Bangkok and its notorious traffic

First-time visitors to Bangkok are often stunned by the metropole’s infamous traffic congestion. Tourists marvel at their taxi metres that inch ever upward on their initial ride from the airport to their hotel; a city block being covered e very ten minutes. An estimated 5.7 million vehicles ply Bangkok’s steamy streets, and that’s not only cars. Lorries, tuk-tuks, taxis and motorcycles all fight for their piece of the road in a city that makes Mexico City traffic look good. Sometimes the traffic jams are an issue even at 4 o’clock in the morning.

For tourists in Bangkok, there are alternatives. The subway metro system and the Skytrain cover most of the areas that would be of interest to tourists, though for locals that are trapped in gridlock every day, these public works are still not enough. A major extension needs to be built.

With many Asian countries’ middle classes swelling persistently, Thailand is no exception to the rule, and the nouveau-affluent consider a new car quite the status symbol, but of the 2,000 shiny new caste definers that take to Bangkok’s roads every day, the traffic is getting worse, and will continue to do so long before it gets any better.