Chasing Cars, September 23, 2008

With Pchum Ben festivities nearing, both the police checks and bag snatching have increased, is this not a contradiction?

Despite the outbreak of police checks, moto's with mirrors are still increasing but not in majority. The same applies for helmet wearing drivers, 40-50% now have taken to wearing helmets. Still if you have witnessed the effort the traffic police have dedicated to pulling moto's up, the figure might represent a disappointment, possibly something is going wrong with the enforcement.

Witness Crossing Cambodia did of a bag snatching incident. Two guys pull up next to 2 girls, chat, chat, laugh, laugh, lung, grab and tear off down a side street. Be careful out there!

• The government is now pressuring oil companies to get their prices down. All the posturing resulted in the prices at the pump drop by a whopping 0,02 $US! This article in the Phnom Penh Post sums up all the claims: prices have failed to go down.
  But the government responds:

  'International crude oil prices soared more than 84 percent by June 2008, while the price of petrol in Cambodia only rose about 40 percent, the [Finance] minister said, crediting the difference to the government's "silent subsidy" of petrol'.

  Unfortunately the 'silent subsidy' claims that the government probably stopped increasing it's import revenue on petrol, changing from a percentage tariff to a fixed amount. So no subsidy, just less income. Then again why should the government get more by fleecing the consumer?
  

• Bangkok, this weekend, saw the 'Car Free Day'. And that does not mean that cars were exempt from paying toll on the elevated highways! No, it means grab a bike or take the bus. Funny thing is it is government endorsed:

  'In Thailand, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Bicycle for Health Society, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and Green Peace Southeast Asia will join 14 of the world's largest cities in the car-free day'.

  The closest Cambo authorities get to even mentioning non-motorized transport is when they slag off all too poor for having no wheels. The gov of PP mentioned:

  'Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema said Sunday that the citywide pavement narrowing project will help make more room for cars, and should not be problematic as few people use the capital’s sidewalks anyway.
  “I want to reduce all the sidewalks to be smaller and smaller because our people use cars and motorbikes. We do not like to walk” Kep Chuktema said'.

• Car Free Day was 'celebrated' in Vietnam as well.
  

• In Vietiane they have a novelty:

  'The Vientiane Urban Development and Administration Authority is in the process of installing 50 road name signs around Vientiane ...'

  but

  'Forty road signs have already been installed, but the authority lacks sufficient funds to continue with the project and is waiting for further support from the International Association of French Mayors.

  Thank god for the French.

• Why Cambo airlines will never get anywhere: more than a year after an air crash involving South Koreans the relatives have actually have to sue the Cambodian airline to get some kind of compensation. Let's hope they're not holding their breath.
  What are you in for?

  'South Korean investigators have concluded that the accident was caused by pilot error, problems with the airport's automated radar terminal system and defects in the plane'.

• A very strange article in the Sydney Morning:

  'Malaysia's worst in the world taxis tarnish image
  In a survey by the local magazine The Expat, some 200 foreigners from 30 countries rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise'.

  Well quite correct to take those taxi drivers to the cleaners, my opinion is similar: they are not at all what Malaysia makes them to be. Then again, Malaysia = truly Asia, so not such a big surprise. Cambodia counts itself lucky they weren't part of the survey on the grounds of having no taxi's to speak of. Could Cambodia not have entered moto's instead., they are after all our local 'taxis'? See who then would end at the bottom of the heap. Our moto drivers are no where near a KL taxi driver ...

• Another bad Poipet experience:

  'We also got shepherd into a mafia taxi with another couple, we all pay 15 usd each. The mafia man taking charge of getting us into a taxi was getting angry with us because we first lied about having our visa already when he approached us at immigration on the Thai side, then we didn't go straight to his taxi and wanted to look around. He kept saying we could trust him, he was with the Tourist Police and we told him we didn't trust them either.
  We couldn't find any other option so took his anyway'.

• Back to the bag snatchers. There are also amateurs entering this profession:

  'BYSTANDERS BASH BAG SNATCHER
  Chea Dara, 16, was severely beaten by a crowd of bystanders after he pulled Kong Darany, 28, off her motorbike in an unsuccessful bag snatching attempt on the corner of street 109 and Russian Boulevard in Prampi Makara district of Phnom Penh at 11:30am Monday. The police said that Chea Dara, who was pulled off his motorbike by the bystanders, "was severely beaten by the people until he lost consciousness". He is currently in police custody awaiting trial'.

