Integrated public bus systems : transport policy and possibilities in Chiang Mai municipality, Thailand | |
| Author | Bandasak Yostrakul |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-00-17 |
| Subject(s) | Transportation--Thailand--Chiang Mai--Government policy Bus lines--Planning--Thailand--Chiang Mai |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources, and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Chiang Mai province, as the economic center for the northern region of Thailand, is facing an urban transport problem. Heavy traffic congestion occurs during peak hours on most of the main roads of this city. One reason for this is that the number of private vehicle continue to increase dramatically. To reduce the number of private vehicles, promoting the use of public transportation is one of the best available strategies. The main public transport mode for people to travel in the municipality is the red-colored minibus and its service has deteriorated over the years. This causes Chiang Mai inhabitants to no longer use this service of public transport system and incresingly turn to private vehicles. From the research study on the government public transport policy, the budget allocation for pub I ic transport and use of this budget, it is revealed that the government agencies are hardly committed to the public transport system of this country. Same as the provincial and municipality level, most of the national budgets are given to road infrastrucure construction compare to public transport development. The govenrent policy also tell us that IPBS will never have been realised unless more importance and serious implementation is given more importance to the public transport system. However, base on the interview, it is found that these agencies' officers and the academia believed that a fix route and fix fare rate that !PBS will offer could help improve the management of red colored minibuses. Yet, most of them are concerned about how IPBS could be adopted rather than how !PBS could help increase the service quality of the redcolored minibuses. In respect to the red colored minibus, bus drivers seem not to accept the IPBS implementation as this could not bring them better benefits. Although IPBS criteria, fix fare, fix route and fix bus stop, are what a good bus system should have, the minibus drivers dislike to be controled by a regulation imposed by any new system. Then it can be concluded that the IPBS implementation has a very low chance to be realized in the Chiang Mai Municipality. It is not enough just to have a good concept of public bus system to make the current system improve. Yet, a strong political commitment and citizen support is the key to Chiang Mai having a better bus system or any other public transport system. Therefore, the primary focus of the recommendation made in this thesis is on citizen's pressure through a citizen organization; this is to allow the citizen to have a powerful voice. Even if to have this recommended idea come true it is difficult and time-consuming, also it is likely that this will be a sustainable solution to other public service for the Chiang Mai in the future. The researcher is also quite concerned about a solution to the management of red-colored minibuses. Despite the fact that it is normal for other countries to provide a subsidy to promote their public transport service, this provision of a subsidy needs further study since the government policy is not aimed at supporting public transport projects. |
| Year | 2001 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Zimmermann, Willi |
| Examination Committee(s) | Jamieson, Walter ;Zwierczek, Fredric |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Canadian Universities Consortium (CUC)/ Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2001 |