Transport in Udon Thani
Despite the alleged poverty in the Issan region, Udon Thani has a lot of cars on the road and the inner city is not unlike other worldwide cities in the rush hour. Cars are actually very expensive to buy in Thailand, thanks to a 200% VAT slapped on the import price, but the Thai's want a car all the same. They are typically bought on credit and subsequently a good number of them are never bought outright as the payments are missed and the car retrieved by the police and back to the legal owner (the garage where it was bought). Virtually all cars in Thailand are automatic transmission, with manual gear shits cars being incredibly rare, another Americanism that the Thai's have adopted.
Moped and small motorbikes are present in their thousands of course as this is a far cheaper mode of transport, with a bike costing about 40,000 baht but again many are bought on credit and payments are defaulted on. The bikes are like ants, weaving all over the place and going just about anywhere they want to go, whenever they please. Driving in Udon Thani does take a little getting used to and to be honest, watching what happens often frightens me and I wonder why the accident rate is not much, much higher.
Many of the trucks used for freight are throwbacks to the 70's or older, and you will sometimes see trucks you would have thought would have been scrapped decades ago. I find these trucks to be a bit of a menace as they are old and often pump out very high CO levels, and burning oil, which is not that nice if you are stuck behind it on a bike.
Some buses too appear to be very old, although their are fleets of new VIP buses that provide services to towns and cities throughout the country.
Moped and small motorbikes are present in their thousands of course as this is a far cheaper mode of transport, with a bike costing about 40,000 baht but again many are bought on credit and payments are defaulted on. The bikes are like ants, weaving all over the place and going just about anywhere they want to go, whenever they please. Driving in Udon Thani does take a little getting used to and to be honest, watching what happens often frightens me and I wonder why the accident rate is not much, much higher.
Many of the trucks used for freight are throwbacks to the 70's or older, and you will sometimes see trucks you would have thought would have been scrapped decades ago. I find these trucks to be a bit of a menace as they are old and often pump out very high CO levels, and burning oil, which is not that nice if you are stuck behind it on a bike.
Some buses too appear to be very old, although their are fleets of new VIP buses that provide services to towns and cities throughout the country.