• More things increasing:

  'Some 1,777 traffic accident casualties were reported by hospitals, health centres, private clinics and traffic police departments in 24 provinces for June, an increase of 20 percent over May, according to the Cambodian Road Traffic Accident and Victim Information System'.

Chasing Cars, 6 September, 2008

Is there much to mention? Not really.

For those of you paying attention to your fellow road users, you may have noticed this week how wearing a helmet and having mirrors on your moto has suddenly become popular. Earlier in the week, helmet wearing percentages were roughly 10 - 20%, by yesterday these have shot up to 40-50%. The same applies for mirrors, from a hardly noticeable 5-10%, yesterdays numbers were 40-50%. At the same time, police razzia's haven't increased much, so possibly our fellow-moto's know something we ignorants don't?

Then again in the past we've seen these percentages spike, only to drop a few weeks later, when the police are up to something more interesting.

• The previously mentioned taxi service is getting off to a good start, so writes Cambodge Soir (16 August, where has CC been?):

  'The Sino-Khmer joint venture is transporting between 200 and 300 customers a day'.

  For just 12 cars, that means 15-25 customers per day, certainly encouraging. Luckily the article also clarifies what a taxi service is:
  

  'This taxi company is a Sino-Khmer joint venture. Its particularity: each vehicle is equipped with a taxi meter'.

  And then a free philosophical questions as final statement:

  'It is now the question whether this company will succeed. Six months ago, a Vietnamese company offering a similar service closed down. A few years ago, the public bus service launched by the government ended as a total failure. A sign of how difficult it is for the Cambodians to change their transportation habits. Indeed, how can one compete against the string of motodops and tuk-tuks which are available at every street corner?'

• Khmer 440 is always on top of everything topical: servicing waterlogged moto's

  'I went home and street 13 was so flooded my bike got submerged'.

  A sign of the times?

• As if Thailand isn't falling apart already some sneaky figures have been carting off some of Thailand's best moto's to .... Cambodia! Hardly newsworthy, but Thai police with nothing else to do have been putting a halt to this. Tough luck Cambodia.

• Last week we focused on an imaginative tale published in Thailand, this week's fairy tale comes from the US. Once upon a time there was ... Sihanoukville:

  Australian-owned guesthouses line its streets'

  Then Phnom Penh:

  'Muddy Toyota Land Cruisers with Croix Rouge [Red Cross] logos have morphed into Lexus SUVs. Thai-style tuk-tuks - three-wheeled open taxis - have invaded. Ambitious office buildings are being added to the skyline'.

  Office buildings? Where? Thai-style tuk-tuks? The PP tuk-tuks are inherently Cambo-bred.
  Going to Kep?

  'The route through Phnom Penh's dusty suburbs, past garment factories and swarms of Khmer schoolchildren in uniform, seemed to take forever. But we eventually wound south on two-lane National Route 3, traversing the monotone Cambodian plain. Only as the temperature dipped and we approached the coastal mountains did the scenery gain intrigue, just as the paved road ended for a bone-jarring 20-mile-drive to the outskirts of Kep'.
  

  As compared to

  'Bokor Hill Station, perched at an elevation of 3,500 feet at the end of a bone-jarring 26-mile ride'.
  

  Basically if you read this article, do you recognize it? Or has some editor brought in some 'finishing' touches?

Has anyone noticed that street 51 is disappearing before our eyes? Beware of the stick!(Near Elsewhere)

The place to be? 'The Place' a posh new fitness / Chinese restaurant / sky bar / dentist (the latter is just a rumour) has opened up just beyond Independence monument on Sihanouk Blvd. Despite claims that it's the place to be, the owners are either expecting tough times or are ignorant, as they have only 6 parking spots. Let's see how they tackle this.

Chasing Cars post election style

With the dust of the national election having settled down and washed away by the monsoonal rains towards the South China seas, one would expect all to be back to business as usual: enforcing the traffic law by using an intricate system of fines. Dream on!

• Cambodia Life, a free Khmer / English / Japanese magazine, mentions in it's latest issue (vol 2, issue 15) amongst others ('Preah Vihear Temple Temporary Closed') the arrival of a brand new metered taxi firm in Phnom Penh.

  'Global Taxi has agreed a 20 year contract that will eventually see up to 300 taxis serving the Kingdom's capital. 12 taxis will arrive on the streets straight away, with 48 more to be introduced later this year.
  ...
  high ranking Phnom Penh Govenor Kep Chuktema said "the presence of the meter is proof that Phnom Penh has improved" '.

