On Monday through Friday mornings I take the Sky Train to my Thai Language classes. The two-line mass-transit system is very popular, but I didn't realize just how popular it is until I took it during the morning rush hour.
It seems that most of the people on the morning train take busses from the suburbs (like Bang Na) to the end-of-the-line station at On Nut. So the train is jam packed full at the very first station. By the time it gets to me a few stations later, it's even more full. To get on you have to push your way in. I've heard that trains in Japan or India are like this, but I've never seen it in Thailand until now.
So, needless to say I was very excited to see a headline yesterday on The Nation website that read, "BTS Skytrain to run more trains". The first line of the article reads, "Operators of the BTS Skytrain plan to increase services from next Monday to reduce overcrowding during peak hours." Great!
But then the article goes on to say that currently morning rush hour trains now come every 2.4 minutes. That's the good thing, you actually don't have to wait very long for the next packed train. But, according to the article, soon the trains will come every 2.33 minutes. Wow, from 2.4 to 2.33 minutes! According to my calculations, 0.07 minutes is 4.2 seconds.
Maybe it's just me, but somehow I don't see that making much of a difference in my morning commute...
(The full article is BTS Skytrain to run more trains)
I suppose you'll find out. :-) It seems as though the 4.2 seconds won't make a difference, but they are the experts when it comes to efficient train schedules.
Love you!!
So finally, can you notice any change?
I was thinking... if we suppose that people arrive to the station at a constant rate, let's say for example 100 persons per minute, then after 2.4 minutes there'd be a gathering of 240 people to take the train... if we change to 2.33 minutes the number goes down to 233, or about 3% less. So the trains should 3% "less packed" :-S
I forgot the word "be" between "should" and "3%".