BMA's bike-lanes project falls completely flat

There's not much point in introducing new routes when the city government is failing to maintain the existing ones, thereby keeping environmentally friendly commuters away

Published on July 10, 2008

Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin seems to be more capable of launching projects than seeing them through. The Bangkok bicycle-lanes project is a case in point. Under his leadership, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has kept adding new routes but has failed to keep many of the existing lanes in good working order.

While it was good to see Apirak take the project seriously, adding new lanes was not necessarily a great idea.

At present, most of the 200 kilometres marked for bikes are located in the suburbs and are grossly under-utilised. Instead of being used by commuters as intended, they are used mainly by weekend recreational cyclists.

As for bicycle lanes that cut through the city's business districts, which could potentially be really useful for commuters who want to switch to bicycles, most of them are poorly maintained.

Therefore, most cyclists don't even bother, leaving the lanes empty most of the time.

Make it a good option

But surely Apirak and the BMA would also want to encourage people, who right now have no other choice but to drive, ride in a taxi or take public transport to commute to work every day, to consider cycling as a viable option.

The bike lanes in the city centre are not working as intended.

Take for example the newest lanes that Apirak inaugurated last month on Sathorn Road. Traffic police in the area reported that there was an average of about 50 regular users, most of them construction workers who, come rain or shine, would ride their beat-up bicycles everywhere.

This is not so bad after all. Before proper lanes were created, these people had to ride their bikes alongside daredevil motorcyclists, aggressive bus drivers and obnoxious car drivers, risking their lives in the process. At least these people can now travel safely.

But where are the office workers that Apirak targeted for using this environmentally friendly mode of transport? They are nowhere to be seen.

To get more people to cycle to work, the BMA needs to be practical and think about the things that cyclists require, such as proper places to park their bikes, and restrooms for them to freshen up before stepping into the office among other things. But the most important thing of all would be to get street vendors to respect designated bike lanes and deal with problem of pedestrians and cyclists sharing footpaths safely.