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Over the years taxi drivers here in Bangkok have kept me informed,
based on the latest report, as to whether Bangkok is the worst
or the second worst city in the world for the traffic jams. Recently I was on the light
rail system headed home as we approached a sharp right curve that would head
into downtown Bangkok. That being the closest the train would get to where I
needed to go, I usually get off there, but I have had a lot of difficulty getting a taxi there, so I
stayed on the train until we went around the curve to the next stop. In
twenty minutes at this station only one taxi came by and he
refused to go down Lad Phrao road. I was angry. Subsudized by
the government, taxi drivers are not supposed to pick and
choose, and refuse to take customers where they need to go, and as
indicated in the Bangkok post
I could report him to the police department. In this particular case, however,
before the night was over I would more than understand and
sympathize with his decision. I got back on the train and rode
back to the stop I had deliberately passed.
No buses would take me in the direction of my neighborhood, but my new plan was to catch a bus and ride it until I reached an area where it
might be a little easier to find a taxi. As I approached the stop I spotted a
bus just getting ready to pull out, but I
could see that the traffic was moving slower than I was, so I thought I would walk a
little, perhaps I would pass by whatever was holding things up. That bus never
did catch up to me, in fact I caught up to a few more buses and passed them as
well. And then I passed another, and another. I walked all the way from the
intersection at Lad Phrao and Ratchada to the Ramintha Motorway, a distance of
four kilometers. I passed about 10 buses along the way and none of them were
able to pass me and regain the lead. And the cars, taxis, vans, and trucks
were all caught in the same congestion as the buses. It wasn't until I got off of
Lad Phrao and started walking along the motorway that I finally found a taxi to
take me the rest of the way home. Some of the traffic lights here are so long
that I think I could catch a healthy afternoon nap just waiting for
one of them to
change. I wonder if these long lights help things to go more
smoothly or if they just
contribute to the congestion. I don't know what the
standard is for other countries, but as a teenager in the U.S.
studying for my driver's license, I remember reading in the
manual that traffic lights are usually red for 30 seconds to 2
minutes. A few weeks ago, however, just three intersections
from where I live I sat in a taxi trying to make a right hand
turn. We were at the front of the line and still I watched the
meter clock tick for nine minutes while we waited for the light
to change. When we pulled up my fare was only 46 baht, but by
the time the light changed my fare
had climbed to 64 baht. Most of the major intersections here are manually
controlled by a police officer that sits in a small
hut positioned near the lights. I used to joke to people that reason we were
waiting so long was because the police officer went to get a donut or that he
fell asleep. I since have noticed that some of the huts have televisions. With a
only half of a chuckle, I wonder if perhaps we wait so long at the intersections
because the officer only changes the light during commercial breaks. |
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