  Does that mean the opposite equally applies? That the many taxi companies, who have failed in the past, are proof that Phnom Penh is not improving?
  Anyway the company took out a page size ad, so maybe it's just useless company profiling.
  Why would they call the company Global Taxi?

• Khmer 440 have more on discussion on the (same?) metered taxi's. The discussion seems to move away from the main subject blaming tuk-tuk's ('They cram up the streets, block or take all the good car parks around all the major markets and the riverside') and Lexus driving general's wife's (and daughters) for causing all of Phnom Penh's traffic woes ('please start making generals wives take Lexus lessons, they are the scariest shit on the roads'). Pax though does have an actual experience to relate:

  'I took one the other day at the suggestion of a Cambodian shophand on how to get my tv back to my place. Brand new clean car, sober driver, full blast cold air condition, cost me 2.25 from Psar Themei to far Toul Kork. I thought it was great. The time meter only stops if your not moving at all, so even in slow traffic you aren't getting charged for the time'.

  So who knows, they might be onto something?

• Changes to traveling in Cambodia. The notorious Siem Reap - Thai border road, despite some upgrading, has seen it's usual monsoon troubles:

  'In April, dry season, I took 2 1/4 hours to do the whole stretch. Record time for me. The last 50km from Sisophon to Poipet are nearly completely paved. Since the rains have started it's taken friends between 3 and 6 hours'.

  Thanx Sunsan on Khmer 440.
  Meanwhile on the developments on the Koh Kong - Sihanoukville sector. Henning Wessel (on ToA) reports:
  

  'The regular daily boat service has been discontinued between Sihanoukville and Koh Kong (it now stops in Koh Sdach, about half the distance. Careful, it's an island, onward travel is up to the individual). The operator has succumbed to the stiff competition posed by bus companies that have begun service on the road since the last bridge has been opened and the bad weather on the coast. He also said the boat would be available for charter and I wouldn't at all be surprised if it recommences in the high and dry season at an inflated price as a tourist attraction'. Well, we'll just have to get used to inflation or take a bus. I always thought traveling via Koh Kong was a rip-off.

• While the debate rages here on the merits / demerits of the various 'so-called' transport systems in Phnom Penh, the citizens of the City of Angels (Krung Thep) are profiting from their free rides. However, The Nation reports complaints about waiting times and packed buses (naturally if there are free).

  'Other issues involved dangerous driving and the risk of groping, pickpockets and fights between rival vocational students'.

  Well, thank god we won't have any of that over here!
  

Chasing Cars Cambodian Style, a day later than the last entry

• Today's (Feb. 21, 2008) Cambodia Daily draws attention to the Bokor road upgrading (highway 32 from Kampot) which seems to be going good:

  'In just a few weeks, the 30 km road that winds its wau upthe mountain, and previously famous as a challenging dirt-bike trip, has been leveled and widenend almost the entire way to the top. ... reversing the previous policy that tourists would be kept from going up the 1,000 m high mountain until the development was complete, Sok Kong [the Cambodian investor] said Wednesday that the road would be re-opened from this week.'

  Tough luck for the alternative trekking industry which had appeared. But anyway what's the attraction in going up a hill just to see a building site? Enough of them here in Phnom Penh! Why do the tourists not try Kirirom for a change, nearly just as high, more accesible and some failed investments to be seen as they were abandoned and no building site.

• Cambodia Pocket Guides in their recent publication the Tuk-tuk tales:

  'Unlike the traditional tuk tuk of Thailand and India which is a more or less enclosed single vehicle on three wheels, the Cambodian flavor is more of a trailer, secured, ahem, to a dodgy-looking hitch bolted onto a moto’s back seat. The apparatus (a metal knuckle about as big as a family-size can of kidney beans and located about an inch behind the driver’s third lumbar vertebra) looks like a grim recipe for instant paraplegia should a speeding Camry ram into the back of the hapless driver’s contraption.
  Like the taxi, it can carry four Western passengers in relative comfort, if not relative speed, or the members of up to three extended Khmer families. And unlike the moto it can carry a considerable amount of cargo, useful for moving or the late night eviction of a drunk and wild-eyed scissor-wielding loved one. They are also everywhere, easily beckoned with a casual wave unless you are like me when, like the cops, they seem to be unavailable when you really need one'.

  Why take a tuk-tuk?

