change is coming to bangkok thanks to a mixture of modern technology and powerful ancient wisdom
the old water town on the flood plains of the ciao prior river has become a sprawling metropolis
but such rapid growth has come at a high price the government at that time like the idea of building
more roads and introduce people to drive more driving around bangkok these days means traffic
chaos air pollution and the threat of flooding but there could be a way out just waiting to be
rediscovered we cannot keep the city like this we have to do something it's mission impossible
you know but we have to start somewhere somehow in this film we will meet the people unlocking
one of the city's greatest treasures and those who depend on their success and we will see how german
technology is helping the thai capital return to a cleaner more reliable form of mobility
chilera jitne likes to stroll she says it's the best way to get through bangkok traffic
in her lifetime the city has grown tenfold
but she still knows where she can go to escape the pressures of urbanization
is that remind you of venice you know along the grand canals
these days you have to look hard to see any resemblance to the italian city
the arrival of the motor vehicle in the first half of the 20th century led to many of bangkok's
canals being filled in or built on to create more roads the policy massively changed the character
of the city explains the 70 year old the reason why they started to fill the canal and build more
roads because they wanted to show it to the world that our country is coming to develop
and you want to reach the developing stage so there will be more road more car
bangkok was founded as a canal city in the 18th century and still boasts more than 1
100 waterways but these days in the city centre and the central business district the network
once the city's transportation backbone is disrupted or non-existent
in fact almost two-thirds of the trips in bangkok are made using private vehicles including more
than 4 million cars and countless more motorcycles the satnav company tomtom regularly ranks the city
among the world's worst for traffic congestion part of the problem according to chulara jidnyam
is that many thais don't like to use public transport if you took a bus it means that
you have no money they is this is some of the thai attitude which i consider is was wrong
but all that could change in the coming years if people like pon pon sudbantat have their way the
urban planner is working to upgrade what's left of the canal network he and his team are advising the
city of bangkok on how to return the waterways to the key roles that the city's founders understood
hundreds of years ago we need better than a system you know for bangkok we need better canal
we need better connectivity this official project video illustrates the plans to
integrate bangkok's canal system with other mass transit systems especially the metro network
the idea is to join up more than 400 kilometers of
canals across the bangkok metropolitan area with hundreds of transport nodes
the plan's co-architect took us to see the challenges first hand this is the starting
point you know of the whole project okay here on bangkok's lad pro canal the restoration project
means rehousing thousands of people who have built shanty-like housing into the waterway itself
it used to be salaam you know and now they live in this kind of house in the future we have to
dig the canal down to three meters otherwise it's going to be too shallow for the world and
the funding for the housing over there you see the pier we have to knock it down to expand the
canal and all the house here like this house also gonna be demolished you know to build a new house
you're gonna see more along the way
the canal restoration will not only help people move more freely across bangkok
by improving water flow through the city during the monsoon season it's hoped that it
will end the catastrophic flooding that regularly cripples the thai capital such as here in 2011.
