The Bangkok city governor wants a ban on sales of new cars unless every buyer can prove they own a parking place for it.

Of course, you should be rich to own a car. Don't want poor people owning them, that's a disgrace!

Posted by Tbs on October 1, 2015 09:46

Requiring parking space has failed in many cities because it's impossible to verify and enforce. Occupiers of small land plots would certify 'the right to park' for hundreds of car owners. Isn't there anyone in BMA who reads technical literature on traffic management?

Posted by jonas on October 1, 2015 11:41

@ Editor, I presume you are saying that in Patong/Karon/Kata are to many limousines and tuk tuk parked? Because of that I never can park my car in these areas. You hardly see there private cars parked.

Phuket authorities don't have that worry.
Try to park, the tuk tuk and limousine people make you aggressively clear to move away, otherwise scratches in the paint or a flat tire.

Posted by Kurt on October 1, 2015 12:09

Jack's Mum should have foreseen that the 800,000 baht she was offered and refused would be gleefully accepted by others willing and able to subvert justice. That's what obviously happened. Only in Thailand can such an obvious victim be turned into the perpetrator.

Posted by Arun Muruga on October 1, 2015 13:58

tbs

Demanding a parking space is definitely the way to go. This is how it's done i Tokyo for example. Car ownership is not some sort of human right, especially not in one of the most traffic clogged cities in the world, like Bangkok

Posted by christian on October 1, 2015 14:34

Mmm, let me think, obviously something the Bangkok gov can't do, I'd simply buy a car outside Bangkok, he also forgets, in this most un-law abiding country, that no one will respect others peoples owned/rented parking space, much like the tuk tuk/taxis ignore no parking/public parking zones.

Posted by Laurie Howells on October 1, 2015 16:01

Would have been a nice gesture, if the new governor had to use a taxi from the airport to go to his mansion. But his hybrid car is also a good choice.

Posted by Lena on October 1, 2015 16:14

Re Hansen - Bartel case. So sad to see a case like this undoing, in my eyes , a lot of the recent credibility the Thai Justice system had gained thru the Phuketwan and Andy Hall verdicts.

Posted by spud.67 on October 1, 2015 16:32

Back home where I come from every new apartment or business building is required to provide a certain amount of parking space to residents or customers.

Over here the Tesco community malls are a good example of how it's done right.

Most Supercheap shops with customers blocking one or sometimes even 2 lanes because no parking space is provided are a prime example of the opposite.

The new rule is a good proposal, in theory, but as is often the case with even the best of laws, when it comes to enforcement it all falls apart.

How are they going to control and check that the same spot is not claimed by multiple users or that the spot even exists ?

Furthermore who has the right to claim a certain public parking spot "theirs" ?

Posted by Herbert on October 1, 2015 16:44

Laurie Howells

That's again quite easy to control. What cities around the world do is block the tollways, bridges and busy roads for non-city registered cars, with heavy fines for rule breakers. Or ban the registering of non-bkk cars for bkk residents etc etc. There are many ways for cities to handle this, as can be seen in Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing among others

Posted by christian on October 1, 2015 18:04

Herbert

It's not about claiming public parking spaces for yourself, the public spaces will remain just that, public. It's about demanding that you own or long term rent a private parking space somewhere else, in a parking garage/building or equivalent. A place built specifically for parking cars. Instead of a developer building a condominium structure for example he/she can choose to build a parking building and selling parking spaces rather than apartments. I really don't understand why people here talk as if something unique and unfathomable is being proposed, this has been done for a loooong time all over the world already. It's very "doable" and not that complicated.

Posted by christian on October 1, 2015 18:28

@ Christian

In Thailand almost all cars bought on finance are registered in BKK because that's where most financial institutions have their head offices.

There is also no legal time limit/sanctions for transfer of ownership. Back home I have 7 days to do so or the registration will expire.

It's not uncommon to find vehicles for sale in Thailand where a owner of many years never bothered to register the car in his name.

The opposite is Germany where you need to change your license plates every time you move to a new "Bezirk" i.e. county. The first 1 to 3 letters on the license plate will identify where the owner or holder has his/her registered address.

IMO it's a hugely wasteful bureaucratic process that should be abolished.

Posted by Herbert on October 1, 2015 19:02

@ Christian

Sure I understand what you say but had you paid attention to my comment, you would have noticed I cite this rule being applied in my country.

However since developers in Thailand are NOT required to provide such parking spaces, where are all those private parking spaces suddenly supposed to come from ?

You cannot instantaneously create hundreds of thousands of private parking spaces in the middle of a congested city. It takes time and space. The proposal does not allocate time and space is in very short supply in BKK. Besides no amount of time given would create more space anyway, unless you start tearing down existing buildings.

You are putting the cart in front of the oxen. Can't demand the public to acquire something that is not available in anywhere near sufficient numbers.

There are countless examples of things that work well in the developed nations but fail miserably in the developing ones.

BKK is not Tokyo and Thai people do not have the mindset and foresight of the Japanese.

Posted by Herbert on October 1, 2015 19:13

@Christian, you seem to have similar thought processes as the Bangkok governor, I can see it now, cars, on the tollways, bridges and busy roads for non-city registered cars, being stop, yep, I'm sure your idea would work. Christian, I have a question, do you actually live in Thailand? Your comment would indicate you don't, in more law abiding nations your ideas might work, but this is Thailand. Please, don't come back with "if laws were enforced etc" we know they aren't and "tea" money gives you a "pass".

Posted by Laurie Howells on October 1, 2015 19:56

This is for Bangkok correct, well don't you people in Phuket have a life! Leave the decisions for people in the region you are about 700kms away. Sad or what.

Posted by I am pretty far from ok on October 2, 2015 01:56

Remember that in Singapore (which everyone likes to quote as a role model for ASEAN) you need to buy a COA (certificate of entitlement) first at auction to have the right to then buy a car - used to remain valid for 10 years but may have changed.

Posted by Logic on October 2, 2015 07:00

Herbert

Most cars are NOT registered in Bangkok at all. Buying a car on finance also has got nothing to do with it. You'll see plenty of variation when it comes to plates and the various provinces in Thailand.What matters is what dealership you went to. Buy a car at Toyota in Phuket on finance and the plate will say Phuket.
As for the implementation of the rules, they wouldn't (I'm pretty sure) be applied retroactively but start with cars being bought now. Other cars could get a grace period of say, 5 years.

Laurie

I have lived here for 16 years. I didn't say that there would be zero issues introducing these new rules, but it IS entirely doable.

Posted by christian on October 2, 2015 07:07