Workshop observations, conclusions, and recommendations for moving forward
Bangkok currently has enormous numbers of motorised vehicles. The number of motor vehicles registered in Bangkok in 1993 was about 2.6 million of which over 1 million were cars and around 1.1 million were motorcycles. The vehicle population is noticeably increasing at about 12% over the previous year, despite the traffic congestion which is nearly at gridlock. Overall average traffic speed in the Bangkok metropolitan area is around 10 km/h. However, during peak hours on some main roads in the central business area, the crawl rate is at 1-2 km/h, or only half walking pace. There are, however, several circumstances to be addressed before Bangkok can begin to overcome its air quality and congestion problems. The first is that many of the city`s transport planners that design transport projects, and the policymakers with investment authority appear to be caught in the same conventional transport planning paradigm as many other industrializing and industrialized countries. That paradigm, pioneered in the United States and exported to much of the world, defines the problems as a shortage of road space to meet demand for, private, vehicular mobility. The investment focus is almost exclusively on the construction of large road-based infrastructure to machines instead of people, while de-emphasizing other forms of transport such as rail, water, and non-motorized transport - even if they are a less expensive investment that can meet demand. The predominance of this paradigm results in a persistent myth held by many of Bangkok`s policymakers, transport and urban planners, financiers, and citizens. The myth is that the city does not have enough kilometers of roadways per person, and should focus on road and highway investment in order to solve their air quality and congestion problems.
- Research Organization:
- International Inst. for Energy Conservation, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 414905
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9411246--; ON: DE95015467
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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