Bangkok police want priority for public transport vehicles

They also want cars with fewer than three occupants banned from entering congested roads, a senior policeman said Monday. Bus lanes were first adopted in 1980 and have been tried on several occasions but were never a success in Bangkok because police failed to enforce restrictions on passenger vehicles using bus lanes, Pol Maj General Adul Narongsak said. Police attempted a high-occupancy vehicle scheme in recent years but motorists opposed to it, so police enforcement of the move lapsed.

The officer said both practices were being studied and the names of Bangkok streets these moves would be undertaken on would be known soon. He said passenger sedans entering a main street from a soi would have to give way to city buses in designated bus lanes. And that both practices, if implemented and effectively enforced, would encourage motorists to stop driving and turn to using public transport.

The Nation