Thailand wins for worst traffic in world

[Big Boy]

According to a study released this week, Thailand had the world’s worst traffic last year.

The research, by American company INRIX, ranked countries and cities based on how many hours an average citizen spent sitting in traffic in 2016.

The list of countries that rated as the most congested ranked Thailand at the top. Thais spent an average of 64 hours stuck in traffic last year. It’s much higher than the next entries on the list, which are: Colombia and Indonesia (47 hours spent in traffic), Russia and the U.S. (42 hours spent in traffic), Venezuela (39 hours spent in traffic), South Africa (38 hours spent in traffic), Brazil (37 hours spent in traffic), Puerto Rico (37 hours spent in traffic) and Turkey (34 hours spent in traffic).

Full story: Coconuts

Thoughts, they must have done the Chumphon to Hua Hin trip a couple of times.

[Bristolian]

64 Hours stuck in Traffic congestion is a huge underestimate for anyone who lives in Bangkok. My home to office is 3.5km, a daily journey that takes me 35 - 45 minutes twice each day so if you only consider 20 minutes as stuck in gridlock per journey it's 200 minutes per working week so let's say 3 hours. For me with public holidays it's a 44 week working year so 132 hours of misery in total gridlock. I'm lucky that I can afford to live so close to the business district and have long holidays.
Average times for the country tell you nothing.

[HHTel]

If it takes that long for the short journey to your office, then why not walk to work. It would take you no longer, save money and stress and allow you some exercise.

[hhfarang]

^ Yeah, great if his office has showers and lockers; as he would need a shower and a change of clothes before work after walking in the Bangkok heat...

[Bristolian]

I actually have to visit customers during the day.l and therefor need the car available. On days when I don't have customer visits I will take a taxi but the time to and from the office doesn't change. Walking is not an option, heat is one thing but blocked walkways, broken pavements and potholes are another challenge I don't want to take. Also as hhfarang points out, if you walk you need a shower and change of clothing when you arrive. As I said in my earlier post, many of my colleagues drive for much longer, some 2 hours+

Mine was not a complaint but simply an observation that the numbers and evaluation of the report are meaningless.

[Dannie Boy]

I assume the delays are average across the whole of Thailand so whilst you might encounter regular long delays in Bangkok Bristolian, grandad Chomsi who only travels 3 km to his nearest 7/11 doesn't wait even a minute.


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[Bristolian]

^^ I agree. More meaningful would be a comparison between cities such a London, LA, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila etc

[HHTel]

^ Yeah, great if his office has showers and lockers; as he would need a shower and a change of clothes before work after walking in the Bangkok heat...

Admittedly, I was thinking simply. Didn't really think it through.

[oakdale160]

when i worked in BKK a guy who lived on the south shore worked from 6am-2.30pm as driving to work at 7 or home at 5 would take him at least an hour longer each way, and that was on a good day. of course, taking a decade for each new subway or skytrain extension does not help.

[bsdk1960]

I thought they finally won the top price for most deadly roads in the world but happy it wasn't that

[aragon]

Just listened to a report on the BBC World Service radio programme "Business Matters". that quoted a survey carried out by the Dutch GPS company TomTom, that has China as the most congested country in the world and Mexico City as the most congested city. So not all bad for Thighland

[HHTel]

I thought they finally won the top price for most deadly roads in the world but happy it wasn't that

No, we remain at the number two spot for that. Makes me feel that much safer!!!!!!

[Name Taken]

I'm not surprised. Thailand seems to think smaller is better and that causes bottlenecks and congestion because the roads are too small and can't handle the high volume of traffic and Thai people have too much pride to hire a foreign urban planner/planning firm and too much pride to take advice from foreigners when it comes to planning a road or city.
There is incredibly HUGE amounts of land that is just used to grow rice, and yet the rice just rots in warehouses or they grow sugar cane to make a small number of Thai's rich because the price of sugar is high.
And they have a problem with people illegally building Bungalow style 'Resorts' on land.
It's not good.

[PeteC]

I'm not sure how they calculated all of this but distance travelled A to B I would think should be part of it. LA and SF are way up there in the ranking, but starting at A headed for B the majority of drivers go 25-50 miles to their homes and are only jammed for the area close in to the city. Here, 25-50 miles is 40-80 kilometers and if headed to Pattaya from Bangkok etc., you could be jammed every few KM's the entire way. I think average trip distance needs to be part of the equation, but it's really not worth debating I guess. Pete

[Nereus]

And it just got a lot worse. I got caught up in this yesterday, could not get out of my small Soi on to Rama 4 Rd. The tailback from Silom was right back to Sukhumvit, about 4 Kms!

Thai-Belgian bridge to be closed up to 45 days

Flyover blaze likely to spark month-long traffic gridlock

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... c-gridlock

Nightmarish traffic is expected for at least one month in downtown Bangkok as the Thai-Belgian flyover on Rama IV Road has been closed for repairs following a fierce fire which broke out beneath it.

Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang said the repairs could take 45 days, but he would try to have them completed in no more than a month.
He conceded the long closure of the overpass will exacerbate traffic congestion on Rama IV Road as well as other roads, saying City Hall will work with traffic police to find ways to tackle congestion there.

Earlier report: Steel beams bent, scorched

Traffic was terrible during the rush hour Tuesday evening as the bridge was closed. Traffic police prohibited motorists from turning right at the intersection.
The fire is another blow to Bangkok drivers. Construction on the Green Line railway has closed four lanes of PhahonYothin Road in northern Bangkok, causing huge jams in that area.

The fire erupted in a space storing rubbish bins underneath the overpass, causing four lanes of the bridge to be shut during morning rush hour.

According to an inspection, City Hall found that steel beams on the outbound lanes were bent after being scorched by the fire for an extended period, causing the traffic surface to subside. The inbound lanes sustained less damage.

Pol Gen Aswin said all 10 of the steel beams on both outbound and inbound lanes have to be replaced, adding the road surface also requires repairs.

Steel beams taken out from demolished flyovers at Ratchayothin and Kasetsart intersections will be installed at the Thai-Belgian flyover instead.

He said Pathumwan district office kept several garbage bins there and the space is fenced off. Following the fire, the office was instructed to move these items out of the area.

Rubbish along with homeless people need to be moved from beneath other flyovers which will be inspected.
"It was unlikely to have been an arson attack, but police must expedite efforts to track down those who were responsible for the fire," the governor said.

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