Dear Chiangmai Mail,
I am prepared to donate 100,000 baht to the charity of
the governor’s choice if the traffic situation actually improves due to
the plan outlined in your esteemed publication last week.
The plan will fail because apart from having too many
working parts, it will not persuade the middle-class and the rich to stop
driving their cars and 4 W.D.’s in the clogged streets of Chiang Mai.
All that is going to happen is that the poorer citizens
will be inconvenienced by a bus service that will only turn up sporadically
and will not go where you tell it to go - very much unlike red mini-buses!
It’ll probably persuade some members of this class to
get on their motorcycles because it will be more convenient to do that than
wait around for the fixed-line bus service, thus making the situation even
worse than it is today!
A much better idea would be to adopt something like Ken
Livingstone’s London Congestion Charge. It’s been proven that the best
way to reduce traffic jams is to target traffic specifically - traffic has
declined 20% and London now receives 50 million pounds a year from this
scheme. Plus it has proven popular with the voters.
So what do you think would be better - adopt a scheme
that works and makes money or do something that will fail (witness the
Chiang Mai fixed line bus service - it’s never more than a third full) and
cost money?
As a reference, go to www.bbc. co.uk search around and
find out what I’m talking about.
Yours, most sincerely,
Nick Hanlon
P.S. I am willing to discuss this proposal with the governor and present
him with the relevant information at any time of his choosing.
