The Buses of Chinatown.

Last weekend I visited the Chinatown area to have a look at the mass transport of the area. I also used the opportunity to test out my new digital camera in a highly urbanised environment to see how it would perform. The Chinatown area is a good test for a camera as the streets are quite narrow and lined with tall buildings which tends to increase the risk of “white sky” images.

A Little Background on the Chinatown area.

The Chinatown area consists of a 1.2 sq km strip of land along the Chao Phraya River. The Chinatown area is located a short distance south east of the Grand Palace. The area was set up by King Rama 5 in the 19th Century as an area for Chinese traders and Bangkok's Chinese population. Today it has a population of around 50,000 people. This makes the Chinatown area one of the most densely populated areas in Bangkok with an average density of 41,000 people per sq km.

In the period following World War 2 the Chinatown area went though a 20 year long period of rapid growth and development. This increased the areas commercial importance until it was one of the most important business areas of Bangkok. This also attracted an increasing number of new residents. By the 1970s the Chinatown areas was fully developed and its aging pre war infrastructure and road network effectively limited its future growth. This allowed other areas of inner Bangkok to take the business crown from Chinatown.

Today Chinatown has declined somewhat due to a lack of modern office buildings and shopping centres. Coupled with the lack of a rail based mass transport system and a network of narrow and rather crowded streets. Over the last 20 years the lack of road infrastructure has greatly worsened the traffic in the Chinatown area throughout the day. Traffic speeds at times can be as low as 1 kph. Therefore the fastest way to travel in the Chinatown area is by motorbike or on foot.

One of the biggest factors for the extreme traffic congestion in the Chinatown area is due to the amount of through traffic coming across from Thonburi making its way to Rama 4 road in central Bangkok. Basically there are 4 lanes of heavy traffic being funnelled though the narrow one way streets of Chinatown. The only real way to fix this problem today is with a new underground metro line heading from Hualamphong station into the Wong Wian Yai area via Chinatown.

However despite Chinatown's recent decline in importance it still is a centre for the textile industry and spice trade. The area is also famous for its huge array of Chinese food products that are often difficult to find in other parts of Bangkok. During the Chinese New Year the area comes to life with street festivals and colourful lights.

The high density of the Chinatown area and its over 100 year history creates an interesting array of building styles and designs. Due to the density of the Chinatown area there are some small sois that are more like a corridor than a street as they are totally enclosed by buildings. Some photographic examples of this I will post at the end of this topic.

Transport wise the Chinatown area can be accessed by Metro bus numbers (1,4,7,25,40,73,73N,85,159,204,507,529,542) and the Chao Phraya Express Boat service. Most of the bus services operate every couple of minutes and its quite common for 3 of the same bus route to turn up together due to the almost constant traffic jams. The fastest way into Chinatown is via the Chao Phraya Express Boat. The closest Chao Phraya Express boat stop to Chinatown is Ratchawong pier (N5).

Within the next 10 years two new underground heavy rail metro lines are expected be built though or very close to the Chinatown area. The effect this will have on the Chinatown area will be massive as it will open up the whole area for new even higher density development. These new Metro lines will cross the Chao Phraya River into Thonburi. This should help reduce the amount of though traffic in the Chinatown area. But due to the unstable government of Thailand these metro projects are uncertain.

1. This is a shot of the Tuk Tuk stand outside the entrance of Ratchawong Pier. The green Tuk Tuk's are powered by CNG and the blue and yellow Tuk Tuk's are powered by LPG. To use these Tuk Tuk's you must ask the price before getting in. The Tuk Tuk prices are very similar to metered taxis. Fares start from 30 baht for a short distance trip.



2. This is a shot of the motorbike taxi stand outside the entrance of Ratchawong Pier. Often at these stands a fare scale is posted. The fares start from 10 baht for a short trip. It's best to ask the price before getting on.



