. The Skytrain route at Victory Monument. 31
Figure 6. Public transportation with a bus. 33
1
Abstract
This thesis discusses different factors about The Bangkok Skytrain and is
investigating if the Skytrain was good planned in order to reach out to
majority of people living in Bangkok.
Bangkok is today one of the most congested cities with traffic deadlocks
that could subsist for several hours. The Skytrain may be one part of the
solution to get rid of these problems and make Bangkok less congested and
with fewer traffic jams.
The results show that there are several important key factors that influences
people choice of using the Bangkok Skytrain as a public transportation
method. The key factors include the people choice of owning their own car
as a status symbol, as well as the availability to travel with it. The main
difficulty with the Skytrain is that its routes do not cover the big
settlements where people are actually living. Other factors that influences
people choice about choosing the Skytrain instead of the buses is the high-
ticket price and the bad supply of a good feeder service to and from the
Skytrain stations.
2
Acknowledgment
I would like to express my appreciation to SIDA that made this trip
possible. I would like to thank all the staff at Assumption University for the
help and support during my field study in Bangkok. In Sweden I would like
to thank the staff at The Kulturgeografiska Institution at Umeå University
for your help and support during the writing process. And to my beloved
family for all the support in my life while writing this thesis.
3
GLOSSERY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS
BMA Bangkok Metropolitan Authority BOT Build Operate Transfer BTSC Bangkok Mass Transit System Company Limited CBD Central Business District GDP Gross Domestic Product LRT Light Rail Transit MRT Mass Rapid Transit NGO Non Governmental Organization OCMRT Office of the Commission for Management of Road Traffic SRT State Railway of Thailand UN United Nations
4
1 INTRODUCTION
The country Thailand and especially its capital Bangkok have for the past
twenty-five years experienced a fast growth in both the private and the
community sectors of the economy. The rapid development of the economy
in the past twenty-five years has led to a high-speed expansion of the city
capital Bangkok. Today one can see that the city of Bangkok is making
great efforts to get rid of the problems that the rapid development over the
past twenty-five years of the city resulted in. There are many issues that the
city of Bangkok must work with and solve to get a sustainable city for the
future. Some of the problems the city faces that it must deal with for the
consideration of the future, are about the water pollution, the garbage
containment, the air pollution and the infamous traffic congestions in the
city.
The traffic congestion is an immense issue for the city and its people living
in it. The notorious traffic in the streets of Bangkok, especially in the CBD
(Central Business District) at peak times affects a majority of the people
that’s working in that area. The time aspect is essential to look at because
one can spend hours in traffic jams on the roads and only gains a few
kilometres from the point where you originally started. The other aspect
that has a big effect to the city is the pollution of the air from all the
vehicles that are stuck in the congestions around the city. The source from
which these two aspects of problems initially come from is the lack of a
decent infrastructure planning and the poor variety of public transports
from the government to the public. The further development of a good and
effective infrastructure planning with public mass transit modes in mind
could be the key to solve the congestion issues for the future. Until a
couple of years ago the only public transports were buses, which these
themselves were stuck in congestions and polluted the air and did not solve
any of the previous mentioned problems.
5
Today the public transports also consist of a six-year-old Skytrain and a
two-year-old M.R.T. Chaloem Ratchamongkhon subway.1 These two mass
transit modes are possibly a step in the right direction to solve the public
transports issue that is affecting the whole city of Bangkok and its people
living in it. With this study I will examine one of these mass transit modes
in a deeper context, namely the Skytrain.
Figure 1: The Bangkok Skytrain at Thong Lo Station. (Source: Personal)
Figure 2: The Skytrain Legend in Bangkok. (Source: BTS Homepage)
1 The Skytrain opened 5 December 1999 and the M.R.T Chaloem Ratchamongkhon opened 3 July 2004.
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2 THE PROBLEM
The Skytrain has operated since 1999 and have helped serve people with
their demands on travel and the advantage as a mass transit mode compared
with the buses, but are this mass transit planned to serve a majority of
people in Bangkok?
It is somehow difficult to give a direct answer to that question because
there are many factors that matter. This thesis will try to give some aspects
to the factors that are involved.
2.1 Aims
The aim of this study is to analyze what the underlying factors are why the
Skytrain did not become as effective as planned to the public as a new mass
transit mode in Bangkok.
The questions at issue:
• Was the planning of the Skytrain optimal in Bangkok?
• Are there any underlying factors that influence the people not to use
the Skytrain?
• What advantages and disadvantages have the other public
transportation modes compared Skytrain in Bangkok?
• Do the Skytrain have a future as mass transit transport in Bangkok?
• Do the poor people benefit from the Skytrain development?
7
2.2 Method
The study will primarily be based on a theoretical approach were previous
studies on Mass Rapid Transits will lead to a conclusion based on mostly
secondary sources and data that are relevant to the subject. The sources and
data used for this study are foremost gathered from the Internet, from UN
(United nations) branches, databases, different NGOs (Non Governmental
Organisations) and from the Thai government. The data gathered contains
published reports, newspaper articles and thesis. Because of the outline of a
MFS (Minor Field Studies) scholarship thesis the proper work method must
include a large theoretical study. A quantity of fieldwork studies will be
included, for example an interview with a person that has the proper
knowledge about the subject of study.
The interview method is based on a qualitative approach where an
informant interview was conducted. An informant interview is used to
interview a person that has a lot of knowledge in the particular subject of
study but does not take any part in it oneself.2 The material from the
interview was used in the results section. The same day that the interview
was completed, the interview was written down on the computer, so no
important facts were forgotten. It is vital to write down the interview as
soon as possible, otherwise facts can be biased or that one interprets the
answers different. When the interview was written down on the computer it
was sent back to the person and he modified the interview from
misunderstood statements and approved it and sent it back to me.3
For the source critics on this thesis I am aware of that part 4, previous
studies – Framework for MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) projects could be
more extensive when it comes to additional sources. The sources I used for
that chapter is enough I think, to give pre knowledge about MRT projects.
When doing a thesis there are no regulations on how many sources one
2 Holme, Solvang, 1997, Page. 104. 3 Holme, Solvang, 1997, Page. 140.
8
must use when writing a thesis. As well for the interview, it would have
been interesting to have a few more additional opinions about the subject.
For the interview, it was hard to find the right people to contact and the
time restraint made it tough to do more interviews. Most of the sources are
taken from the Internet, in the form of reports. The reports are trust
worthier than raw information that one can find on a webpage as text.
Some of the sources do have old statistics in the form of facts, but they
should be somewhat accurate for today.
Figure 3: The parking space at Mo Chit Skytrain Station. (Source: Personal)
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3 BACKGROUND
3.1 Thailand
Thailand is located in the centre of the South – East Asian mainland. The
country is adjacent to Burma in the west and Laos and Cambodia to the
east. The peninsular in the south is bordered by Malaysia. Most of
Thailand’s landmass lies north of the coastline of its capital Bangkok. The
total area of the country is 513,115 sq km. The peninsula in the south
stretches about 960 km to the Malaysian border. Facing the Gulf of
Thailand and the Andaman Sea. 4
The population in Thailand are widespread all over the country. There are
about 65 million5 people living in the country and in the capital Bangkok
it’s estimated that about 7 million6 people are registered in the city.
Bangkok has a daytime population of about 10 million7 people.
