PHUKET: In a bold move aimed at resolving some of Phuket's key traffic issues, Phuket's Director of Transport plans to invite the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation to start new bus services from Phuket airport to Phuket's west and south.
Success of the move would fix Phuket's key public transport problem - the lack of cheap and efficient public transport from Phuket International Airport to Phuket's prime west coast tourist destinations of Patong, Karon and Kata, as well as further south.
Phuket Director of Transport Terayoot Prasertphol aims to put the proposal to Organisation Chief Executive Paiboon Upatising - the man behind Phuket City's successful pink bus service - as soon as Khun Paiboon returns from India, where he is promoting Phuket in a road show.
Khun Terayoot told Phuketwan that three routes would be essential: Phuket airport to Patong, Kata and Karon (western Phuket); Phuket airport to Chalong-Rawai (southern Phuket) and Phuket airport to Surin and Kamala (beaches north of Patong.)
''These are the routes that Phuket needs most,'' Khun Terayoot said. ''These routes are available for contract to the right bidder.''
Efforts to start a bus service between Karon and Patong failed in the '90s when a bus driver was badly beaten by opponents of the concept.
Since then, transport between Phuket International Airport and Phuket's west coast - Phuket's prime tourism zone - has been monopolised by tuk-tuks and taxis, at extortionate fares.
With the plan for enlarging Phuket International Airport still in the design phase, space for buses in any new service could be created close to the international and domestic terminals.
At present tour buses are relegated to the back of the airport car park, forcing tourists to carry their bags to the buses. Taxis wait in the prime spots.
The timing has never been better to try to start an efficient low-cost public transport system on Phuket, with a new national government likely to be sympathetic.
Having created the highly-praised pink bus service that criss-crosses Phuket City at 10 baht for adults, with students travelling for free, Khun Paiboon's organisation - known as the Orborjor - would be the most appropriate group to run an efficient low-cost transport network all over Phuket.
Phuket's roads are rapidly choking from gridlock. With no alternative, Phuket residents are forced to use cars or motorcycles, or pay excessive rates for taxis or tuk-tuks, or use motorcycle taxis.
Whether the Transport Department and the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation are prepared to pursue the concept will only become apparent once the new national government expresses its view.
Pressure is certainly mounting for change on Phuket.
Another suggestion by Khun Terayoot is for the car park alongside the Karon-Kata administrative offices to become a call centre for tuk-tuks and taxis for all of Kata and Karon.
All resorts in Kata-Karon would call for vehicles that could be waiting for work in the car park.
The idea would end congestion caused by having about 50 taxi ranks scattered on the mostly narrow roads throughout the district.
Success of the move would fix Phuket's key public transport problem - the lack of cheap and efficient public transport from Phuket International Airport to Phuket's prime west coast tourist destinations of Patong, Karon and Kata, as well as further south.
Phuket Director of Transport Terayoot Prasertphol aims to put the proposal to Organisation Chief Executive Paiboon Upatising - the man behind Phuket City's successful pink bus service - as soon as Khun Paiboon returns from India, where he is promoting Phuket in a road show.
Khun Terayoot told Phuketwan that three routes would be essential: Phuket airport to Patong, Kata and Karon (western Phuket); Phuket airport to Chalong-Rawai (southern Phuket) and Phuket airport to Surin and Kamala (beaches north of Patong.)
''These are the routes that Phuket needs most,'' Khun Terayoot said. ''These routes are available for contract to the right bidder.''
Efforts to start a bus service between Karon and Patong failed in the '90s when a bus driver was badly beaten by opponents of the concept.
Since then, transport between Phuket International Airport and Phuket's west coast - Phuket's prime tourism zone - has been monopolised by tuk-tuks and taxis, at extortionate fares.
With the plan for enlarging Phuket International Airport still in the design phase, space for buses in any new service could be created close to the international and domestic terminals.
At present tour buses are relegated to the back of the airport car park, forcing tourists to carry their bags to the buses. Taxis wait in the prime spots.
The timing has never been better to try to start an efficient low-cost public transport system on Phuket, with a new national government likely to be sympathetic.
Having created the highly-praised pink bus service that criss-crosses Phuket City at 10 baht for adults, with students travelling for free, Khun Paiboon's organisation - known as the Orborjor - would be the most appropriate group to run an efficient low-cost transport network all over Phuket.
Phuket's roads are rapidly choking from gridlock. With no alternative, Phuket residents are forced to use cars or motorcycles, or pay excessive rates for taxis or tuk-tuks, or use motorcycle taxis.
Whether the Transport Department and the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation are prepared to pursue the concept will only become apparent once the new national government expresses its view.
Pressure is certainly mounting for change on Phuket.
Another suggestion by Khun Terayoot is for the car park alongside the Karon-Kata administrative offices to become a call centre for tuk-tuks and taxis for all of Kata and Karon.
All resorts in Kata-Karon would call for vehicles that could be waiting for work in the car park.
The idea would end congestion caused by having about 50 taxi ranks scattered on the mostly narrow roads throughout the district.
A welcome development, an incremental positive, but isn't the focus on transport between the airport and the resorts missing the key point?
Sure, airport route pricing is on the high side, but at least it only hits on arrival and departure and primarily the tourists only.
In contrast, it's the inter and intra resort transit - for example, within Patong, from Patong to Karon, from Chalong to Surin, etc - that suffer most from a missing public option, a hole that is then filled by monopolistic over-priced tuk-tuks. Further, these routes affect all groups - tourists, foreign residents, Thai residents, migrant workers - and are used with higher frequency.
Posted by D on September 9, 2011 07:42
Editor Comment:
As far as we can tell, there is no overall transport strategy for Phuket. The best hope for phased improvement rests with delivering the services that Phuket most obviously needs for tourism. To tackle the hardest part first seems to have little appeal to administrators.