City transport planning: BKK style

When I first came to Thailand in 1998, the first phase construction of the Skytrain (BTS) was nearing completion and everyone was really looking forward to being able to travel around the city with ease. When I returned on holiday last year I used it for the first time and was amazed that a journey that used to take 2 hours in a car could now be done in 15 minutes and cheaply to boot. The city now also has a subway system that interconnects to the BTS and the new airport being constructed in the east of the city will have a direct light-rail connection into the city. Now all this has, and will make living in Bangkok all the easier but the reality is still a long way from the original grand visions for the transport network..

This map shows a commonly referenced city plan for public transport, the BTS lines are marked in light (Sukumvit line) and dark green (Silom line) the existing MRT subway is marked in dark blue and all the other lines are planned extensions to MRT/BTS and the now under construction light rail link to the new airport (pink line). One of many transport headaches in Bangkok is the cross river traffic- the original intention was always to provide Thonburi on the west side access to both BTS lines. However, the Silom line ends abruptly at the Chao Pyra river- despite the bridge and the causeway for the tracking already being in place right the way into Thonburi!

Last month everything became clear when a public announcement was made canceling all Skytrain extensions, the main reason being that the ruling party Thai Rak Thai do not want the Democratic party (whose allies own the BTS private company) to gain any political advantage by completing the extension. The planned purple and orange MRT lines have also just today been cancelled despite the government pushing these as one of their main policies during the recent re-election campaign. It remains to be seen whether the red MRT line survives to finally provide a cross river link, but perhaps now the best chance for the ever-suffering car drivers of Thonburi is in waiting for a change of government and the subsequent rapid completion of the Silom extension.