Bangkok Mass Transit: |The Show Must Go On

The BTS Silom Extension extends the BTS to two new stations across the Chao Phya River - Krung Thon Buri and Wongwian Yai. This extension adds 2.2 kilometres to the existing 23.5 kilometres of the BTS. This is a significant stretch as it eases congestion on the Taksin Bridge, which connects the Thonburi side to the Bangkok side's Sathorn Road. Now the total length of the BTS will be 25.7 kilometres, carrying about 400,000 passengers daily.

The operation of the extension relieves the concerns some people have held that it would ever be completed, coming as it does almost 10 years after the first BTS train was run on December 5, 1999. The delay has been the result of several factors, including legal and construction problems, and traffic-management issues. Therefore, the opening of the Silom Extension gives hope to Bangkok people that they will see another extension become a reality. We should give a round of applause to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited and all related parties who have made this happen.

However, BTS is not the only system in the Bangkok mass-transit network plan. Bangkok has had its Mass

Rapid Transit Systems Master Plan (MTMP) |since 1994, but implementing it has seemed |to take forever for a number of reasons. While other Asian countries have succeeded in bringing their mass-transit plans to fruition, Thailand's mass-transit development is still going at a slow pace. Despite all the criticism, realising the Bangkok mass-transit plan is still one of the major projects that any government must take on. The potential benefits for the Thai people and economy are too significant to let any conflicts put it on hold.

For the people, the faster and more convenient mode of transportation promises a better quality of life. With better transportation, people have more time for work or family and face less time on the road. This increases the productivity of the economy as a whole and, more significantly, brings more smiles to people's faces, as parents can spend more time with their children at home and less on the road. Therefore, the mass-transit system has potential socio-cultural impacts, in addition to the more obvious economic aspects.

For the property market, mass transit creates value. Historically, the land along the lines of Bangkok's mass-transit systems (both MRT and BTS) enjoy steeper appreciation in value than other areas of Bangkok. Sukhumvit and Phaholyothin are the obvious examples. Property along the mass-transit lines enjoys better rental rates, asset appreciation, absorption rates and resale value. This is also true for the new extension; the land price along the new extension exceeded Bt100,000 per square wah even before the train actually began to operate. The operation of the Silom extension should make the property market in Thonburi vibrant again. This may also be true of the other extension, the Sukhumvit extension, where hopes of completion in the near future have been ignited.

For the country as a whole, mass-transit systems decrease dependency on fossil fuels. Mass transit is also a better mode of transportation in terms of environmental protections.

After all, no matter what happens and regardless of which party holds power, Bangkok's mass-transit project has to continue for the good of the people and the country. Therefore, we all hope that this show will go on.