By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison PHUKET: Phuket needs an efficient network of buses, not a light rail link, says the Director of Transportation Phuket, Terayoot Prasertphol, who also believes 20-baht tuk-tuks should run around Patong’s one-way loop.
The opinions of the key man in transport on Phuket are likely to ignite a passionate response from those who believe a light rail link from Phuket International Airport to Phuket City and beyond can resolve Phuket’s travel issues.
Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha has yet to commit Phuket to a multi-billion baht light rail link but at least 10 willing constructors are expected to line up next month to explain why their system is better than the others.
Yet still many question the assumption that Phuket needs a light rail link from Phuket International Airport when Phuket City is not where most holidaymakers want to go. They’re mostly in a hurry to reach the west coast destinations of Patong, Karon or Kata.
Among those against a light rail answer is Khun Terayoot, who spent eight years in the Phuket role previously before two years in Krabi.
”Think about it,” he told Phuketwan. ”If you have a light rail link from the north to the south of the Phuket, who is going to use it? Who will the passengers be?”
”Is there a big enough demand? I don’t believe there is.”
Others also question the build-it-and-they-will-come philosophy of the light rail system, which could cost as much as 20 billion baht.
For much less, Phuket could buy plenty of ”green” low-impact buses and shuttle passengers directly from Phuket airport to a variety of west coast destinations.
With a central pickup in the new airport – pushing to one side the monopolies of the limousines and taxis – and smaller bus stations in Karon, Patong, Kata and Rawai, buses could be direct, efficient and low-cost.
”I suggested to my bosses in the Transportation department that buses would serve Phuket better,” Khun Terayoot said. ”We have to make the choice.
”To me, a private light rail system especially would not get Phuket where it needs to go.”
He said the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation had already proved it could capably run Phuket’s pink bus network in and around Phuket City. The PPAO could also run a network of buses to serve the entire island, he said.
It’s difficult for anyone to see how a light rail system can fit on Phuket’s already crowded roads, except as an elevated system that will destroy forever the illusion that Phuket is a holiday island.
People do not come to Phuket to holiday in a city just like the ones most of them are trying to break free from. They come to Phuket for the beaches and the reefs. They want to enjoy the illusion that Phuket is a tropical island destination.
Buses can help to maintain the illusion. A light rail system, especially an elevated one, destroys it.
”We have to make the choice,” Khun Terayoot said. ”But if you ask me, buses provided the answer for Phuket. A light rail system does not.”
Transportation is considered Phuket’s number one issue by everyone, from anti-corruption authorities to the tourists who have to pay excessive fares in taxis and tuk-tuks because there is no alternative.
”There is not much point in pretending that Phuket’s transport problems will be solved by a light rail system,” Khun Terayoot said. ”In many ways, such a prject really just avoids tackling the problems.”
He believes Phuket fares in tuk-tuks and taxis are too high and need to be standardised so they are lower and not negotiable.
He also believes resorts and retail outlets, including jewellery shops, should stop paying commissions to drivers who deliver guest to them, whether the guests wish to go shopping, or change resorts, or not.
”This system has been abandoned in most overseas holiday destinations,” he said. ”It’s wrong of drivers to tell tourists that a resort has shut down just because they want to collect the commission at some other resort.”
The outdated system where taxis and tuk-tuks could take travellers to another part of Phuket but not pick up a return fare also needs to be abandoned in favor of a modern system, he said.
”This idea was introduced 30 years ago, when Phuket was still a collection of villages, each with their own commitment to locals. One or two mayors still say the plan is to protect local workers.
”But times have changed. And in the 21st century, it’s important to protect tourists as well.
”It’s possible to devise a taxi and tuk-tuk system that would protect the jobs of locals and prevent the tourists from choosing other destinations, too. Negatives like this are what drives tourists to quit Phuket for places where services are better.”
One idea that Khun Terayoot plans to pass on to Patong Mayor Pian Keesin is for a group of tuk-tuk drivers to circle Patong, picking up passengers at 20 baht a trip.
The drivers should be paid 1000 baht a day for their involvement in the service, Khun Terayoot said, and the tuk-tuks could be painted a special color.
”This would help ease Patong’s traffic problems because locals and tourists would then have a choice between tuk-tuks and their own motorcycles,” he said.
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Way to go, K. Terayoot, for calling out this unclothed, light-rail emperor.The answer, as he notes is simple. Buses.
