Bangkok is heaven for street vendors

BANGKOK (JP): Bangkok sidewalk vendors know none of the hardships of their less fortunate Jakarta counterparts.

They do not run away at the sight of public order officials, fight to get space or grudgingly submit to payment of illegal fees.

Bangkok authorities provide them with space and cleaning services for the area. There are no fees, illegal or otherwise.

A food vendor in the Banglampoo area, Phra Dakhon district, said she never paid fees to either the authorities or street hoodlums.

"We trade here for free and we don't have to pay any fees whatsoever. We just think about earning our living," she said.

None of the vendors selling clothing, newspapers, food and souvenirs spill out onto the streets because there are fences built along the sidewalk.

Vendors are disciplined, and do not disturb the flow of traffic by hawking merchandise on the street.

Trading hours are from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. There is no business on Wednesday, when the spaces are cleaned.

Phra's assistant, Grisda Sukhsangoun, said the authority does not collect fees from vendors because there was no regulation covering fee payments.

"But even though vendors pay no fees, they should maintain cleanliness or they will be fined," he said.

The Bangkok Municipal Authority (BMA) is serious in its efforts to maintain the city's cleanliness. The authority assigns a special police unit which monitors maintenance of clean public spaces from a fleet of special cars.

The police are not armed, but they are equipped with special cameras and TV monitors to record violations of hygiene regulations.

People littering in public spaces, including vendors, will be fined 500 baht (about Rp45,000) for first-time violations, but the penalty is up to 2,000 baht for repeat offenders.

In the Banglampoo area, the largest area set aside for 600 vendors in six different locations, 18 police officers are assigned to monitor its cleanliness.

With the camera equipment, it is not just a case of the police officer's word against the vendor. The police play back the tape of the violation on the monitor for the vendor to see.

An ice-cube vendor recounted how he paid a 500 baht fine for dropping ice cubes on the street.

"I could not deny the charge because the police played the recording for me," he said. "Here, the regulation is very strict and the police won't compromise even though I tried to persuade them."

Warning

Poster warnings against littering in public places adorn all corners of the city.

The warnings vary in tone, but some are phrased in friendly, familiar language.

"Hi, you have just violated a new regulation of the city of Bangkok created to try to keep the town clean.... For the common good that you will be more careful in the future, helping us to keep Bangkok clean. So, a big smile and... a 500 baht fine."

The monitoring system may be sophisticated and serious, but the authorities are not rigid sticklers for enforcing the law.

New vendors who cannot afford to pay the fines are instructed to clean up the area.

Vendor Sakumpravit, who accidentally dropped food on the street, was one of those "reprieved" under the policy.

"I was walking back to my kiosk after buying a bowl of noodles when I slipped and dropped the whole bowl on the street. Several minutes later, two policemen approached me and told me to pay the fine," he said.

He argued at first that he had never violated the regulation to maintain cleanliness and he did not drop the food intentionally.

"The police rejected my excuses," said Sakumpravit, who sells women's clothing in Banglampoo.

He then confessed that he had no money to pay the fine.

"I opened up my wallet to convince the police I could not afford to pay the 500 baht fine. At that time, I didn't even have a hundred," Sakumpravit said.

"I was then told to clean up the noodles from the street while two policemen watched me until I finished," he added.

The incident has made him more careful.

"I don't want to waste money I earn all day long just to pay the fine," Sakumpravit said.

From December 1996 to July of this year, the authority fined 8,214 vendors for littering in public places and warned 340 others.

In the same period, 1.8 million baht was collected in fines in the Banglampoo area alone.

The Bangkok authority targets collecting 124 million baht annually from the fines.

The head of BMA's financial affairs, Uraivan Kansadanrat, said there were currently 60,000 sidewalk vendors in 1,000 locations spread throughout Bangkok.

"The vendors are one of tourist attractions here, and their number flourished along with the mushrooming of visiting tourists," she said.

She added that vendors in Bangkok, just like those in other parts of the world, mostly prefer to trade in crowded locations.

"Our solution is to provide them spaces in crowded markets and tell them to maintain cleanliness," Uraivan said.