Rush hour

That Cambodia (and Phnom Penh in particular) has been struggling with increasing traffic for quite a while would surprise no one, what with it catching up with neighbouring countries and the healthy economic growth. Mix this with the prestige given to car-ownership and one would understand why during rush-hour your journey takes longer and longer.

What does surprise, is the complete ignorance shown by authorities in addressing this, at least that's what you would come to believe. Then again there's this:

'Phnom Penh will begin operating buses from Friday in a month long experiment aimed at easing traffic jams and reducing accidents in the capital, Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara said Thursday.

The governor said 22 buses donated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will ply the city's two main boulevards.
The scheme also entails banning motorcycle taxis and three-wheeled cycles from using these boulevards, a move which has enraged drivers of the vehicles, who stand to lose income'.

For many, this would show how serious authorities are in addressing concerns of keeping traffic flowing while simultaneously providing cheaper transport. The problem though is that this article excerpt dates from 2001!

Phnom Penh City (defunct) Bus System: a bus stop to oblivion

Apparently, it fell through and seven years on the problems are the same, as are the solutions, however authorities fail to accept measures and simultaneously follow through on these. Take for instance the decree that large buses were to banned from the city center; it worked for a week, but nowadays there are simply more (and larger) buses picking up their passengers in Phnom Penh city center.

Though not publicly admitting to their lack of addressing the problem and enforcing it, one simply has to notice how the city authorities are increasingly turning to low-cost technocratic measures as an admittance of their incompetency. Keeping the rush hour traffic flowing can be achieved by widening the roads, a meter here, a meter there and new sets of traffic lights.

Widening Sihanouk; will it ensure free traffic flow, especially if the bottle necks are elsewhere?

Both measures are just stop-gap measures, widening the streets fails to keep up with traffic growth and is already nearing it's maximum limits (Monivong city center) and stop lights, well they are a story apart. Adhering to lights for instance is poor and installation of lights often leads to more rush hour problems, witness for instance Monireth and 271.

What we here at Crossing Cambodia fail to understand, is how Cambodia fails to learn lessons from it's neighbours. Take Vietnam, grappling with the same problems:

'As traffic is choking the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked government ministries to draw up suitable tax policies on both imported cars and spare parts, Vietnam News Agency reported'.

Now why can't Cambodia authorities think in the same league?

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, Cambodian Style, 20 February 2008

• This week the big news is the start sign towards the re-habilitation of Cambodia's railways. A connection to Bangkok will be relaid; it's safe to assume that the Khmer Rouge were responsible for this disappearance. Furthermore all other railways will be restored with a timetable of 2 years, it is hoped. ADB Bank is investing heavily in the project as well as other donors chipping in. The $73 million project covers nearly 500 km of rail. Photo's are here, the report is here (though the original is from Xinhua).
  
  The Cambodian Daily (Feb 18) quotes Transport minister Sun Chanthol:

  'Can you imagine getting on the train in Singapore and ending up [by mistake?] in Sihanoukville?'

  Neither can Crossing Cambodia, but if so, it will be a tedious affair; most probably 5 days on board! Ansd as passenger services do not seem to be very important it might be a hard sit.
  
  Further reports by Cambodge Soir, here from KI Media site, also report that $500 million more is required to hitch the Cambodian railways to the Vietnamese. The caption photo is great: Hun Sen helping the public with counting. 'How many fingers? Five! That's right five hundred million!'
  
  A report copied in The Mirror, but originally from Khmer Machas Srok however points out that:

  'It was only seen that the general director of the Royal Railways [of Cambodia] quietly bought one more villa and changed to new cars'.

  Co-incidence?

• More co-incidence:

  'Editor-in-chief of Sakal Khmer Newspaper Khuon Playvy was hit from behind with [Toyota] Camry car as he was riding his motorcycle in Phnom Penh. The event occurred around 8:40pm near Pet Lorksang hospital. Playvy said that before the hitting attempt he was threatened on phone to recheck his news article on page eight. He was seriously cruised [probably mean injured] in hands, feet and face'.

  Today's (20 February 2008) Cambodia Daily elaborates on the story:

  'Municipal traffic police chief Tin Prasoer said Tuesday he was unaware of the case'.

  Southeast Asian Press Alliance stated it was an:

  'apparent attack'.

  If everybody who has been rear-ended in Cambodia is victim of press-related intimidation, press freedom in Cambodia must surely be down the drain. Or not?

• Trouble in paradise. Paradise called Ponchentong, Phnom Penh's airport. In contradiction to the Cambodian conviction of kidnapping customers before they even arrive, at the airport it's a rather sedate affair; you want a taxi you pay $7 and you are escorted off the airport to a hotel of your liking. What? You live in a house, well that's going to cost you more!
  
  Anyway the airport operate some kind of licensing fee which limits the number of taxi's which can pick-up customers in exchange for a $40 monthly fee. My regular cabbie says getting a taxi which has such a license requires putting up another $5,000 just for the privilege, so quite rightly they try to earn as much as possible by persuing commissions As if they have not enough headaches, the government is now adding another. Apparently tuk-tuk's have been now licensed to do the same, but naturally cheaper. Unfair competition! Despite the governor of Phnom Penh openly championing the cause (tuk-tuks), his deputy in today's Cambodian Daily says:

  'Our stance is not so clear yet'.

  (!)

• It's nearly a year since the traffic law was adopted and the

  'Ministry of Public Works and Transport has now ordered all state, police and army license plates on private vehicles to be replaced with civilian plates by March 1'.

  In the Cambodian Daily, on the eigtheenth, so it must be true. As roughly 1 in 10 cars drives without plates at all and the aforementioned plates give certain privileges (the 'untouchables': you crash me, you pay!), license plate enforcement might become spectacular as of March 1!