Posted by David on June 22, 2011 10:54
A light rail system is only worthwhile if it circles from the airport along the west coast beaches up to Nai Harn, Chalong Phuket City, Heroines monument or Pak Lhok and back to the airport. Trains to run in both directions and supported by a Baht bus system at each station.Posted by Dirk Naumann on June 22, 2011 11:00
This guy is 100% spot on, on all issues.The light rail is a complete red herring to allow the authorities to say they are doing something, but at the same time diverting attention from, and not actually addressing the crux of the problem, which is as we all know the M**ia, and related corruption. The light rail proposal is designed so as officials involved in transport issues do not get done in by the mob. Buses and metered taxis are clearly the way to go.
Posted by dan on June 22, 2011 11:10
Thank you Khun Terayoot Prasertphol, for speaking the truth about this light rail rubbish. The roads are already here, use them for the effective transport of passengers on Baht Busses.
Khun Terayoot you have truth and a good vision for the future.
I back your plans.
Posted by Graham on June 22, 2011 11:59
Wow.. someone in power who speaks the truth… I hope he can get others to listen.“The light rail is a complete red herring” – a very expensive herring which will line some pockets no doubt. Absolutely not needed. What is needed, a good bus system. Simple, I am glad that someone influential has said it. Samui can do it, Pattaya can do it, and you can travel right across Bangkok for less than a ride from Karon to Patong!
Posted by Jame on June 22, 2011 12:26
Someone prepared to voice what everyone knows needs to happen.The only people who could be against this system are the ones who wish to gain from corrupt big ticket ‘projects’ or those who benefit from illegal cartels which use mob violence and lawlessness to enforce their profits.
Give this man the power !!
Posted by LivinLOS on June 22, 2011 12:44
Well said, it’s nice to see some intelligence shine through at last. Problem is, the people in charge of the decision probably won’t make much in the way of back handers, but here’s to Terayoot Prasertphol for putting up a great intelligent answer.Posted by Tbs on June 22, 2011 13:31
Check out what Bangkok is doing with CNG buses. 10 year lease for 64 billion (4000 buses). That works out to 1.6 million/year/bus.This is for full sized buses. Phuket would probably use mixed sizes. Full size for airport runs from each beach location and Phuket Town. Mid-sized for inter-beach routes (sorry, it needs to be a part of an intergrated plan). And small size for loops in Patong, Karon/Kata, et al.
You would obviously need a central CNG fill station. BKK MTA lease deal requires local training for repair / maintenance (more local jobs).
Eco – friendly: We have been getting a lot of bad press lately.
Can be used on existing roads.
Can also be implemented in months versus years for rail.
Flexible – can adjust routes as demand changes. Just try and move a rail station.
So for a budget of say 50 million (estimate) / year to lease around 40 buses of various size, it would take you 400 years to get to 20 billion that is the estimated cost of a light rail.
These are very rough numbers, but you don’t need to be a financial whiz to see that a rail system is way to expensive versus the alternatives.
K. Terayoot is on the right path.
Posted by GiantFan on June 22, 2011 13:37
good roads,good transport bus service is all thats needed, why waste money on this crazy idea, unless its all over the island, which it will never be.. complete waste of time..get rid of the corupt out of date tuk tuk system,and the government should…make them install a good public transport system, for all to use..but i doubt it will ever happen here in Phuket
Posted by johndev on June 22, 2011 13:46
Director Terayoot Prasertphol is absolutely right on all issues. May he find a way to bring his ideas out in life.Posted by H on June 22, 2011 14:19
Thumbs up Khun Terayoot Prasertphol for well understanding the situation.Posted by Jean-Paul Patrick on June 22, 2011 14:49
At Last !!!At Last!!!At Last!!!…..A man with a modicum of common sense…but alas I do not hold much hope for the Patong solutionPosted by Anonymous on June 22, 2011 15:49
“Phuket needs an efficient network of buses”. 100% correct, for years this has been needed. It was even tried out a few years back till the tuk-tuk m***a put a bus driver in hospital. Who has got the power to get buses on the road? I fear it is against all the odds, K.Terayoot, but you had a wonderful dream.Posted by Pete on June 22, 2011 16:16
Khun Teerayoot and all the other people taking this stance forget (or simply are ignorant to the fact) that the drive to bring mass transit to the island is a preliminary step for the 2014 AEC blue print to make the island an ASEAN economic hub centered around the most populace (and least environmentally vulnerable area) which is Amphoe Mueang — not to appease go-go going tourists. On that note, the whole world needs more mass transit and less vehicles on the road!Posted by Jao on June 22, 2011 16:22
I have mixed ideas about the whole thing. Adding a bus network will just further add to roads that are not equipped to take such traffic. The roads are already overloaded and thinking that a fleet of buses will solve the situation is naive and short-sighted.People who have jobs need to be at places at specific times. One major problem is going to be timekeeping. If people using a bus route are constantly late and take an hour to travel a few KM then will it be used? Are people who have their own transport at the moment whether it be car or bike likely to stop using them for a bus that may/may not arrive on schedule?
