Parking problems and policies in Bangkok: issues, causes, and implications

Abstract

Parking policies are integral to promoting sustainable urban mobility and enhancing a city's livability as they can shift people's movement toward more sustainable modes. However, Bangkok still lacks a concrete parking policy. The existing one consists primarily of regulations and standards that help reduce traffic congestion, albeit without well-defined policy objectives. This study examines the current problems of on-street and off-street parking policies, investigates the root causes of parking issues, and establishes a parking policy that supports the city's development of sustainable mobility. We used a modified conceptual framework comprising the Iceberg Model of analysis and the Political Economics Analysis framework. The data were collected through various techniques, including a field survey, a license plate survey, documentary research, and semi-structured in-depth interviews. The finding of this study demonstrates, through empirical evidence, that the existing on-street and off-street parking policy has created a number of challenges that have a negative impact on society. The results also reveal that several factors, including urban and transportation planning, political-economic, institutional, and legal frameworks, policy strategy and planning, operational management, and the mental model of stakeholders, are the root causes of these parking problems. This study proposes parking policy recommendations and implications for policymakers and transport planners to support parking reform in Bangkok and other developing countries.