Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt offered a public apology today for the closure of one lane on Sukhumvit Soi 39, for use in the trial run of a bike lane on Tuesday, which caused traffic jams in the lane and on 17 other roads from morning until late at night.
The bike lane was an idea from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s (BMA) of Office of Traffic and Transport the Thai Talk and Bicycle Institute, intended to offer an alternative route for pedestrians and cyclists in the city. Blocks were placed on Sukhumvit Soi 39 yesterday, to reserve one lane of the two-lane side road for cyclists and pedestrians. They were completely removed today.
It is reported that the bike lane was, however, predominantly used by motorcyclists and food delivery riders rather than cyclists, while causing major tailbacks.
Governor Chadchart said today that the trial bike lane project had received support from foreign experts at embassies of countries, which have bike and pedestrian lanes in their cities, and was intended to encourage people in Bangkok to walk and to use bicycles, adding that the BMA had taken several months to prepare the trial run.
He apologised for the extreme inconvenience caused to motorists yesterday adding, however, that Bangkok needs changes to make the city more liveable and that the roads should be sharable by both motorists and cyclists.