3.2 Bangkoks fast development
Bangkok, also known as Krung Thep (City of angles) in Thai, became by
the year 1782 the capital city of Siam (the old name for Thailand). The city
has for many centuries been the major Southeast Asian urban centre in the
region.8
The rapid growth in the economy began around 1985 and lasted to the early
1990s. During this period the country was one of the fastest growing
economies in the world. The annual GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
throughout this period was an average of 9.2 %. From the year 1992 to the
Asia crisis in 1997 the country experienced an annual average growth in
4 Lynn, Daniel (2004), Page. 1094. 5 Bangkok Post Internet, (2005-11-02). 6 BMA Internet, (2005-11-02). 7 Ibid. (2005-11-02). 8 Dearborn, Fitzroy (1999), Page. 63.
10
GDP of 8.2%.9 During these periods Bangkok became stronger in its
economy and hence attracted population from the countryside to move into
Bangkok for work opportunities. The outcome of the vast growth of
Bangkok resulted in the urge of a functional infrastructure that didn’t exist
at the time, and still today does not exist.10
3.3 Transportation facts in Bangkok
There are several ways of transportation possibilities in Bangkok. But there
are mainly three transportation modes that are more common used by the
Bangkok citizen than other transportation modes. These transportation
modes include the car, the motorcycle and the public transportation
services.
The car and motorcycle ownership in Bangkok exceeds other Asian cities
in the region. The total vehicle ownership in Bangkok is 296 vehicles per
1000 persons. Cars represent 56 per cent of the total vehicle ownership in
Bangkok, the rest by motorcycles. The European average regarding total
vehicle ownership is 341 vehicles per 1000 persons. Although, the total
vehicle ownership in Europe consists of 96 per cent cars compared to the
56 per cent in Bangkok. Other Asian cities like Tokyo, Singapore and
Hong Kong has a lower total vehicle ownership than Bangkok, 261 in
Tokyo, 143 in Singapore and 47 in Hong Kong per 1000 persons. The
average among the Asian cities11 is 167 vehicles per 1000 persons,
compared to Bangkok the average constitutes almost only half the quantity
of vehicles found in Bangkok.12
9 Lynn, Daniel, (2004), Page. 1114. 10 Ibid. Page. 1114. 11 Asian Cities: Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Kuala Lumpor and Tokyo. 12 Jeff Kenworthy, Internet, (2005-10-02).
11
There are about 600 new cars added daily in Bangkok and the length of
road per 1000 person is only 0.6 metres. The average among Asian cities is
0.7 metres. Amongst American cities the number is 6.6 metres per 1000
persons.13
At daily basis the private transportation with cars and motorcycles
constitutes around 55 per cent, while the daily trips with public transports
like buses only represented 33 per cent in the Asian cities. The annual
travel by public transport in proportion with other Asian cities was only 33
per cent. The Asian cities14 annual travel by public transport was 64 per
cent.15
3.4 The Skytrain
The Skytrain was opened for public use the fifth of December 1999. The
Skytrain is operated and maintained by the private corporation Bangkok
Mass Transit System, BTSC. The company operates it by a BOT (Build
Operate Transfer) agreement. The Skytrain consists of a 23 km elevated
railway system that operates above the street system in Bangkok. It serves
mostly around a route that consists of tourism attractions, shopping malls
and important business centres. The Skytrain has today two lines that it
operates daily, the Sukhumvit line and the Silom line.16
There are today 23 stations along the two routes and two of the stations are
interchange stations with the subway. The ticket price for a single journey
varies from 10 to 40 baht17.18 Recent Skytrain passenger numbers shows
that there are almost 400000 passengers travelling at daily basis with the
Skytrain. Monday to Thursdays there are an average of 400000 passengers
that use the Skytrain daily, on Fridays an average of 450000 passengers. At
13 Jeff Kenworthy, Internet, (2005-10-02). 14 Asian Cities: Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. 15 Jeff Kenworthy, Internet, (2005-10-02). 16 BMTC, Internet, (2005-11-09). 17 1 Swedish krona is 5.118 Baht. (2005-11-09). 18 BMTC, Internet, (2005-11-09).
12
the weekends the passenger numbers declines, Saturdays there are an
average of 300000 passengers and Sundays the average is 200000
passengers.19
Figure 4: Public transportation with a canal boat. (Source: Personal)
19 2Bangkok, Internet, (2005-11-09).
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4 PREVIOUS STUDIES – FRAMEWORK FOR MRT
PROJECTS
Mass rapid transit or the abbreviation MRT is a smaller part of the
definition that we can call public transportation. Public transportation is
defined as an organized transportation service that is available to the
general public.20 The term MRT are often used in an urban context that
includes several specifically transportation modes along either fixed track
rail systems or segregated busways on the common road.21 The different
modes of transportation that the MRT term includes are usually busways,
LRT (Light Rail Transit), metros and suburban rail.22 The mass rapid
transit service in especially developing cities considers the essential
requirement that it can carry a huge numbers of passengers quickly from
one destination to another.23
There are many aspects to consider when a government or a private
company should carry out a MRT project. This chapter will provide a
theoretical framework that will describe the certain aspects that are
important to take in view when carrying out an MRT Project. The
theoretical aspects will constitute a base from what a conclusion about the
Bangkok Skytrain are going to be done.
20World Book, Inc (1999), Page. 392. 21 World Bank, Cities on the move, Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 109. 22 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. Abstract. 23 Ibid. Page. 2.
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4.1 Economy and Finance of a MRT project
The most common ways to finance a MRT project are either by a BOT
project or by government funds. The BOT method in development
countries today has become more frequent used than government funding,
when carrying out a MRT project. BOT stands for Build – Operate –
Transfer, it is often used when governments want to hand over a project to
a private company, then the company builds and operate the project for a
number of years, then it hand back the project to the government. The
advantages of the BOT concession, with private funds are that it is thought
as a way to get rid of the unfavourable fiscal burden. The fiscal burdens on
new metros are often high unless the systems are very thoughtfully utilized
and the fares are rather high.24 The other benefits to have a BOT
concession instead of a government-funded project is that the demands that
the government has on the project cannot be financed with the public
funds. The result is that private funding is the only option left. Private
funding is also sometimes considered as an easy option when choosing
how to finance a MRT project. Improved efficiency is another benefit of
BOT projects. The private sector is more liberated to use other private
corporations to implement, manage and reveal risks of the projects than the
government. There is also a belief that some of the risks concerning the
projects are transferred to the private sector.25
For an example, in Buenos Aires between 1993 - 1999, the metro and
suburban rail systems increased with 75 percent of its previous length, and
the number of trains on time by 20 percent, the patronage increased by 125
percent even tough the fare rose by 30 percent over the period in real terms.
At the end the subsidy fell from 1 $ to 0.10 $, a decrease by 90 percent.
This was a result of private management. It had expanded the service
supply and the cost recovery, and also eased the fiscal burden.26
24 World Bank, Cities on the move Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 117. 25 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11), Page. 97. 26 World Bank, Cities on the move Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 118.
