For health reasons – Bangkok’s proposed congestion charge

It’s a widely quoted truism that residents of Bangkok lost eight days of their lives last year, stuck in traffic. So it comes as no surprise that a congestion charge is being suggested. Unbelievably, this would make Bangkok only the second major city in Asia with such a charge.

Proposed fees range from 50 baht (US$1.30) to 120 baht across the city.

Bangkok has terrible traffic, ranked the world’s 11th worst in 2019. Things were much improved during lockdowns, but it’s back to usual now, and that’s bad. Then there’s the air pollution, with unhealthy readings persisting for weeks at a time.

Punya Chupanit, director-general at Thailand’s Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, believes the congestion charge is a good idea.

He said…

“If the congestion charge is implemented, it can help to decrease congestion and air pollution. More people would use public transport.”

Punya said his agency would hold a public hearing on the congestion charge and noted that implementation may not happen anytime soon.

“London studied it for 30 years before deciding.”

Thailand has obligations to cut its CO2 emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and so is encouraging the use of electric vehicles. The capital has been rated as the 48th most polluted city in the country, out of 68 cities in the database. This must come as a surprise to many, mainly due to the extremely large number of vehicles on the road. Visitors and locals alike who have to use the streets of Bangkok know how bad the pollution and haze can get, with visible smoke hanging in the air and vile black soot covering many of the city’s roadsides and underpasses.

One proposed congestion-charge area would improve traffic flow by 20%, reduce PM2.5 by up to 36% and cut annual CO2 emissions by as much as 600,000 tons.

Singapore, Stockholm, and London are among the big cities that already collect congestion charges, while Oxford in the UK started levying charges on non-electric vehicles this year. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering a congestion plan that would charge motorists as much as US$23 to enter Manhattan’s CBD, making it – unbelievably again – the first US city with such a policy.

SOURCE Bloomberg