At a meeting on transport and traffic today (October 22) at Provincial Hall, Pol Col Sakchai Limcharoen, Deputy Provincial Police Commander, said, “There are many tour buses traveling around the island, mainly carrying Chinese and Russian tour groups. Most of them come from other provinces.
“Many of them take guests to entertainment venues or tourist attractions and park along the road, causing traffic problems, when they are actually obliged to drive away and park off the road.”
From now on, V/Gov Jamroen said, all tour buses coming into Phuket will be checked for mechanical condition and any bus driver who parks his vehicle at the side of the road faces arrest.
“[This behaviour] is a big concern not only because of the traffic jams they cause but also because of accidents, especially on steep roads such as Patong Hill,” he said.
“Buses bringing tourists into Phuket will be checked, as well as their drivers. We will order modern equipment for the checking mechanical condition and will set up a specific checkpoint to the north of the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint, at the Phuket Gateway.”
The Vice-Governor and Col Sakchai also agreed in the meeting that fines levied on overloaded trucks will be increased.
“There are many holes in the [island’s] roads caused by these overloaded trucks,” V.Gov Jamroen said. “Many of them are overloaded with dirt or stones and drop them on the road, causing traffic jams and accidents.
“In the first instance we will issued a warning to trucking companies whose vehicles are found to be overloaded. If the same vehicle is found to be overloaded again, the company will be fined many thousands of baht for each infringement.”
V/Gov Jamroen also mentioned that there are still not enough meter taxis on the island.
“We have set things up so that meter taxis can make round trips, so they can take tourists from the airport to other places and then pick others up for the return trip.”
However, he said he understands that almost all of the meter taxis station themselves at the airport, leaving a dearth of cabs elsewhere.
“We are looking for more taxi stands around the island. The Police Commander will specify these soon. We are trying to increase the number of meter taxis by making them confident they will be safe and guaranteeing a standard price that is slightly more expensive than Bangkok.
“I believe that if there are enough meter taxis, people will use their personal vehicles less, and this will help alleviate traffic problems.”