15
Significant advantages can be the result of private construction and
management. The essential requirement to benefit from a BOT project is
that the project is planned within a greater context, which is a carefully
overall planned strategy. The propositions of such public policy objectives
must be accepted by the public sector and be part of a well-constructed
concession plan.27
The report, Cities on the move clearly points out one important impact with
a private financial built public transport infrastructure. The negative impact
can arise when the system has a low ridership and must maximize its
revenues (example given, raise the ticket prices), this results that the poor is
excluded from the system and external benefits are lost. The report
mentions the Bangkok Skytrain as an example where this has occurred.28
4.2 The poor and travel disadvantaged people
In development countries there are often an issue how to handle the
question regarding poverty alleviation in terms of an affordable service that
is critical for the poor versus a good quality service that would attract the
car users and hence lower the congestion and air pollution. The problem is
how to satisfy both parts when planning for a MRT service. The difficulty
arises when only public finances should fund a MRT project. The public
finances can probably not continue to have the subsidy because of the
dilemma of a good quality service for car users and low tariffs for the poor,
which are not good for the finances in a long term.29
The most favourable transport for the poor is buses or busways. Especially
for those that live outside the city This transit mode creates major
convenience for them mainly if the buses are either “open systems” or
“trunk and – feeder system”. The poor people are frequently using this
27 World Bank, Cities on the move Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 118. 28 Ibid. Page. 122. 29 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries, Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 8.
16
transit mode and this results in spending many hours in traffic congestions
and in the street level environment that contains polluted air. The poor
could improve their health if the buses were improved, on the other hand
the possibilities of more expensive tariffs would become an issue.30
Poor people are also included by the travel disadvantaged. This group of
people have difficulties to transport themselves within the mass transit
system, because of problems with the buses, sidewalks that is not adjusted
and the lack of pedestrian phases at street signals. Although some of the
travel disadvantaged such as the encumbered will still be able to use the
mass transit services.31
Metros are as a mass transit mode more complex to describe the effects
upon poor people than the buses and busways. There are a number of
advantages that the poor people will benefit from when this type of mass
transit offers its service. By the trickle down effect metros may benefit the
poor, as it reduces congestion, pollution and accidents. Upon construction
the metros will offer plenty of jobs to the poor and when the metro service
is open to the public the busways and buses may be more efficient since the
buses are less overcrowded and the congestion on the roads are slightly
reduced.32
The implementation of a metro is often difficult since poor people often
will be relocated and have to leave their homes and jobs for the planned
metro. Along the track, if the metro is elevated and around the stations and
depot the land value often increases and the results are that poor people
must move to new areas, since they cannot afford the new prices. It is also
common that the metro is planned along a CBD corridor where poor people
do not find the services they need, and hence they do not use it. The travel
disadvantaged that are mobility impaired does find it difficult to use the
30 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries, Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 9. 31 Ibid. Page. 9. 32 Ibid. Page. 9.
17
metro if lifts are not provided or the shortage of escalators at the stations.
Other travel disadvantaged may have problems to afford the ticket.33
To approach the poor in a region or a city and to acquire some kind of
MRT policy there are generally 4 broad ways to identify the poor. To set
the context of the poor to a MRT policy the liable institution can target
individuals or groups, by a geographical measure and give reduced fares to
public transport passengers as a group.34
Targeting individuals is usually the most common way to identify the poor.
The poor that are in urge support for help should receive it. This method is
preferred for its efficiency reasons. The difficulty with this method is to
identify the poor whom sometimes are not so easy to distinguish.35
The targeting of identifiable groups in the community are vanishing, the
cause is that the government have no budget to repay the private operators
for their acceptance with the indulgences because of the subsidy. In many
of the former Soviet Union countries the targeting of poor groups, usually
elderly people, disabled and war veterans, are giving free or inexpensive
travel throughout the city. This is a direct impact on the poor but there are
also people that are not poor that benefits from the poverty alleviation.36
In a geographical context the poor can be identified where they live. Often
if they live in large communities that are concentrated, they are easy to
identify and taking appropriate measures for. There are a few possibilities
that can be undertaken to ease the burden of the poor. To improve the
public transports, the government, when they identified the poor areas, can
build roads that will help the poor groups in the area to have easier access
to the public transport system.37 33 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 10. 34 Ibid. Page. 153. 35 Ibid. Page. 153. 36 Ibid. Page. 153. 37 Ibid. Page. 154.
18
In the poor areas that have public transports that have been granted by the
liable institution the service can be improved by planning and preferences
of precise service needs. Sometimes these enhancements require subsidies
from both the government as well as the operator of the transport service.
These subsidies are aimed to support the poor without an influence on the
public budget. This is rather hard to accomplish if the governmental
institutions are not effective and have a prerequisite for subsidies. The
outcome of a service in a poor area is less certain if market forces instead
of government institutions determine the transport services in that area. If
the poor area is rather difficult to serve with public transports or the cost is
high the poor will likely not benefit from a private public transport
company.38
The poor can take advantage of much less effective form of geographical
targeting, namely flat rates. The flat rates are a fare that have an equal cost
and does not consider how far the person travels. This form of fare can
support poor people that live far away from the city centre with reduced
costs of transportation. In Brazil the flat rates benefits the poor people that
lives out in favelas. The favelas is often placed at the edge of the city and
the flat rates or almost flat rates helps these people to transport themselves
for a low cost all over the city area. The negative aspect of flat rates for
poor people is the persons that only travel short distances, for them the
transportation cost is an issue.39
38 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 154. 39 Ibid. Page. 154.
19
The geographical targeting of poor people can only be efficient if the large
communities of the poor are identified. There must also be an executive
branch that has capacity to obtain the necessary services within the poor
area. Capable targeting of the poor will not work if these two premises are
not met.40
The last generally broad way of targeting the poor is by the subsidies to the
public transports as a group. Low fare costs are to consider helping to profit
the poor. Public transportations should not be funded by taxpayer’s money,
for example metros, because the poor people will not have the budget to
afford the use of a metro. The result of a subsidy what economic impact it
have are based on the approach of the targeting mechanism and of the
situation of the public finances. A set of economic reasons is the
foundation for the subsidies and they reside on second best grounds where
the marginal costs are below the car prices and cannot be increased. In
fixed track systems, when rail costs are the slightest rate mode of
transport.41
The impact of the subsidy on the people that are not poor is small. With
reduced fares from the subsidy the chances to attract the car users are low
with a metro. In the case that metros become popular to use they will
decongest the road system. This will result in lower fares for the poor, a
smaller amount of overcrowding on the roads and improved service
quality, even tough the poor isn’t using the metro.42
How to identify the poor needs detailed analysis and in each case requires a
consideration how to make the best impact upon the poor with these
previous mentioned options, and with the financial budget in mind.43
40 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 154. 41 Ibid. Page. 154. 42 Ibid. Page. 155. 43 Ibid. Page. 155.
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4.3 Metros and land use
The effect of an outcome between metros and land usage is vague. Albeit,
some studies have examined the effect on the land use when a metro is
developed. The studies point that there are some impacts upon land use. A
metro can contribute to help structuring the city. The city structure can help
to attain the desired land use within the metro corridor and thereby create a
profitable metro funding that is based on the relation between land use and
metro traffic. The requirement of the situation above is a government with
a good and developed ability to finance and afford a substantial network
that are developed relative to the city size.44 According to Mackett et al, a
public transportation system does not in general stimulate the development
as much as expected from the start, according to them.45
The metro will have a major effect on the structure around the CBD and
allows the CBD to grow if the dynamic exists from the beginning,
otherwise other choices of land use would be forced. It is a prerequisite that
the metro extends all the way into the city and that it will be independent
from the bus networks because of the bus capacity bottlenecks. The bus
capacity bottleneck prevents the further growth of the CBD.
