Trams, Buses, and Rails

Trams, Buses, and Rails recounts the unique and little-known 130-year history of Bangkok’s transportation system, from the first horse-powered tramway in 1888 to the mass transit urban railway of the twenty-first century. Using government archives and annual reports, the author deftly pieces together long-buried records and statistics to reconstruct the transportation policies of each successive metropolitan and national administration. He highlights the politicization and regulation of Bangkok’s transport systems over the decades, and uncovers a series of setbacks, reversals, duplications, revisions, and cancellations that help to explain Bangkok’s continuing transportation woes.

A series of maps and tables elucidate the development of transportation routes and the rise and fall of the city’s trams, railways, and bus lines.

Ichiro Kakizaki is associate professor at Yokohama City University in Japan. His books in English include Laying the Tracks: The Thai Economy and Its Railways, 1885–1935 and Rails of the Kingdom: The History of Thai Railways.

List of Tables and Figures

Acknowledgments

Acronyms

Introduction

1. Introduction of Rail Transport, 1880s-1900s

2. Emergence of Competition, 1910s-1930s

3. Expansion of Bus Networks, 1940s-1950s

4. Unification of Buses, 1960s-1970s

5. Revival of Rail Transport, 1970s-1990s

6. A Confused Urban Transport Policy, 2000s

7. Regulation and Politicization of Urban Transport in Bangkok

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index