Dear Sir;
Since Pattaya boasts an English speaking mayor, I wonder if he might address the concerns publicly of the English speaking community that provides so much revenue and creation of jobs in this great city.
For some time now there have been continuing debates on the level of traffic in and around Pattaya which seems to be growing almost by the day and especially at holiday times.
I would express my particular concern on this occasion about the songthaew. I have for some 24 years supported this institution and service provided by the citizens of Pattaya for the benefit of its community. I fear that this great service and the providers of same over recent years have been abusing their privilege of providing this service to the community.
Many now choose only to pick up fares for 200 baht and 400 baht one stop one place in deference to those wishing to hop on and hop off. The unreliability of the service forces the community to seek more reliable forms of transport, buying bikes or cars. This in turn increases the traffic levels.
If these citizens who drive the songthaews do not realize their responsibility to the community to provide an efficient and reliable transport service then they must forfeit that privilege and the town hall must be obligated to provide a reliable and alternative means of transport to reduce Pattaya traffic.
Clearly the licensing and operation of songthaews is not being managed properly by the town hall and the drivers are abusing their position to the detriment of both the Thai people and the visitors.
Yours,
PAW