The capacity problem might be solved if few lines are developed deeper
into the city, this would lead to a considerable restructuring of the city
around these lines and sectors of the city. A small metro network have
probably very little impact on the development and structure if being built
in a limited distance that does not extend very far in the city and along
many corridors. Under other circumstances when the cities are small and
the cost of a network is to big to afford the reason for a metro is very
unnecessary.46
44 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 170. 45 Mackett et al, The Impact of Urban public Transport Systems: Will the Expectations be Met? Internet, (2006-05-16). Page. 243. 46 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 170.
21
To the sustainable agenda metros are described to be a central part, this is
because of its essential role of a package that allows private cars to be
restrained. The package is a tool to control traffic congestion and reduce
pollution and other unfavourable effects. The city structure and the land use
will benefit from the impacts that the package provides. This will lead to a
balanced, environmentally sustainable strategy that ensures acceptable
accessibility for everyone. In developing countries this ideal is not a
realistic experience, tough it can be applied in some cities and countries but
is very rare to be successful in developing countries. The causes of the
failure in developing countries are that the population are very large and it
increases very fast, creating a widespread geographical explosion that
needs new land areas to populate. The income and affordability are also
variables that matter in developing countries, when population increases it
limits raises in income and affordability.47
In developing countries the metro position are probable more limited but
still very important in a strategic point of view. The metro role is to keep
the city functioning when acute traffic congestions arise and make them
less severe, offer alternative ways of transport. In larger cities the metro is
also an aid to allow the CBD to continue to expand, making a structural
centre that is robust, wherever that is the objective.
A developed metro that only operates along some radial corridors in a city
can over time effect the balance of development between city sectors with
some substantial impacts that separates those who have a metro line or
those who have not a metro line in their vicinity.48
47 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 171. 48 Ibid. Page. 170.
22
4.4 Requirements for MRT Planning
According to Halcrow there are no standard procedure to follow when you
are planning for a MRT project. Although there has been much learned
from earlier projects and they provide good information how to act in a
developing context. To identify the right projects and secure government
commitment there are two broad stages to fulfil and after that
implementation and operations can follow. The first phase according to
Halcrow is planning and economics, but these subjects must be handled
with consideration to financing and implementability. The second phase
should include Institutional planning, financing and measures to improve
MRT impacts. Throughout the whole process there ought to be a Risk
analysis that are monitoring the project.49
Halcrow suggests that in the planning process all the important factors
should be recognized, so the government easily can support it and
understand the consequences of the project. The factors are defined as
physical, operational requirements, tariffs and integration requirements
with the existing public transport system, institutional and legal
arrangements, funding and the procurement strategy.50
A holistic planning process is a necessity according to Halcrow. A MRT
system in a city can be a big catalyst that generates a broad range of
benefits to the region. A region requires a broad standpoint to identify the
appropriate role for the MRT therefore it is necessary to have a city
development or structure plan from the beginning. In order to have and
work from such a plan it is good to have a multi-disciplinary, open minded
and reasonable approach from the start.51
49 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 177. 50 Ibid. Page. 177. 51 Ibid. Page. 177.
23
Public transport integration does not happen in some cases between the
different public transports and according to Halcrow that is because there
can be jealousy between institutions or different agencies, sometimes even
government tiers are divided into separate decisions and thus makes it hard
to get an agreement.52
4.5 City Development Plan
Halcrow points out that there are real important for a government to have a
city development plan. With this plan the objectives should be clearly
defined, how the core funding and other restrictions are described. In the
City development plan there should also be stated how the priorities for the
various sectors of the city are going to be processed in the future,
considering how the existing conditions and problems are defined in the
city today. Halcrow would also like to see an idealistic perspective that
every city has a meaningful Plan, a plan that includes a future physical
strategy and also take in perspective the economic and social strategies for
the city.53
In developing cities it is common that a city development plan does not
exist. A plan may exist but the government does not acknowledge it. To
plan and build a public transport with no City development plan is
problematic because the transport has a huge impact on the city structure
for the future land use according to Halcrow. This is especially important
to reassess when building a MRT project, for example a metro, because of
their massive influence on the city structure.54
52 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 179. 53 Ibid. Page. 180. 54 Ibid. Page. 180.
24
4.6 MRT - Metros
The following section contains some important attributes to have in mind
when planning for a metro. The facts and contents are collected from the
Halcrow section about metro planning. Halcrow did a research in the 1990s
about what conditions were necessary to fulfil so a metro could be
economically justified. The conditions that were drawn from the research
provide a good framework for the planning of a metro.55 The following
conditions are important to reconsider and have in some sort of context
when planning a metro:
• Corridor Size – According to Halcrow there must be a high flow of
passengers per hour down the main corridor. He mentions that about
10-15000 passengers per hour are required in each direction.
• There is suggested that the city income is not to low, at least 1800
USD per person according to Halcrow.
• There should be economic prospects for sustained growth in the
region.
• The City Centre ought to have expanding possibilities. If possible the
MRT should be located in a provincial or capital city.
• The alignment of the metro should be as cheap as possible.
• Fares Policy – Halcrow recommend that there should exist some
kind of fares policy that persuades ridership on metro and bus
systems. A Fare policy that don’t need a huge amount of finical
support.
• The City management ought to be stable in its government
institutions and have confirmed competence.
• The Metro Management should have the same attributes as the City
management, well built, for the most part an autonomous
management with clear objectives.
55 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 183.
25
To get a deeper understanding of the conditions earlier mentioned in the
text, Halcrow explains more precisely about the various fundaments for
planning a metro.56
The city size isn’t all that matters if you want a Metro that is viable in a
long term, there is important that the features of the corridor is right. For
example Halcrow mentions the cities of Pusan and Caracas that has the
attributes of a linear city, a metro can be viable even tough as he says, the
cities are not large. Singapore is also an example for a city that has very
few corridors, but the metro plays an important role for the city. It is not
only economically viable but also essential as a part of the structure of the
city. The metro viability is linked to the form of the city structure.57
A viable metro project needs to keep the costs at a minimum and still have
a lot of passengers to keep the revenues high. To help relieve the economic
situation it will be cheaper to build an alignment that is rather elevated than
underground, and rather at-grade than elevated. To keep high ridership
numbers in a long-term perspective obliges to set station locations in the
right place, for example penetrating the heart of the city centre, and or also
major residential areas. The integration between buses and metro are also
important features to keep high ridership according to Halcrow.
There are also important to keep large existing bus flows in the near
vicinity of the viable metro because a great majority of the metro
passengers are required to switch from buses. 58
The majority of the benefits of a metro depend upon future circumstances.
There are thus important to have reconsidered a future situation of how the
city growth is going develop.59
56 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 183. 57 Ibid. Page. 184. 58 Ibid. Page. 184. 59 Ibid. Page. 184.
