Parking proposal for Jomtien Beach

[Gaybutton]

I think this not only is a good idea, but should be substantially expanded to provide parking outside the city and free shuttle service to and from various points in the city. I believe it would be a great help to alleviating Pattaya's traffic problems (once traffic becomes a problem again). I hope something will be done to put a stop to the tour bus problems too. The best time to deal with traffic problems is right now, when it is already well known what the traffic problems will be.

And what happened to the promised "people mover" monorail? The last time I saw any publicity about it was almost exactly two years ago.

see: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10386

As far as I know, any actual work to build it hasn't even started.

Wouldn't it be nice if instead of empty promises, the powers-that-be actually do some of these things?
________________________________________________________________

Move Forward mayoral candidate pledges more parking for Jomtien Beach

By Pattaya Mail

April 24, 2022

The Move Forward Party rallied on Jomtien Beach for people to support its progressive candidate for Pattaya mayor.

Kittisak “Bob” Ninwattanatochai invited Jomtien residents and business operators to his April 21 gathering to listen to their complaints and suggestions.

Vendors renting beach chairs and umbrellas worried that the almost-universally praised rebuild of Jomtien Beach will cost them money because the beach, rather than eroding, will be “too big” and people will choose to sit closer to the water.

Kittisak nor any mayoral candidate is about to criticize or reverse the much-needed rebuild, so he promised to consider measures to assist affected vendors if elected.

He also acknowledged their request for even more parking spaces on Jomtien Beach.
Kittisak suggested a “park and ride” project where shuttles could take tourists from a 10,000-car parking lot or garage away from the shoreline.

https://www.pattayamail.com/news/move-f ... ach-396086

[mahjongguy]

The area defined by Jomtien Beach Road and Jomtien Second Road, running from the Dong Tarn police station all the way down to the end of the beach road, does not to my knowledge include any city-owned parcel big enough for park-and-ride. It's all privately held, waiting to become condos, and available only at astronomical prices. Can the city pay 200 million baht per rai for land that will only produce indirect revenue?

It would be much more productive to develop a "day at the beach" zone in Na Jomtien. There is land there that's cheaper (though some drainage may be needed). Provide parking interspersed with spaces for vendors and vendor support, include toilets with proper septic systems, add a crew to the water rescue team. Build a stage, a volleyball court. Pay attention to what Thai day-trippers and weekenders like (shade, showers) and what they hate (park-and-ride) and make it so.

The city missed a huge opportunity when Jomtien Second Road was built. There was a strip of land available that could have been used to build a new block connecting the Soi Wat Boon intersection at Second road with Beach Road. They didn't do it, and now the original connecting street has become mostly impassable. It is a major contributor to the gridlock that occurs every day at sundown and reaches absurd levels on holidays. Last week, on the second day of Songkran, traffic on Beach Road didn't start moving freely until 10pm. Everyone leaving the beach has to get down to Chayapruk Road and wait their turn to work their way through to Sukhumvit.

[Gaybutton]

The city missed a huge opportunity

They excel at doing that. I hope for everyone's sake this time they do something. Once large numbers of people start driving to Pattaya again, the problem at best will be the same as it was or, and I think more likely, will become much worse.

Before, especially during holidays, people driving to Pattaya, mostly from Bangkok, ended up spending the entire day in their cars enduring horrendous traffic jams. Many never made it as far as the beach. For many who did, once they got to the beach finding a place to park was impossible. The lucky few who did find a place to park were themselves stuck in huge traffic jams trying to leave the beach.

Obviously parking is inadequate and access to the beach or even the city becomes a disaster. I hope the problem won't once again simply be ignored. This time I hope they have sense enough to do much more than just talk about it.

[gerefan]

And another thing....
The new Jomtien Beach Road (the one right next to the beach) when first opened was closed to traffic during the day. Very pleasant for walking.
When covid struck that was relaxed and vehicles steam up and down it all day.
Why haven’t it been closed again during the day?

[Jun]

The new Jomtien Beach Road (the one right next to the beach) when first opened was closed to traffic during the day. Very pleasant for walking.

Whatever the authorities have in mind for Pattaya, it should include fewer cars and almost no baht buses. The latter should be totally replaced by a regular bus service, probably every 5 minutes, or less on the main routes. Add in a much wider range of routes, like in a proper city.
A bus service that has the use of bus lanes and cameras with number plate recognition to catch drivers of cars and other vehicles improperly using the bus lane. They should find some way of charging cars more to use the roads. Either with an actual charge, like in Singapore or charge for parking, everywhere.

[Gaybutton]

They should find some way of charging cars more to use the roads.

I agree with that up to a point. Local residents are not the ones causing the traffic problems and local residents have no choice but to use the roads. I believe locals should be exempt from any such charges. I have to leave it to others to figure out just how to do that - I have no idea, but I don't see how it would be fair to charge locals who have to use these roads every day the same as people coming in for a holiday from elsewhere, especially since wherever they are coming from, I doubt they would be charged to be using their local roads. Along with that there would be the problem of what to charge people who might live elsewhere, but own a condo or a home in Pattaya.

Quite a bit would have to be thought through to make it workable and fair. My initial reaction is that would not be possible and they'll end up having to come up with some other methods of reducing the traffic problems.

[Jun]

Local residents are not the ones causing the traffic problems and local residents have no choice but to use the roads. I believe locals should be exempt from any such charges.

ALL road users cause traffic problems, so locals should be discouraged from excessive use of the roads as well.
There are various ways of configuring schemes, so they could for example set the boundaries just inside Sukhumvit, so locals can get to the Big C and other stores, where they might regularly need to bring home a large volume of goods.
If the locals want to go to Central shopping mall, they can either pay up for the parking or use my nice new bus network. Remember, I'm proposing a proper bus network, so rather than having half a dozen baht bus routes, we would have perhaps 20 or more proper bus routes, going all over the town. A bus network would have other advantages for the locals, including for when they want to go out for a few beers in the evening.

I hear there's a shortage of labour in Thailand as well. So it's a perfect time to kick the baht bus drivers out of their pointless pollution creating jobs and put buses in place instead.

I doubt they would be charged to be using their local roads.

If they come from somewhere like Singapore or London, they would be charged for using their own roads.

Inside the London congestion charging zone is amazing these days. Busy roads have been cut from 4 lanes to 2 and there is often still hardly any traffic. At one lunchtime recently, I sat in a restaurant looking out at Tottenham Court Road, which was once a fairly busy road leading onto Oxford street. In 5 minutes, I counted several buses, 13 cycles, 2 police vehicles, 1 taxi, 1 van and just 1 passenger car, which was electric. Everyone else used the excellent public transport.
Other than a lack of imagination and talent, nothing stops Pattaya doing the same, on a smaller scale.

[Gaybutton]

If they come from somewhere like Singapore or London, they would be charged for using their own roads

But they don't come from somewhere like that. Even if what you say makes perfect sense, I can't picture it ever happening in Pattaya, let alone anywhere else in Thailand. How, on the practical level, could it be put in place? And in Thailand, how do you go about making sure that the money is used appropriately, such as infrastructure upgrades and improvement, rather than most of it ending up in the pockets of somebody's brother-in-law?

If your idea has a remote chance of working, let alone even being tried, a lot of changes will have to take place first, including a fleet of buses. If they do go with buses, I hope they will be electric powered to cut down on the air pollution.

If nothing else, I could see it as a way to get rid of the Chinese tour buses problem if they ever get started again. Require all tour buses to be electric powered buses only.