The worst of Bangkok's renowned environmental problems, traffic has been studied a great deal as an infrastructure problem. In administrative systems, it is constructed and measured in terms of road networks, lack of mass transit, and road travel speeds. The human side of transport, the behaviour patterns of those experiencing and contributing to the traffic problems, has not been studied previously. The authors' qualitative data shows that traffic, and its associated problems of noise and air pollution, have a diverse set of social impacts on health, stress, families and communities. These are experienced in different ways by different people, depending where they live in the city, their socioeconomic status - related to modes of transport used - and the adaptive strategies they undertake. The authors' survey data, however, shows that the popular image of shockingly long travel times is experienced by only a minority of travellers, far from being a problem people will avoid at all costs, it seems that commuting may be an "elastic" decision, traded against relatively inelastic choices of home and workplace. The authors' work recommends a fresh approach to the study of traffic and transport problems, with greater recognition of the human choices and experiences involved. (A)
Abstract