Parking lots co-opting city streets to steal customers
Pattaya will realign traffic at the Bali Hai Pier intersection and allow Bangkok minivans to drop off passengers at the jetty in another attempt to solve traffic chaos there.
Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh chaired yet another meeting about the ongoing traffic and parking problems at Bali Hai, where taxis, baht buses, motorbikes and other vehicle operators compete, sometimes violently, for customers and parking slots.
The latest conflict revolves around traffic flow through the Bali Hai flyover intersection where operators of private parking lots have been using traffic cones to block off lanes to steer cars into their lots.
Ronakit said city hall already has placed concrete barriers at the intersection to prevent private businesses from co-opting city streets, but ordered municipal police to man the intersection at all times, especially on holidays, to keep traffic flowing properly.
Long-term, the deputy mayor said, city hall engineers will study the flyover area and suggest changes to roads, barriers and lanes to optimize traffic.
As for parking, the panel – which included representatives of the Chonburi Land Transport Department, Rung Ruang Pattaya Bus Terminal and Chonburi Bus Terminal – agreed to let minivan operators licensed to operate on routes to Pattaya from Bangkok’s northern (Mo Chit) and Eastern (Ekamai) bus stations to drop off passengers at Bali Hai, but not allow them to park long-term.
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