26
4.7 Route
The route decision for which the metro are being planned ought to run
trough the city centre, any other proposal according to Halcrow must be
considered suspect. The greatest passenger flows with the biggest amount
of congestion and the smallest need for modal interchange is to find at the
main radial roads to the city centre. Halcrows 1990 study did not find
anywhere in the world were non-radial roads was well patronised, except
for distributor lines inside the city itself. The route and locations of stations
is critical to the patronage levels, locations of stations that is only 600 –
800 metres from the wanted destination reduce patronage significantly.60
4.8 The Vertical Alignment decision
The vertical alignment is the third most important decision after the
planning of the route and the location of the stations. This decision has
according to Halcrow a big impact on the initial cost and on the physical
environment, some impact of the technology choice and persistent costs,
despite the fact that the influence of patronage and revenues depends upon
circumstances.61
Usually the interchange between elevated and underground systems is
difficult to manage, therefore this decision drastically affects the choice of
alignment in all contexts of rail systems, and interchange within the same
system may be effective according to Halcrow.62 On locations were
underground and elevated alignments are placed at the same location the
interchange is according to Halcrow, very difficult. Halcrow mentions the
Bangkok system as an example and to see how the system can operate as
an integrated network is very hard to imagine according to Halcrow.63
60 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 185. 61 Ibid. Page. 186. 62 Ibid. Page. 186. 63 Ibid. Page. 189.
27
It is common that mass transit systems usually follow the same corridors
(example given, roads) that elevated systems would go along. Even when
underground systems has the opportunity to freely choose its route this is
rarely ever realised, apart from when a route crosses barriers such as rivers
or hills.64
The alignment decision might not only be a technical issue, thus the budget
of a mass transit project is often constrained and an underground alignment
has often a huge impact on the budget. Therefore the issue may be to build
at-grade or elevated today, or wait for the proper money to afford an
underground alignment. Because once a mass transit system is built, it will
be there for all time. One decision is to develop an elevated system and live
with the environmental consequences or wait with a construction until the
underground alignment becomes affordable.65 Another aspect of the
elevated alignment is the troublesome air pollution that develops beneath
the elevated stations and creates a tunnel effect in the heavily trafficked
corridors.66 From the research that Halcrow has undertaken, it shows that
an elevated construction more than halves the initial costs, moreover it
reduces the operating costs and makes the project more fundable.67
In the end when planning for a mass transit system, the alignment decision
is a very important part of the whole process. Halcrow describe this part as
a component of central importance to the transport strategy.68
64 Halcrow, Fox World Bank, World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review - Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries Internet, (2005-09-11). Page. 186. 65 Ibid. Page. 186. 66 Ibid. Page. 189. 67 Ibid. Page. 192. 68 Ibid. Page. 187.
28
5 RESULT
5.1 Interview with Mr Vasin Thammanuban
Mr Vasin Thammanuban is a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture on
Assumption University.
Mr Vasin acknowledges that there were political issues between the
government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority in the beginning of
the Skytrain Project. The Skytrain Project belonged to the BMA (Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration) and the sitting party at BMA were going to
use the Skytrain Project to help them renew their mandate because it was
election year. On the other hand, the government wanted to take control of
the project but the sitting party at BMA was unwilling to release it to the
government according to Mr Vasin.
There were two major reasons that influenced the decision of building an
elevated railway instead of an underground railway, Mr Vasin says in the
interview. The first reason was that Bangkok had trouble with flooding
when the project was on an up rise, and that led to a solution to build an
elevated track system. The second reason was because of the budget, an
elevated track system was a much cheaper alternative than an underground
track system.
Mr Vasin has not the beliefs that the Skytrain was built to reach out to the
majority of the people of Bangkok. He would rather say that the purpose of
the Skytrain System is to serve for the inner city commercial districts as
well for the business districts. He continues and says that the Skytrain has
two routes, the Sukhumvit route and the Silom route. Mr Vasin does not
think that the two routes serve many residential areas. The only route
according to him that serves a residential area is the Sukhumvit line, but
half of that route is high-income area. He also thinks that the ticket price
29
compared with the poor peoples income is too expensive so they cannot use
the Skytrain frequent. Most of the land along the two routes belongs to the
Government, Commercial or universities.
According to Mr Vasin, the two routes were built to facilitate for the
middle to high-income people to wander around the Central Business
District (CBD) to enhance the opportunities in the commerce in the CBD
district.
Regarding the low patronage in the early days of operation of the Skytrain,
Mr Vasin thinks that they have changed to the better. He says that the price
was too expensive for the people when the Skytrain first was introduced
but the people today have adjusted to the prices. So a lot of people are
today trying to save time by using the Skytrain, especially the teenagers
and the business people.
Mr Vasin is not to sure about the income levels between different groups in
the city of Bangkok, but he mentions what he thinks are the income levels
for the low income, middle income and high income in Bangkok. The low-
income people have a salary around 6000 baht per month, but there are
many people that have an income lower than that figure. For the middle
income people the salary per month are about 20000 – 50000 baht and for
the high-income people the salary is from 50000 baht and up.
The trickles down effects from the Skytrain to the low-income people are
not that huge according to Mr Vasin. He does not believe that the poor
people benefits in a greater scale from the Skytrain. He says that you can
see some hawkers near some of the stations but they are not allowed to sell
anything in the elevated stations. At the stations there are shops and
commerce exists but Mr Vasin says that the rent for the space is too
expansive for the poor to afford, he thinks that there are only retail shops or
chain stores that can afford the space. The only place that Mr Vasin
30
believes that the poor benefits from the Skytrain is at the Mo Chit station,
were the retail shops belongs to the poor people he says.
The ticket for a journey with the Skytrain is very expansive compared to a
bus ticket according to Mr Vasin. The bus ticket starts at 5 baht and
stretches to 10 baht for a single journey. The Skytrain ticket starts from 10
baht up to 45 baht for a single journey. He says that if you take the train
every day for around 80 baht the total monthly cost would be around 2480
baht, whilst your income as a low-income worker is only around 6000 baht
that is about 1/3 of your total income. Compared with the monthly cost to
take the bus, which is about 600 baht. To the middle-income people, Mr
Vasin is not too sure about the fare price, if it is fair, as he, uses it only in
the weekends and in the evenings, it depends. He thinks the people that are
not low-income can afford the price when they use the Skytrain on the
weekends or in the evenings. He mentions that people often compare the
prices for the Skytrain with the taxi. He says that if you have 3-4 people
that are going up to Mo Chit it will be a total cost around 100 baht for a
taxi. With the Skytrain the total cost for 3-4 persons would be around 160
baht. So they take taxi instead, but if you want to save half an hour or one
hour you should go by Skytrain instead he says. He also mentions that the
public affordability among middle and high-income classes are acceptable.
The advantages of the Skytrain is that it saves time, the traffic jam in
Bangkok is getting worse by the day according to Mr Vasin. By going by
the Skytrain it will save you from 40 minutes to 1 hour in the mornings and
the evenings. He thinks the saving time aspect is the biggest advantage by
going by the Skytrain. Another advantage is that it reduces car traffic, on
the weekends, he says, you can park near the stations and take the Skytrain
to the department stores instead of your car. The disadvantages of the
Skytrain are an urban issue because it causes a visual pollution, it is huge
compared to the roads that are quite narrow. It also obstruct the view and
the sunlight to the roads, and beneath the stations of the elevated Skytrain
system there are a lot of fume that is gathered from the traffic below,
31
especially the buses according to Mr Vasin. In some areas, as the Victory
Monument, Mr Vasin says that you can see the Skytrain go around the
monument and that is not really a good view.
