Middle‐class Travel Patterns, Predispositions and Attitudes, and Present‐day Transport Policy in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Middle‐class expansion and new consumption patterns have increasingly become an important focus of studies of the development and change in newly industrialized and middle‐income‐developing East and South East Asian countries. However, there is still a dearth of studies in the literature particularly focusing on middle‐class travel patterns, predispositions and transport policy preferences. Nor have the implications of these factors on current transport and land development policy been examined. The present exploratory study addresses this gap by examining three cases in Bangkok, Thailand, which in recent decades witnessed dramatic middle‐class expansion, an increase in private motor vehicle population, and spatial diffusion of middle‐class residences into lower‐density zones in the suburbs. By mainly employing a survey method of data‐gathering and quantitative research analysis, the paper discusses the following findings: (1) that middle‐class travel behaviour is characterized by a high dependence on private motor vehicle travel and ‘inward commuting’; (2) that middle‐class preferences for transport mode and attitudes about remedial policy options are generally protective of their members’ car‐dependence and ownership; and (3) that present policy measures of the Thai government on Bangkok transport perfectly fit and support exclusively middle‐ and upper‐class predispositions and stakes in mobility. These findings in a developing country city basically follow a similar profile to be found in middle‐class‐dominant transport patterns and urban form in a number of North American cities. This paper further argues that in a developing country city such as Bangkok, where marked social differentiation and the combined population of poor and low‐income classes still comprise almost half of the urban social landscape despite an expanding middle‐class, an adequate and good public transport system that also meets the former’s need for efficient mobility is an imperative.

Notes

1. These few studies in Bangkok transport are as follows: Chaipong (2001), who focuses on commuting patterns to Bangkok city centre; Maneenetr (2001), who studies trip patterns of residents living in and outside agricultural areas in suburban Bangkok; Chanawan (1992), who looks at train commuting; and Punpuing (1993), who examines certain generic factors, especially home ownership status, and their effect on commuting time and distance. Another piece of research conducted, The Urban Transport Database and Model Development (UTDM) project by in the Office of the Commission for the Management of Land Traffic (OCMLT), has provided a database and models for application (OCMLT, 1997).

2. A decrease of the inner zones from 3.25 million to 2.36 million and an increase in the outer zones from 0.67 million to 1.12 million.

3. This income per se would not allow for car ownership in Thailand. However, it seems to occur often that cars are financed by double‐ and triple‐income earners or by parents supporting their children when acquiring a car. As far as income is concerned, an income of at least 7000 baht approximates to the current salary minimum standard of a new employee working in government with a fresh college bachelor’s degree, which is set at 7260 baht a month. At the time the survey was taken in 2002, the existing minimum salary standard in government for employees with a bachelor’s degree was slightly lower at 6360 baht per month, which was set in 1995 (Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC), 2004). On the other hand, first job takers in private service firms with a college degree get around 9369–14 111 baht per month (Thailand Management Association (TMA), 2001).

4. The inner zone is called high areas of different densities (HDZ), the middle and outer zones are named middle areas of different densities (MDZ) and low areas of different densities (LDZ) for this research. Registered residents’ and workers’ densities, one of the criteria used by the BMA, can vary at the zone and district level of Bangkok: differences in registered residents’ density are from about 390 to almost 39 000 residents per km², and differences in registered worker density are from approximately 529 to 35 000 per km².

5. Bangkok’s 50 districts have been classified into three density types (high, middle and low) in terms of criteria used by the Office of the Permanent Secretary for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2001) such as a high road density, a high supply of public transport, a density in terms of road infrastructure, public transport, worker and resident density. For each density type, two districts were randomly selected. In each district a simple random sample of representatives of households was then drawn using the formula of Yamane (1967). The overall sample comprised 426 respondents. The contacted respondents were handed the questionnaire and asked to return it by mail.

6. The validity consists of face‐validity given that the questionnaire was constructed by closely following tested transport questionnaires; the concurrent validity is confirmed in that several measurements of variables confirm those of other recent studies carried out in Thailand. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested in the form of a ‘split half test’ and revealed that it was satisfactory.

7. The short neighbourhood trips have not been accounted for in this survey.

8. Para‐transit includes public motorcycle, public minivan, taxi and company bus.

9. However, there are observable increases in recent years in middle‐ and high‐end condominium and high‐rise apartments in the HDZ, which are used by yuppies and mostly single expert professionals.

10. Para‐transit plays a role for 15% of residents in LDZ only, while non‐motorized transport is negligible for all three zones.

11. For instance, many residents took part in BMA’s walking street campaign in 2001.

12. The differences are significant at the 95% level.

13. In 1999, the famous year of the air pollution mitigation programme, the pollution—free zone was introduced in which the authorities tried—among many different measures—to ban old vehicles that emitted large quantities of carbon dioxide and lead from several highly polluted streets.

14. It is likely that the lower preference given by those of the LDZ stems from the fact that buying land remains a realistic option and the tax could have an impact on them.

15. Contrast this, for example, with Singapore, one of the most successful countries in controlling private car vehicle population, where a 140% tax is imposed on all car imports aside from restrictions on the number of new cars permitted every year.