Most people who spend a lot of time driving cars around the island know travel times vary considerably. An LRT is something that would provide dependable journey times, scheduled and planned. Knowing for example that it will consistently take 12 minutes to get from Phuket Town to Chalong is massively appealing as opposed to 15 minutes on a bus one day and 45 minutes the next.
As others have mentioned though, An LRT system would need to be island-wide and is it likely to be accepted by those in power who gain from no public transport system at all?
Buses may be a start but the roads over the next 5-10 years are only going to get busier with or without them. Phuket planners need to be thinking 20-25 years down the line (pardon the pun!).
Posted by Emubob on June 22, 2011 16:33Editor Comment:
Emubob, it’s interesting that people imagine a light rail will make Phuket’s relatively narrow thoroughfares less congested. How will a light rail, either at ground level or elevated, be squeezed into existing roads? We don’t have 12 lanes here.
Thumbs up for Khun Terayoot and his insight. It sounds almost too good to be true, what he is saying, although I am afraid his words will fall on deaf ears. I would love it if could make his ideas become reality.Posted by Fritz Pinguin on June 22, 2011 18:05
Sorry for being boring, but LRS is an expensive hobby for Phuket. I understand why some people like it, as it promises kickbacks. But as someone else wrote here on Phuketwan: only when there is a traffic jam of buses only, there is enough people to travel a LRS.Take a little from the 20b B and invest in electric scooters, taxis and from the rest get some eco friendly buses.
In the end, this site will make no difference and the chinese will built that LRS and three years from now, wild accusations will come. Maybe, just maybe it is important for Phuket, that the government in Bangkok changes and some fresh, strong and cold wind is coming to the cosy place here.
Posted by Lena on June 22, 2011 18:12
@Phuket ‘Needs Transport Answers, Not a Light Rail’Everyone knows it since longtime excepted decision-makers in Phuket because…you bet…want some tea-money to sign documents.
Posted by Whistle-Blower on June 22, 2011 18:34
At last someone in power with the ability to talk sense and see sense, not like the rest of the islands fettles power brokers constantly pandering to the tuk-tuk M**** and it’s powerful protectors.Mr Terayoot I wish you all the luck in the world trying to get your plan through I really really do. I can only hope the soon to be new powers that be in BK will back your common sense plan before the people in charge of phuket have you posted and your plan shredded .Giant fans comment was spot on.Posted by Scunner on June 22, 2011 18:43
Emubob. The traffic congestion problem could easily be solved with buses only lanes.
Jao
Are you for real? All this ridiculous talk of Phuket becoming an “economic Hub” is just crazy hyperbole..Phuket’s biggest asset is its beaches. Its also an island, which automatically brings severe limitations of all kinds: Space, water etc etc. If Phuket hadn’t become popular as a tourist destination, it would have been a sparsely poplulated place, with rubber as maybe the biggest money maker, and Phuket city would be a nice medium sized sleepy town like Takua Pa or even less. All this talk of Phuket becoming a new Singapore or something is just daydreaming and misguided nationalistic mumbo jumbo.
Posted by christian on June 22, 2011 22:33
500 Baht says Khun Terayoot will be transferred to a different province. Way too much common sense for Phuket.Posted by Kit on June 23, 2011 09:42
great article, particularly enjoyed ‘They come to Phuket for the beaches and the reefs. They want to enjoy the illusion that Phuket is a tropical island destination’Posted by spud67 on June 23, 2011 18:10
I would not use a light rail to the airport. If I have to get all my luggage into a taxi just to take me to a light rail station, I may as well travel in comfort all the way to the airport.I agree, a reliable network of busses would be what the island needs.
Posted by David D. on June 24, 2011 02:19
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