The Skytrain compared with other traffic modes in Bangkok brings up
some advantages. Mr Vasin says that the Skytrain is faster, air conditioned
and not crowded compared to the buses. He continues and states that taking
the bus in the morning and the evening is like hell, especially in the rainy
days. In the rainy days you might stay on the road for about 2-3 hours, if
you don’t take a Air conditioned bus it is very hot, and the traffic jam is so
bad, and the people must go up like 4-5 in the morning to take the bus to
the office he says. In that aspect, the Skytrain is more convenient and
faster, but he says, the price is so different compared with the bus.
Figure 5: The Skytrain route at Victory Monument. (Source: Personal)
32
Mr Vasin thinks that the boat is better then the Taxis, he says that there is
no fume or traffic jams on the canal. The people that use the boat are
mostly low and middle-income people according to Mr Vasin. There are
only 2-3 boat routes, the major route goes along the Chaopraya River. The
other goes along the canals in Bangkok. The routes don’t connect with each
other. For a few years ago, there were plans to build a tram network along
the canal, the government didn’t have to reclaim the land or obstruct the
traffic when building on the existing canal. But the plans were cancelled
because, according to Mr Vasin, the land along the canal belongs to the
low-income people, and they didn’t want to move, so the system was
cancelled.
The subway is a much better alternative than the Skytrain according to Mr
Vasin. The subway does not cause visual pollution as the Skytrain does.
Although, he says, the prices are quite the same as the Skytrain, but he
thinks it is good for the city, but the construction is more expensive than
the Skytrain.
Mr Vasin thinks that after the extension from Saphan Thaksin to Thonburi
is built there will not be any more extensions to the Skytrain Network. He
says that is because he believes that the next investment will belong to the
government. The existing two routes will continue to operate, according to
him.
The locations of the stations was probably not planned depending on where
people live says Mr Vasin. He continues and says that if you look at the
Sukhumvit route, most of the stations are located near department stores,
main commercial areas or main junctions like Asoke intersection.
According to Mr Vasin, the idea of the Skytrain is to serve the business and
the commercial and not for transport people from their living area to the
city. For example, he mentions the station at Siam that extends to the
station at Victory monument. That area is a big commercial area for the
teenagers, and along that area there are most commercial parts, maybe
33
some are living areas but not in a great extent he says. Today, most of the
residential areas are a long way from the stations, like in On Nut and
Phrakhanong, that why new developments are buying up land near the
Skytrain stations to build Condomiums for the high-income people he says.
It is difficult to point out the exact locations where the big settlements in
Bangkok are located, the settlements are scattered around the city says Mr
Vasin. For example, the area at Ramkhamheang University is a middle-
income area but around that area there are low-income areas.
Figure 6: Public transportation with a bus. (Source: Personal)
The way people transport themselves around the city is different between
different income groups says Mr Vasin. The low-income uses mostly bus,
boat and heavy train, from rural Thailand to inner Bangkok. The middle-
income possess their own car, and some uses bus, Skytrain and MRT says
Mr Vasin. For the high-income people, Mr Vasin believes that they use
their own driver for going around the city, traveling for them is not a
problem, some also uses cab. The middle and high-income people have a
34
motto according to Mr Vasin when it comes to traffic jams, getting stuck in
your own car is better than getting stuck in a bus. Therefore the middle and
high-income people tries to have their own car.
Mr Vasin thinks that the interchange system between the bus and the
Skytrain and the MRT and the Skytrain works well. Today there are three
interchange stations between the MRT and the Skytrain, the first is located
at Silom, the second at Asoke and the third at Mo Chit. According to Mr
Vasin it is easy to change between the Skytrain and the MRT, the only
problem he mentions, is that the tickets are not compatible between the two
mass transit systems. The connection between the heavy rail system and the
Skytrain is not that good either says Mr Vasin. The only Skytrain station
that enables you to switch to the heavy rail system is at Rattachawidi but
you can only change during the peak times, in the morning and the evening
says Mr Vasin.
The way people travel from their settlements to the Skytrain stations
depends upon how the stations are designed. Some of the stations offer
parking lots so that you can park your car and take the Skytrain to the
selected destination. Other Skytrain stations do not have parking lots so
you must take a cab or park at a department store to take the Skytrain to
your selected destination says Mr Vasin. The Skytrain Company itself is
trying to provide feeder-service at 2-3 stations Mr Vasin says. Ekkamai and
Thong Lo are two stations were this kind of service exists according to Mr
Vasin, this is because these residential areas are were the high-income
people lives and therefore they provide transport between the station to the
residential area. In the beginning of the Skytrain, according to Mr Vasin,
there were around 5-6 minibus feeder systems around various stations, but
today he is not sure about how many systems that are left. Mr Vasin says
that he heard about some kind of connection service between the Skytrain
and the MBA bus system, if you save your ticket from the MBA bus
system when you buy a Skytrain ticket you get a discount, but he is not
sure if this kind of service is viable today or not.
35
The Skytrain has affected a lot how the middle and high-income people
live and transport themselves today according to Mr Vasin, but he is not
that sure that the Skytrain has affected the ways of how the poor people
live and transport themselves, because they didn’t benefit from the Skytrain
according to him. He mentions that some of the high and middle-income
people in the age from 30 – 35, today try to live in a Condo in the City of
Bangkok near a Skytrain station. He continues and says that in the past
Thai people loved to have a single house in the suburb area and drive from
the house to the office, but today high and middle-income people try to
acquire a condo near the Skytrain stations to take the Skytrain to their
office. He continues and says that almost every department store nowadays
try to have a Skywalk from the Skytrain station to their building. The
Skywalk and the Skytrain has affected the way we shop and the way we
live, but only for the high and middle-income people, he says. Also people
use the Skytrain as a shortcut, on one occasion he says, he was going to a
wedding ceremony in Thonburi. Mr Vasin parked his car at Asoke and
used the Skytrain to Saphan Thaksin, he mentions that if he had to drive all
the way to Thonburi it would take him about 2 hours because it was Friday
evening, now with the Skytrain it took him only about 40 minutes to the
destination.
According to Mr Vasin, the Skytrain is a symbol of modern living in
Bangkok. That is because the Condominiums and Apartments use the
Skytrain or the MRT as part of their advertisement as a convenient method
to travel around the city.
Mr Vasin thinks that the other major role of the Skytrain system, to solve
the traffic problem didn’t success in a larger portion, because the Skytrain
only have two routes, and do not have a network. He continues and
mentions the cities of New York, London or Singapore, they have a
network but Bangkok hasn’t. In Bangkok the MRT belongs to the
Government and the Skytrain belongs to the BMA, and the buses belongs
to other authorities he says. Mr Vasin continues and says that it will be
36
very hard to make the networks connect to each other, because the BMA
don’t want to give the Skytrain to the Government, but the BMA itself
don’t have money to invest into a new route, and the government want to
develop their own system. To solve this problem Mr Vasin thinks that there
must be a master plan for the transportation network, and think about how
to connect the networks to each other.
