Today I have read the BBC News report on “New cars in Beijing cut by two-thirds to battle traffic”. Even though this is old news but I just read it today. This news reminds me the memory when I went to China. I went to china with my family several times especially Beijing and Shanghai. One of the problems that I faced with was traffic congestion.
“New cars in Beijing cut by two-thirds to battle traffic” tells us about an effort of Chinese city authorities who try to reduce numbers of cars in the capital city of China – Beijing. Because of the huge numbers of cars in Beijing, it causes a serious traffic congestion and pollution in Beijing. “City authorities try to solve this problem by allow only 240,000 vehicles to be registered for 2011 - one-third of year 2010” (P 2). This new rule is not the way to solve problem but it just only the way to slow down the time to reach the worsening traffic congestion.
After I read this news I just come back to think about traffic congestion. Traffic congestion seems to be the major problem of people who live in big cities. I know it is really hard to find the right solution to solve this problem. Different countries have different policies to deal with this problem, but it still exists. Come to think about our country, in my opinion our country also try to solve this problem, even though our problem doesn’t sound big like China’s problem (because China has much more populations than Thailand),but this is also a big problem in Bangkok. People who live in Bangkok need to get up earlier than people who live in countryside because they have to fight with traffic before they can go to work on time. This must me really tired that you have to get up early in the morning and go to fight with traffic and when you go back home in the evening, you need to fight with traffic congestion again. It is really boring that you need to face with something like this every day. I think China’s policy is also a good idea; you just limit the number of cars per year. Somehow I also think about riding a bicycle instead of driving a car, but after I came to live in Bangkok, this is not a good idea anymore because the weather in Bangkok is very hot that is the reason why people don’t choose to ride a bicycle. Finally I hope that traffic problem could be solve by some solutions, they don’t need to be the same solution as other countries because I think each country should know the best which solution should be the best answer for problem.
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New cars in Beijing cut by two-thirds to battle traffic. (2010, December 24). BBC News. Retrieved March 3, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12072845
Nan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting on a topic that is highly relevant to many in Bangkok, as you note in your response paragraph.
I've chosen to live on Silom Road for many years in part to avoid having to worry about the Bangkok traffic every day. Sometimes I walk to AUA, and sometimes I walk to Chongnonsri or Saladaeng BTS for the short hop to Rajadamri. I almost always walk home after class, popping into Tops in Silom Complex to do my daily grocery shopping. The rent is a little higher on Silom than it might be elsewhere, but my transportation costs are almost zero - about 100 Baht/week.
But I disagree that China's solution is appropriate. I think it might work, but am not even sure about that. It seems to me it will just mean that a lot of older, polluting cars will remain on the roads longer than they otherwise would. More seriously, it's unfair to people to prevent them having equal access to a public facility like a road simply because they didn't buy a car earlier. I think that if people have worked and earned the money to buy a car, they should be allowed to do that.
I think a fairer solution, and one which more directly addresses the problem, is for people to pay for their use of the roads so that those who use and profit from them the most pay hte most, with the money paid being used to provide better roads and traffic control systems as well as improved public transport. If there were tolls on for entry to certain roads, the amount could be set so that people have choice about whether they need to drive their car onto that road or not. When set at an appropriate level, many could be discouraged from driving in favour or alternative options, such as the BTS, buses, taxis or other forms of public transport, making it better for everyone, including those who do decide to pay the toll. Such a system seems to have worked well to reduce traffic congestion and the associated pollution in London ("London Congestion Charge", 2011). I would love to see it tried in Bangkok. If every car had to pay 100 Baht for every entry to Silom Road (including people who live here), it might make the street far more pleasant for everyone, as well as bringing in a substantial revenue to used to improve the road and transport facilities in the area. I think that every vehicle except public buses, and perhaps taxis, should have to pay the tolls. Delivery vehicles, trucks and so on should all pay because people who benefit from their service should pay for the harm they would otherwise cause to the environment and other people.
References
London congestion charge. (2011, February 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11:00, March 4, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=London_congestion_charge&oldid=414438666
Peter,
ReplyDeleteYour suggestion is a good idea. But I afraid that Thai government cannot do that because, nowadays, there are many conflicts about the social gap between poor people and rich ones. And since all road in Bangkok was build by tax of every resident, everyone could have basic right to access to the roads they partly paid for. If only ones that have financial power to pay for using the roads, the government will be criticized that they spend the money of the poor people to build the roads for the rich ones. A lot of problems will ensue. Anyways, I don't have any good idea to deal with this problem, either.
But if tolls are collected from the people who actually make a profit by using the roads, then taxes can be reduced, which is fairer to those who do not use the roads since they will not then be paying for things that others profit from, and the government will no longer be stealing so much of their property to give to others.
ReplyDelete