Sutthichai wheels his way through morning traffic. ‘The bicycle is the best method of transport,’ he says.

In 1995 the state-enterprise employee decided to fix an abandoned bicycle that his neighbour passed on to him and ride it to work, and since that day he has hardly ventured out without it. "Initially, I just wanted to save on transport expenses, but now I cycle to help protect the environment and make energy savings too," he said.

Sutthichai's choice of transport is right in line with the state agencies' current energy-saving campaigns. The Interior Ministry recently urged its 8,000 officials to ride bicycles to work and plans to create bike-lanes on local roads in every province.

Sutthichai said that although he can now afford a more convenient, safer vehicle, he is committed to avoid using petrol-fuelled vehicles which pollute the environment.

"The bicycle is the best method of transport. It doesn't harm others and it makes me healthy in the process," he said. The fact that Sutthichai can cycle up to 100 kilometres a day, despite being near retirement age, confirms this.

Every morning, Sutthichai puts on his cycling gear and rides about three kilometres to his job in Bang Sue, where he showers and changes into his work clothes. He concedes that sharing the roads with other bigger vehicles without bike lanes is putting himself at risk, but noted that today's levels of traffic congestion actually have made city roads safer for him, because drivers can't drive as fast.

With the continuous rise in petrol prices, Sutthichai said he has seen an increase in the number of bicycles on the roads. And he's convinced that if bike lanes were provided on most roads in the city, many people would switch to riding bicycles and parents would allow their children to cycle to school.

Mongkol Vijarana, the vice president of the Thailand Cycling Club, said there was a rising trend to cycle in Bangkok and provincial cities, pointing to the increasing number of bikes on roadsides, the entrances to side streets and various other parking places.

"The membership of our club has also increased," he said, noting that the club is the largest of more than 100 cycling clubs nationwide.

"We had only 40 members when we set up the club 15 years ago, but now we have about 4,000 members. We have more than 300 new members each year."

Mongkol said the continuous rise in petrol prices was a big reason for cycling's increased popularity.

He said the public response to the government push for more people to cycle - to ease the country's fuel and economic problems - would depend on whether the proper facilities were provided to encourage people to make the switch. These include bike lanes, bicycle traffic signs, parking places, shady environments and smooth road surfaces without potholes, which can trap bicycle wheels and cause road accidents.

The club has held meetings with the government and several other related authorities to address these issues but Mongkol said the response had so far been patchy. "They have only occasionally responded to what we are asking for, and the state campaigns only ever appear as a result of energy crises."

He said there were only a few roads with bike lanes in Bangkok - Phetkasem, Lat Phrao and Rajdamri - but they all required maintenance.

The growing trend for cycling has also seen sales of bikes in Bangkok rise by about 20 per cent over the past three months, according to one bike dealer.

Sangsan Prachaanuwong, the assistant managing director of Probike, said sales of bikes were on the increase in both Bangkok and the provinces.

Initially, the company dealt mainly in mountain bikes for off-road use, but it had increased its range of city bicycles to cater for the growing demand. "Besides the energy-saving benefits, people are also becoming more concerned about their health," Sangsan said. 

Chatrarat Kaewmorakot

The Nation