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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.

6

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)

9

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).

13

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.

14

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.

20

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


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


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.

42

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.

44

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

49

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.