Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

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Gaybutton
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Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

Post by Gaybutton »

I like this idea. There may be a few flaws that need to be worked out, but I think this will certainly sort out a great many traffic jam problems.

Nearly every time I drive to Bangkok, for example, it takes just as long trying to get through the toll booth backups as it does to drive from Pattaya to Bangkok, starting at the Lad Prao toll booth.

Unfortunately, the toll booth attendants will probably be joining the ranks of the unemployed.
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Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

16 Sep 2020

The Ministry of Transport will remove tollway booths and remodel billing systems to incorporate vehicle recognition, in a bid to reduce congestion on tollway and expressways next year.

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob on Tuesday told reporters that the ministry's vehicle registration database will be shared with the Department of Land Transport, Department of Highways and Expressway Authority of Thailand under a memorandum of understanding to track vehicles using tollways and expressways when barriers and toll booths are taken away next year.

He said a toll system without barriers and toll booths is being developed to be used on roads by the Department of Highways, Expressway Authority of Thailand, Department of Land Transport, Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc, and Don Muang Tollway Plc.

According to the new system, called M-Flow, licence plate detectors will be used to later match the vehicle information in the licence registration database and bill motorists every month to post-pay without the assistance of barriers and toll booths, the minister said.

In the meantime, the tracking system for post-payment will be tested at Thap Chang Toll gate.

All tollway and expressway gates will be modified by next year, he said.

"This system has another benefit ... we can check for illegal vehicles," he said referring to the linked database and the licence detection system.

Laws will be amended so that failure to pay road tolls will be considered an offence, he said.

Sarawut Songsivilai, director-general of the Department of Highways, said officials will be able to check whether vehicles match their registrations or not.

Then the bills will be mailed to the car owner's home, and users will have 30 days to pay.

Current users of M-Pass will be able to link their pass with their vehicle license and pay the tolls automatically, he said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... -next-year
Jun

Re: Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

Post by Jun »

Gaybutton wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:06 am Unfortunately, the toll booth attendants will probably be joining the ranks of the unemployed.
I'd say that's fortunate, as they are freed up to do something useful.

The only way countries improve living standards in the long term is by productivity improvements. One of the easiest ways to improve productivity is by eliminating jobs that are actually better done by machines.
Further examples could be replacing public transport ticket booth operators by machines or, better still, contactless bank card payment.
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Re: Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

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Jun wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 5:09 pm I'd say that's fortunate, as they are freed up to do something useful.
I would agree if there were job prospects, but because of the virus crisis finding a job at all is a serious problem. In any case I'm all for getting rid of the toll booths - if their new system works. And in Thailand that's a BIG if . . .
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Re: Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

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It doesn't work like that GB, you have to think long-term, education, progress etc. I think we only have to look at our own lives to prove that it the case, well certainly mine and what inspired us to better our prospects with regard to jobs and living standards. At 15, never would I believe I'd be a millionaire now, with my own yacht and island in the middle of the Pacific ocean!!
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Re: Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

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whitedesire wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:00 pm It doesn't work like that GB
I'm not following what you are trying to say. What doesn't work like that?
Jun

Re: Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

Post by Jun »

White Desire is right, we need to think long term.
If we hadn't had productivity improvements, we wouldn't have had all the living standard improvements of the last 200 years. If people were still digging and harvesting food by hand, or weaving cloth by hand, we would be very very poor.

Eliminating pointless jobs like too booth operators is exactly the type of thing they should do. Actually, the jobs are not just useless, they are WORSE than useless, since tool booths create traffic jams and pollution.

There's a long list of other pointless jobs Thailand should also aim to eliminate.

As for the current economic crises, well this will pass. The very last thing the government should do is pay people to do pointless jobs.
Where they might start is by having sensible rules for tourist arrivals, as discussed in another thread.
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Re: Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

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Gaybutton wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:23 pm
whitedesire wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:00 pm It doesn't work like that GB
I'm not following what you are trying to say. What doesn't work like that?
"Finding a job" vs "long term thinking", in short.
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Re: Tollway booths to be scrapped next year

Post by Gaybutton »

Jun wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 3:48 am White Desire is right, we need to think long term.
I completely agree with both of you. Nobody will be happier than I to see the toll booths vanish, but along with it I also hope the powers-that-be find new jobs for these people rather than just throwing them to the wolves. After all, all these people are going to lose their jobs through no fault of their own and there is already an unemployment crisis in Thailand because of the tourist industry crisis.
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