The worst bottlenecks for the traffic is according to Mr Vasin are located at
the route of the Skytrain, that is Sukhumvit and Silom, that is because there
are many junctions and the road is quite narrow he says. The reason he
thinks the bottlenecks are still there and why the Skytrain has not eased the
bottlenecks are because of the behavior of the people. He makes an
example. If people lives in Bang Na, in a really nice house, and belongs to
the high-income people and have his office in Silom, the person doesn’t
take the Skytrain. Instead the person would likely drive his own car or even
a hired driver is going to drive the car, and if they not live in a condo in the
city, they not going to take the Skytrain anyway he says. The middle-
income are going by bus, cab or even drive his or her own car. Mr Vasin
says that they only use the Skytrain as a short connection. He thinks that if
Bangkok would have a network system, he would use it to go by bus to the
nearest Skytrain station.
Another aspect is that the car shows the status of its owner, and Mr Vasin
reflects that getting stuck in a car is better than getting stuck on a public
bus.
37
5.2 Results from Secondary Data
The results from the secondary materials show similar information as from
the interview.
Most of the Skytrain users are people between the age of 15 to 40 years and
they are often students or early-stage working people. The people that work
use the Skytrain for working purpose and the non-working people use the
Skytrain for leisure.69
The majority of people use a feeder in their travel. The most common
feeders are buses and walking to the station for the working and non-
working people. The greater part of people changed from using bus to
using Skytrain instead, a comparatively small group of people changed
from using private vehicle to the Skytrain for the equivalent trip purpose.
Because of the high cost of the Skytrain compared to buses most users still
use the buses as a main transportation method.70
According to Thanaprayochsak there must be an improvement in the
interchange between different modes of public transport. Today it is not
common to have connection between two public transport modes. The
connection between public transports experience a lack of corresponding
services between them. The integration of bus services with the rail transit
systems ought to be improved.71
The Institutions in Thailand that are responsible for transport policies are
undertaking similar mass transit projects. The BMA, SRT (State Railway
of Thailand) and MRTA are doing mass transit projects in the same area,
meanwhile there are developments that no assigned Institution is
responsible for such as distributor roads, bus ways and area pricing. The
government of Thailand tried to solve this issue when they set up the 69 Kawprasert A. (2000), Page. 104. 70 Ibid. Page. 104-105. 71 Thanaprayochsak W. (2005), Page. 89.
38
OCMRT (Office of the Commission for Management of Road Traffic) to
act as a policy office, but this didn’t solve the problem of the system.72
In Bangkok there are about 11 institutions that state their responsibility of
the development of the transport sector, the result of this are uncontrolled
efforts to resolve the transport problem.73
The transportation policy in Thailand is established around a traditional
top-down approach. The result from the top-down perspective is that the
suggestions that are reflected as solutions are considerable professional
proposals and lack broad public support. The outcome of this approach is
that the transportation problems still exist today, regardless of the attempts
to solve them in the past.74
The privatization of mass transit projects in Thailand is common because
the government has been unwilling to invest in projects due to high total
investment budget.75 The total cost for the Skytrain project was around 52
million Baht, and was given as a BOT to Bangkok Mass Transit System
Public Company Limited.76
Today there are no restrictions or regulations that are effective in a
controlling context of using a private car on the main traffic congested
road.77
Today the elevated rail transit known, as the Skytrain and the underground
Subway are not accessible to all public transport users, the bus transport
will continue to remain the main transport mode, even thus this transport
mode do not have a satisfactory service standard. The Skytrain network
together with the underground Subway system does not have the capacity
to serve the total demand for public transport, therefore the bus service will
72 Simtarakao K. (2000), Page. 19. 73 Thanaprayochsak W. (2005), Page. 89. 74 Ibid. Page. 89. 75 Simtarakao K. (2000), Page. 19. 76 Tangkitsiri W. (2004), Page. 23. 77 Thanaprayochsak W. (2005), Page. 90.
39
still have a huge number of passengers.78 The availability of the Skytrain in
large community areas is not good, as most of these communities don’t
have a Skytrain station.79
For the low income and poor, the Skytrain fare is expensive so this group
will not use this transportation mode because they cannot afford it. The
current fare does it impossible to fulfil the objective that the mass rapid
transport service should be available for all inhabitants in Bangkok. Both
the Skytrain and the underground network are a very good mode for
transportation, a subsidy from the government on these networks will
induce the community to use these services and will decrease the number
of car users and car owners.80
The Bangkok mass transit network is not consistent and the need of a
network master plan is required to show the future network and to make the
network dependable.81
Today all new mass transit projects develop on an underground alignment
level in the inner region of Bangkok. The major reason is that the Skytrain
has a negative visual impact as well as a noise disorder in the system. This
policy was undertaken after the contracts of the Skytrain were signed.82
The income levels for the user characteristics divided by the private car,
BTS Skytrain and bus are the following. The private car is usually used by
males that are between 41-60 years and has an income that is higher than
35001 baht per month. The private car group have usually an education
higher than Bachelor degree or higher. It is usual that this group have 1-3
car in their household. Females that are between 21-40 years represent the
BTS Skytrain group. They have a Bachelor degree or higher and have a
monthly income between 25001 – 35000 baht per month. This group has 78 Thanaprayochsak W. (2005), Page. 90. 79 Ibid. Page. 85. 80 Ibid. Page. 111 – 112. 81 Simtarakao K. (2000), Page. 21. 82 Simtarakao K. (2000), Page. 20.
40
usually 1 car in the household. The group that is represented by bus are
between 1-20 years of age and have an income less than 5000 baht per
month. The education level of this group is usually Primary school or high
school. Usually the household of this group does not possess a car.83
83 Thanaprayochsak W. (2005), Page. 70.
41
6 DISCUSSION
There are several factors that together influence the usage of the Skytrain
as a public mass transit transport in Bangkok, and can in some way explain
why the Skytrain did not become the solution for the traffic issue in
Bangkok as expected.
One factor that may affect the usage of the Skytrain on a large scale is the
lack of a total coverage of the network around and through the big
settlements and residential areas outside of the inner city of Bangkok.
Hence as Mr Vasin told in the interview, that the Skytrain wasn’t build to
transport people from their homes to the inner city, the Skytrain would
probably relief the traffic more than it does today if there were a network
that covered a bigger area of Bangkok. As of today, more people would use
the Skytrain services if there were a feeder service that could provide
satisfactory service quality to and from the Skytrain station, the buses
today, many of them has not been equipped with aircon and that influences
people to go by to a destination with their own car instead.
It is not only the deficient coverage of the Skytrain over the Bangkok area
and the poor service of the feeder transports that reduces the choice for the
people of Bangkok to use the Skytrain. There are also valuation factors that
influence the people of Bangkok to use their own car to travel around the
city instead of using public transportation methods. There is a very big gap
between being wealthy in Bangkok and being poor, that results in that
people are very fond to show off with various items, and the people that
can afford a car, gets a car and use it when they travel around Bangkok. It
has become a lifestyle to own and use a car in Bangkok. The car usage is
also for many car owners a convenient way to not be exposed to the heat
and the sun while going from one point in the city to another. Even if many
car owners live near the Skytrain routes, they will take the car, in order to
be able to reach destinations that are not accessible by the Skytrain.
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The behaviour of the car user in Bangkok must change in order to reduce
the traffic and as the result mentioned, there are only a minority of car
users that switched to the Skytrain when it became available as a method of
transportation. From that one can make some conclusions why that is, first,
maybe the person is living outside of Bangkok and must use the car to
work, the total cost to use the car is cheaper than taking a feeder to the
Skytrain station and then the Skytrain to the final destination. The other is
that he is very wealthy and maybe has his own driver and wants to show
off and don’t care if it takes time to travel because he is not driving the car
and can do other things in the car meanwhile he is on the road.