while it's unlikely that central bangkok will regain its ancient canal network
the ladpro waterway could provide a major link to the few canals in bangkok that are used for public
transport their potential is clearly shown by the san sayab canal which sees up to 50
000 commuters every day commuters like natapon benjatiku she works as a barista in a city
centre cafe and doesn't own a car so she has no choice but to use public transport but taking a
bus is out of the question she says if i want to go my work on time both is my big choice
unlike her road based options the water bus won't get stuck in traffic she says well it says 45
minutes and it's 45 minutes every day so i i get to my workplace on 30 10 30 10 30 every day it's
not wasting time like bus the 12 kilometer journey cost nut upon roughly 30 euro cents
making it not only the fastest but also the cheapest option for reaching her workplace
however the old diesel-powered water buses that ply the science science canal
create health and environmental hazards of their own
some people not take more because it's like pollution a lot i think bones
have a lot of pollution like air pollution sound pollution
after 45 minutes the young barista arrives at her stop from here it's only a five minute
walk to her workplace in downtown bangkok the street sounds come almost as a reprieve after
the noise of the old diesel-powered water bus but even that could soon be a thing of the past
bangkok city government has realized that water transport must become more attractive
if it is to catch on with the population
that's why the authorities want to add electric water bus lines on many of the resurrected canals
i think it'll be much better in the past especially when the boats were passing each other
it was very loud and it was smelly the smell of burning diesel or petrol but now
with electric boats we can listen to music and there won't be any unpleasant smell
the german company torquido will be providing the electric engines for at least 20 of the
new canal boats but convincing the authorities to go electric wasn't easy admits marcos magia
the first question we normally get is how much does an electric propulsion system cost
antique system and to be honest the cost for an electric system is two to three times higher
than for a conventional outboard engine i was important in the long run the tokido director says
cheaper running costs would offset the initial cost of the electric boats this is the fourth
motor that's the advantage over a combustion engine that has many moving parts or you have
to do regular oil changes or you have to exchange certain components because of wear and tear in our
electric engines there are no moving parts that means we hardly need any maintenance or repairs
once completed the new fiberglass water buses will be powered by 12 lithium batteries
we're currently installing the power 24 batteries in the rear of the boat
later we will mount the chargers and solar chargers all the batteries are numbered so
that we always know the condition and level of every single battery
the new boats are powered by twin propellers each providing a thrust of 20 horsepower
fully charged they can run for up to four hours and have a maximum speed of 17 kilometers per hour
for extra range each vessel is equipped with 12 solar panels we have a lot of sun here in
southeast asia so they are very efficient here and we are extending therefore the the range of
the boat by let's say at least 15-20 percent while electric mobility still has its limitations marcos
maguire points out that bangkok's canals offer the perfect conditions for battery-powered transport
when you're driving an electric boat you have to know your route
and the distance you want to cover here on the canals this is always predetermined
we know the number of kilometers we know the maximum capacity the total weight of the boat
and we can guarantee that the boats will always be 100 percent ready to use during operating hours
in late 2020 thailand's prime minister prayuth chanucha
was personally on hand to switch to a new era of public transport in the capitol
it's the first electric fleet of passenger vessels in the country
and the first public line the padung krung kasem canal has seen in many decades
chularat jitnyam is an early adopter of the new electric boat service for the first months
of operations the service around the heart of bangkok's old town is free to attract customers
but the timing is far from ideal starting in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic
also means most of the other passenger seats are empty
as the vessel glides away the only audible sound is the noise of the propellers in the water
it's different the the one along the chrome sunset is very noisy the water is dirty and the board is
unstable because of the available so many boats going opposite directions but if the government
introduced this type of board the electric board at prong sensor i think people will be very happy
lat pro canal is also earmarked for a new electric boat service at least once the upgrade is complete
it's a good example of the challenges of the canal restoration project for the longest time
la pro was known for its putrid water piles of rubbish and land encroachment along its banks
and the work to rejuvenate the canal is complicated by the city's efforts to win
over thousands of residents who will be displaced
if somebody insisted to not to move you know they are illegal you know so we have to uh i mean the
government has to take them to court but we try not to take them to court we try them to then that
by is slow you know you know if we because you know we like them to go along with us you know
they understand and many of them like to when they saw another house finished they like to come back
some of the river communities have already been relocated to new houses that are subsidized
by the government most residents here now agree that they are better off than before
they live in a very poor quality living you know but now you see it it's so different
the way they live they are happy man yeah happy cat man
it's a big change you know sudden change that never dreamed before it's hoped the
redevelopment of the 24 kilometer canal will be completed by the mid-2020s
and with it an end to the environmental damage that has plagued the waterway
in the future when we finish the widening of the canal then we can get and we separate the
waste water the water will be green you know like you have in berlin like you have in other cities
chillarat jitneyam is also hopeful that the restoration of bangkok's canals will make her
home city cleaner more sustainable and less congested but she's also been around long
enough to know that significant change might take another decade or so by that time i will have to
use taxi because i will be 80 something can't jump into the board but i am quite confident
you know why because the newest generation go abroad very often or study abroad they come back
with different attitude they use public transport because over there in another part of the world
people use public transport to move around so they will come back and use public transport more
bangkok knows it has to change yet again by giving more and more room to cars the mega city
has reached an impasse but there is a way out the city only has to make the most of what might be
its greatest asset then all the mistakes of the past will be nothing but water under the bridge