🗞️ Good morning! It’s Car-Free Week until next Sunday — check out programming from transit discounts to biking and walking gatherings here.

🔥 Soiciety is hosting a fire safety walk in Ratchathewi on Saturday, Oct. 10. We’ll cover the city’s firefighting gaps: stalled fire stations, narrow sois, a nightlife loophole and the divide between registered and unregistered communities. RSVP here.

Public transportation accounts for 18.3% of Greater Bangkok’s roughly 28.82 million daily trips, an official with the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning told the House Transport Committee in August.

Why it matters: Car-Free Week, an annual push to shift commuters out of private vehicles, runs until next weekend in Bangkok.

By the numbers: Private vehicles account for 79.5% of all trips — 48.1% by car and 31.4% by motorcycle. Electric trains carry 5.4% of trips.

Zooming in: OTP officials floated fixes like expansion of express bus services, feeder routes linking neighborhoods to transit stations and a congestion charge for cars entering high-traffic areas.

📋 Read the full report in Thai here.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Council rejected the entire 6.04-billion-baht plan to lease 1,347 electric trash trucks, citing procurement concerns and unclear scope. It’s the latest setback in a yearlong effort to electrify the city’s garbage fleet.

Why it matters: Without new funding, the city has to renew diesel leases for one to two years, delaying the fleet’s shift to lower-emission trucks.

The friction: Costs rose 100-200 million baht per project compared with an earlier version, despite covering fewer trucks. They also said key details on truck specs, terms of reference and performance statistics are still missing.

By the numbers: City Hall said EV trucks would save 4.75 billion baht in energy costs over five years — about 54% less than diesel. Those savings would cover about 80% of the lease cost. EV lease rates are 7-10% lower than the city’s most recent diesel contract.

Flashback: Since 2023, the council has approved 11 budget requests for EV trash trucks, but none has made it to the road, stalled by procurement disputes and a corruption concern flagged by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Between the lines: BMC reports from April found EV transitions for specialized vehicles are often overpriced because their pricing hasn’t been legally standardized.

The alternative: Opposition councilors recommended the city hire a private company to handle the whole job — trucks, drivers, charging and maintenance. They argue other provinces with EV trash trucks use this outsourced model.

The other side: Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said six ministries and an independent integrity-pact panel have reviewed the process since it was flagged by the NACC.

Zooming out: Councilors who backed the proposal argued this vote was only step one — setting a budget ceiling based on market pricing, not locking in a final contract. Closer scrutiny would come later, they said, if the budget had passed.

📰 Related: Logistics, red tape and costs hamper Bangkok's EV transition

Bangkok issued a five-point checklist for inspecting the city’s 49 data centers while it waits for national guidelines.

Why it matters: Data center expansion in Bangkok has drawn public pushback over environmental impact and fuel hoarding, pressuring the government to draft regulations.

State of play: Inspectors will monitor building safety, fuel and water storage and environmental impact.

Between the lines: Most existing centers run under two megawatts. There are six standalone facilities, three of which are still under construction. All of them use less than 3% of Bangkok’s peak electricity demand, officials said.

Taling Chan parks are getting upgrades, including a proposed dog park and a hybrid sports court.

Why it matters: The district has no formal parks beyond its 15-minute parks — small pocket parks within a short walk of most homes. The city is testing whether adding amenities makes existing parks more useful to residents.

State of play: At the 15-rai Taling Chan Water Park on Prannok-Kanchanaphisek Road, plans include repaving the jogging track, adding portable restrooms and water stations, expanding the sand play area and adding a partitioned dog park.

Zooming out: The upgrades are part of the administration’s wider plan to build six “urban forests” — green spaces of at least 10 rai — by 2030 in Taling Chan, Phutthamonthon Sai 3, Saphan Sung, Khlong Sam Wa, On Nut and Don Mueng.

Talat Noi landed at No. 4 on Time Out’s list of the world’s coolest neighborhoods this year.

Why it matters: The old port-and-engine-parts neighborhood has drawn a wave of cafes, bars and creative spaces in recent years. Other neighborhoods that made the list in previous years include Song Wat and Ekkamai.

What they’re saying: Time Out pointed to spots like Mother Roaster, a one-person coffee stand tucked inside a working auto shop, and 965bkk, a 200-year-old shophouse now shared by cafes and creative studios.

Zooming out: The top five on the list are Seoul’s Jongno 3-ga, Rabat’s L’Ocean District, Athens’ Neos Kosmos, Los Angeles’ Chinatown and Glasgow’s Govanhill.

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📧 Reach me at [email protected].