A subsidy from the government can allow poor people in a larger scale to
use the Skytrain around the inner city of Bangkok so they can benefit from
it. Today, most of the poor people transport themselves with buses without
aircon, if a lower price was being available with a subsidy or lower ticket
prices, perhaps some of the buses that are in use would disappear from the
streets in the inner part of Bangkok. That would maybe make a relief in the
traffic on the inner streets of Bangkok.
Overall, the whole Skytrain system would be more frequent used if it
covered a larger area than it does today, with extensions to some of the big
settlements were people live. Today this is somehow difficult to propose
and solve, as the institutions that handle transportation issues are so many
and want to hold on to their own project. There may also be some problem
to extend the Skytrain to these big settlements as the environment and the
existing infrastructure makes it troublesome to build a Skytrain line there.
For the people of Bangkok, the Skytrain should be extended to the large
community areas if its possible, and not only cover the inner city where
only a minority of people are actually living. The institutions that handle
the transportation issues ought to have a more open minded holistic
approach towards each other to solve the public transportation problem and
not only care about their own projects. The behaviour towards car usage
43
may change if these fore-mentioned problems are solved and with it, the
car usage may decrease towards a larger usage of public transportation in
Bangkok.
Hence, to help to solve the constant traffic jam and transportation issues of
Bangkok, a better coverage of the Skytrain and subway to the big
settlements would be a first step and second, try to change the attitude
towards car usage among the people in Bangkok. How to change the
attitude is another question that would require further studies in this
subject.
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7 SUMMARY
The Skytrain has been operated since 1999 and have helped serve the
people in Bangkok with their demands on travel with the advantage as a
mass transit mode compared with the buses and other transports modes in
the city. This thesis will research if the Skytrain was planned to serve a
majority of the people in Bangkok and if the majority of the people use this
transport mode at a daily basis.
The following questions were interesting to research to try to find a
conclusion of why the Skytrain, as a mass transport mode, did not become
as effective.
• Was the planning of the Skytrain optimal in Bangkok?
• Are there any underlying factors that influence the people not to use
the Skytrain?
• What advantages and disadvantages have the other public
transportation modes compared Skytrain in Bangkok?
• Do the Skytrain have a future as mass transit transport in Bangkok?
• Do the poor people benefit from the Skytrain development?
The method that was used was primarily based on a theoretical approach
were previous studies on Mass Rapid Transits lead to a conclusion based
on mostly secondary sources and data that are relevant to the subject. The
sources and data used for this study are foremost gathered from the
Internet, from UN (United nations) branches, databases, different NGOs
(Non Governmental Organisations) and from the Thai government. The
data gathered contains published reports, newspaper articles and thesis.
Because of the outline of a MFS (Minor Field Studies) scholarship thesis
the proper work method must include a large theoretical study. A quantity
45
of fieldwork studies will be included, for example an interview with a
person that has the proper knowledge about the subject of study.
The results and conclusions show that there are several insufficient
sources that together make it difficult to make the Skytrain become
efficient and more usable for the people of Bangkok. The main reason that
people of Bangkok not use the Skytrain to a greater degree is that the
Skytrain lines do not access the bigger settlements and communities were
people are actually living. The Skytrain lines do only stretch along the
tourist districts and the business districts today, and leaves out the
settlements. There are also other reasons like the attitude towards car
usage. Many people that can afford to buy a car, not only see the car as a
transportation mode, but also as a status symbol. The lifestyle here in
Bangkok points out that it is important to own a car. Also the car provides
protection from the heat and the sunlight as well as provides the people to
access parts of Bangkok that are not accessible by the Skytrain.
Also the results and conclusions show that there is a need of better feeder
service to and from the Skytrain stations, as for today, the feeder service
consists of buses without provided aircon. As for the more poor people, a
subsidy could allow them to get a benefit of using the Skytrain, as the
prices today are relatively expensive for the poor people.
There is also a need to use a more open minded holistic approach when
planning the transportation infrastructure in Bangkok. There are many
institutions today that handle the transportation issues and they are eager to
only care about their own projects and not the other institutions.
46
Hence, to help to solve the constant traffic jam and transportation issues of
Bangkok, a better coverage of the Skytrain and subway to the big
settlements would be a first step and second, try to change the attitude
towards car usage among the people in Bangkok. How to change the
attitude is another question that would require further studies in this
subject.
47
8 REFERENCES
8.1 Books and Reports
Dearborn, Fitzroy (1999): “Encyclopedia of World Cities”. Maple-Vail,
Binghamton, NY.
Halcrow Fox, World Bank. Internet. (2005-11-05)
World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review -
Mass Rapid Transit in Developing Countries
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANTRANSPORT/Resources/u
k_mass_transit_halcrow.pdf
Holme Idar Magne, Solvang Bernt Krohn, (1996): “Forskningsmetodik, Studentlitteratur”. Lund.
Kawprasert, A. (2000): “Travel Behaviour Analysis for Elevated Mass
Rapid Transit in Bangkok”. Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology (AIT),
2000.
Kenworthy, J. Internet. (2005-10-02):
Automobile dependence in Bangkok: an international comparison with
implications for planning policies.
http://www.agenda21.ee/english/transport/autodependence.pdf
Mackett et al. Internet. (2006-05-16): The Impact of Urban public
Transport Systems: Will the Expectations be Met?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6VG7-
3VGRRY9-1-
1&_cdi=6031&_user=651667&_orig=search&_coverDate=05%2F31%2F1
998&_qd=1&_sk=999679995&view=c&wchp=dGLbVtz-
zSkWA&md5=ead1f3cf8b03cfb3bba88bd263ef7d92&ie=/sdarticle.pdf
48
Lynn, Daniel (2004): “Regional surveys of the world: The far east and
Australasia 2005, 36 edition”. Europa Publications, London.
Simtarakao, K. (2000): “The Impact of Bangkok Transit System Services
on The Traffic Conditions in Bangkok”. Bangkok: Asian Institute of
Technology (AIT), 2000.
Tangkitsiri, W. (2004): “A Study on The Achievement of The Benefits of a
Build-Operate-Transfer Project: The Case of The Bangkok Mass Transit
System (BTS)”. Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), 2004.
Thanaprayochsak W. (2005): “Application Economic Instruments to
Influence Peoples Decision On Choice of Transportation Mode Towards
Reducing Car Use in Bangkok”. Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology
(AIT), 2005.
World Bank. Internet. (2005-11-11)
Cities on the move
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANTRANSPORT/Resources/ci
ties_on_the_move.pdf
World Book, Inc (1999): “The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 19
Letter T”. World Book, Inc, Chicago, IL
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8.2 Internet
2Bangkok. Internet. (2005-11-09):
http://www.2bangkok.com
Bangkok Posts Economic review 2005. Internet. (2005-11-02)
Facts & Figures
http://www.bangkokpost.com/midyear2005/facts.html
Bangkok Metropolitan Area. Internet. (2005-11-02)
Population
http://www.bma.go.th/
Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited. Internet. (2005-
11-09)
http://www.bts.co.th/en/index.asp
8.3 Interviews
Assumption University. The Faculty of Architecture. (2006-03-29),
Lecturer Mr Vasin Thammanuban.