  'At about $2 for a short trip or $12 for a half day or 50km, it’s a little cheaper than a taxi but definitely more, uh, fun. And with their predictable movements and constant speed they are probably safer than motos, at least for the passengers. The view is great, second only to a moto, and you can take in the sights and smells in relative protection from the elements. Also, you won’t be contributing so much to the problem of cars in the kingdom causing gridlock'.

• For those of you who like the occasional photo, parishwithoutborders, has been putting some of his best up on the web for 8 (!) years. His series of Motorcycle passengers and Cargo is now up to no. 87. Here's one of the better ones from 2007, sleep tight!
  
  
  

Chasing Cars, 25 September 2007

• Has anybody noticed whether the new traffic law is being implemented? Thought not, it's just a case waiting for a lame excuse.

• Someone with an excuse is the (former) deputy governor of Phnom Penh:

  'he cannot work because of a traffic injury sustained in the US'.

  He apparently had not showed up for work for over a year! Was he missed? No, the city of Phnom Penh employs 9 (!) deputy governors. The brief article is from the KI Media site which mentions everyday.com.kh as their source.

• August turned out to be another month of increasing traffic accidents. KI Media

• The metered taxi business is continuing. Business is a

  'struggle',

  but they made enough profit in the first month

  'to drive forward'.

  Somehow it strikes Crossing Cambodia odd. Wouldn't you need to make just as much profit to drive backwards? KI Media trashing VOA.

• Did anyone in Cambodia notice that Saturday was International Car-Free day? No? Well, it was, though not observed in Cambodia. Thailand struggled to come up with some kind of programme to keep everybody happy. The Nation mentions that

  '1221 bikers made a ride'.

  Elsewhere, The Nation reports that cyclists were trying to 'break the cycle'. Not their own hopefully. No it was aimed

  'at encouraging city people to use their cycles'.

  It was part of a 5(!) year campaign to reduce global warming through city efforts. Apparently the city authorities are expanding the number of cycle lanes. The report then focuses on Chiang Mai, where three cycle routes were proposed and public transport was free.
  
  In Phnom Penh the car-free celebrations have been shifted to coincide with the Pchum Ben Holidays in two weeks ...
  

Are you paying too much?

An often debated argument is that of whether in Cambodia are you paying too much for the services on offer or not. In Cambodia there is no one answer, the ignorant get fleeced (but still believe they have a bargain), the cautious get a better deal while the locals will usually get rock-bottom prices on the assumption that the service deliverer should share some of his well-earned fleeced gains. This of course results in considerable paranoia among tourists and local expats alike, the only difference in that the expats know they are paying too much but are resigned to this, their destiny.

Where's this leading us to?

Today's (August 16, 2007) Cambodia Daily mentions that:

'Phnom Penh now has what most cities take for granted: a metered taxi service'.

Shock and awe! Well, not really as the service consists of 11 green sedans, hardly set to make a dent on the transportation services on offer in Phnom Penh. But the odd thing is their pricing. They will charge a flat fee of US$ 1,50 for the first 2 km traveled. The article then quotes Marc Vanhemelryeck, who (used to?) owns Taxi Vantha which started services in 1996. However they stopped using the meters as the inflation back then led to recalibrations which

'... became too much hassle'.

The article then quotes:

'"Metered taxis are a good thing to have in the city, but a competitive service won't be able to cover costs", he said'.

But the Cambodian Daily then seeks to oppose Mr. Marc by bringing tuk-tuk drivers in the argument:

'"If they charge customers only US $ 1,50 for the first 2 km, it will kill our business", Ouk Kim Heng [tuk-tuk driver] said Wednesday'.

Either that or the tuk-tuk drivers follow the prices set by the taxi company, that's how most things work in the real world. But Cambodia is not the real world.
The director-general of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport's General Directorate of Transport said:

'... price of taxi's should be set higher than their competition'.

Logic? This way they of course would never make money. And as if this piece of advice is not enough he then continues by

'... adding that he will suggest price-setting to Phnom Penh Municipality officials as a remedy to the problem'.

So now the government is officially encouraging tuk-tuk drivers as well as the new taxi service to overcharge? What happened to consumer power? Or protection of consumers of extortion practices?

In Bangkok the taxi's charge 30-35 Bt for the first 2 km, which is around 1 $ US ; in Ho Chi Minh city they are around 12000 dong for the first 2 km, which is less than 1 $ US. In Singapore 2 $ Singapore for the first km (=1,20 $ US) and Kuala Lumpur the first 2 kms would set you back 2 Ringit (0,57 $ US).

Conclusion: Cambodia's not a country for cheap skates and is increasingly looking more like Singapore (sic).