Article by Charin Polpanumas
I was rushing down the stairs from BTS Sky Train, Bangkok’s only above-the-ground mass transit railway, to ironically enough, a Japanese restaurant, where my high school mates were waiting. I was late. Since the meal could be considered done for, we decided to go to the movie. That was when I was utterly awestruck. We traveled a mere five-block distance, through the city usual 15-minute-at-a-time-traffic-jam, by cars—cars, almost one for each of my friends! I kept the surprise to myself yet could not help wondering why these people, who in their high school years took the buses and Chao Phraya express boats as I did, were not able to do the same thing once they are in universities. I suspected they were not the only college kids doing so. On the other hand, it is quite understandable; it almost literally suffocates you to walk five blocks in Bangkok, and the open-air buses do very little to help you with that.
Most of the Thai I met said the distance the Japanese cover on foot every day always surprised them. The vicious cycle began from Thailand’s undeniably poor public transportation. Tokyo has more than 100 train lines serving its metropolitan area; Bangkok has two. Of course, the government has promised more to come, but none has yet to make it as far as reality. *Picture 1—BTS Sky Train
*Picture 2—Hopewell Train Project, initiated in 1990, never finished
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