3. This is an image of a Route 204: BMA 2 – Ratchawong Pier bus. Taken as it was waiting to depart from Ratchawong Pier bus terminus in Chinatown. Bus number BMTA: 8 – 80428. Bus type: Mitsubishi non aircon. The digger is stored there during the day for late night drainage works.



4. This is an image of a Route 204 bus. Taken as it was waiting to depart from Ratchawong Pier bus terminus in Chinatown. Bus number BMTA: 8 – 55128. Bus type: Isuzu aircon.



5. This is a shot of a Route 204 bus. Taken looking north along Rachawong road as it was approaching the terminus at Ratchawong Pier. Bus number BMTA: 8 – 80009. Bus type Mitsubishi non aircon.

The Tha Din Daeng cross river ferry + Route 20 terminus.

Last weekend while on the way to Chinatown I made use of the Tha Din Daeng cross river ferry and the Route 20 metro bus service. This route allows a fairly quick way to get from Wong Wian Yai SRT station to Chinatown.

A little Background on Tha Din Daeng.

Tha Din Daeng dates back to the 18th century when Thonburi was founded as the capital of Thailand for a short period. For a large amount of this time the area was fairly rural and underdeveloped. Then in the 1920's the area took off as a new home for the Thai – Indian and Thai – Chinese communities. Even today there are still a number of Indian and Chinese related shops around the Tha Din Daeng area.

Tha Din Daeng is located at the end of Tha Din Daeng road in the Klong San district of Bangkok. A single bus route provides onward transport for cross river ferry passengers. This bus route provides a service mostly in a southerly direction from the pier. It is known as Route 20. It operates as a two tier service between Tha Din Daeng and Samut Chedi. Bus route 20 operates every 2 minutes at peak periods and every 5 minutes during off peak periods and weekends. The full route is operated by aircon buses. The short route that terminates at Phra Pradaeng BIG C is operated by non aircon buses.

The layout of the bus terminus at Tha Din Daeng is rather poor in that buses have to shunt back and forth to turn around in the narrow dead end street. The aircon buses stop on the right hand side of the road facing north. The non aircon buses stop on the left hand side of the road but facing south.

1. This is a shot of a Route 20 aircon bus. Taken as it was about to depart from the terminus at the end of Tha Din Daeng road. Bus number BMTA: 5 – 66139. Bus type Merc O405 aircon.



2. This is a shot of a couple of Route 20 mini bus. Taken as they where waiting for passengers coming off the cross river ferry at Tha Din Daeng. Bus numbers unknown. Bus type unknown. The driver of the closest mini bus is checking something under the bus.



3. This is an image or a Route 20 aircon bus. Taken as it was trying to turn around at Tha Din Daeng terminus. The buses normally depart and turn around with the doors wide open.



4. This is a general view looking south from Tha Din Daeng. The left two buses had just departed. The other two aircon buses are waiting for passengers.



5. This is a shot of the Cross River ferry to Chinatown. Taken from Tha Din Daeng just before it departed. These cross river ferries can get very overcrowded at times.



6. This is a shot of 3 ferry boats for the cross river service. These boats are used during peak periods when a total of 5 boats are operating. All of the boats are made from welded steel.



7. This is a general view of Ratchawong Pier on the Chinatown side of the river. Taken from Tha Din Daeng. The Chao Phraya Express boats also depart from Ratchawong Pier.



8. This is a general view of Tha Din Daeng on the Thonburi side of the river. Taken from Ratchawong Pier. During peak times both piers are used to help move the huge load of passengers.



9. This is a close up shot of the captains steering wheel on a Tha Din Daeng cross river ferry. The captains area is not isolated from the passengers at any point.



10. This is an inside shot of the Cross River ferry. Taken just after arrival at Ratchawong Pier. As people tend to spend less than 5 minutes per trip. The boats are designed to increase standing loads.



11.This is a shot video of a ride on the Tha Din Daeng cross river ferry. Note how people tend to jump out before anyone can get on the ferry. A second cross river ferry can be seen passing the boat.



I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures. If you have any comments please leave a message for me regarding the post.