potential BKK transport nightmare

[fedssocr]

According to this article in the BKK Post

http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/t ... ?id=116985 (http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=116985)

Authorities plan to search everyone's bag and packages before they can enter any mass transit station. With so many people using the system I don't see how this program can be very workable and still allow everyone to get where they are trying to go in a timely manner. And what about buses?

Here in DC they talk about the vulnerability of the subway system but they also say it would be impossible to stop everyone to check all bags. Between the amount of manpower it would require and the massive delays and inconvenience it would add to the system it's just not workable. So they just step up patrols with sniffer dogs from time to time and hope that nothing bad happens.

The bottom line is that if the bad guys really want to do something bad they are going to do it no matter how much security you put in place. They need to work on intelligence and arrest people before they can put their plans in action.

It's been asked before, but what exactly do the "insurgents" want? What are they trying to accomplish by killing so many innocent people and destroying so much property?

They were checking bags and parcels at the BTS and MRT when I was there in Jan after the bombings.. only took a second at most. Well worth the added security.

[TrongpaiExpat]

The MRT is still checking bags, BTS is not. No bottle necks, moves fast. They really do not look very close. The guards that see me every day, now just wave me on.

This started about a week after the bombs. They also closed all the lifts for some reason, even the ones that go from the platform to the concourse. Many of the lifts in the large buildings in Bangkok now have guards in them, I have yet to understand how elevators are security risks.

It's been asked before, but what exactly do the "insurgents" want? What are they trying to accomplish by killing so many innocent people and destroying so much property?What the IRA wanted - unification with the motherland, in this case Malaysia. Speaking of the IRA, since Irish-Americans were complicit in financing their 30 year bombing campaign of terror, have those people been rounded up and charged as terrorists by the US government yet?

[fedssocr]

They were checking bags and parcels at the BTS and MRT when I was there in Jan after the bombings.. only took a second at most. Well worth the added security.

Well there you go then. I got all hysterical for nothing. :-) I suppose the fact that there are fewer stations and riders there helps make it feasible. I still don't think it would ever work on a system like ours here.

Does it really add security though, or just the illusion that the authorities are "doing something"?If they aren't looking very closely or are waving through people they recognize that doesn't sound especially secure. And of course a suicide bomber isn't going to be stopped by this either. But I suppose it might act as a deterrent for the New Year's eve type bombings happening in a station or on a train. But I don't guess it does much to protect all of that elevated track.

The guards that see me every day, now just wave me on
Kewl. So if a regular daily passenger decides to go postal one day, they will have no problem getting guns, bombs, whatever on to the train.

[TrongpaiExpat]

I was at the Chatuchak market sub-way entrance when they first started the searching. I was eating a snack so hung around the entrance. Everyone had lots of bags from the market. I noticed the guards waving all the Thais through and searching only farangs including farang families.


Kewl. So if a regular daily passenger decides to go postal one day, they will have no problem getting guns, bombs, whatever on to the train.

Actually, it's just this one guard that has been sweet on me for sometime now. I tried to get him to strip search me a few weeks ago but he only laughed.

It's been asked before, but what exactly do the "insurgents" want? What are they trying to accomplish by killing so many innocent people and destroying so much property?What the IRA wanted - unification with the motherland, in this case Malaysia. Speaking of the IRA, since Irish-Americans were complicit in financing their 30 year bombing campaign of terror, have those people been rounded up and charged as terrorists by the US government yet?

That is the most interesting question in a long time in this forum.

... for a pat down by a trim little security guard at any BTS station I frequent (particularly Rajadamri near my apartment, Siam (where a single well-placed bomb would take down the entire system) or Sala Daeng