🌤️ Good morning! The pet-control ordinance is officially delayed one year. Bangkok’s book district initiative launches. With four weeks until the election, political parties have made “grey money” a core campaign target, ThaiPBS World reports.

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That’s how many new digital bus stop poles Bangkok is installing citywide this year.

Why it matters: Narrow sidewalks often make full-sized bus shelters impossible — a problem officials say has persisted for decades. These standalone poles are designed specifically for tight spaces without blocking pedestrian traffic.

Big picture: The upgrade replaces old metal signs with ones that track buses via GPS. The first five poles have been installed in Bang Kapi, including at The Mall Lifestore Bangkapi and Ramkhamhaeng University.

Zooming out: This year’s budget also funds 150 newly designed bus shelters, including 100 on the Thonburi side, on top of about 400 installed in the previous three years.

Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt is finalizing designs for a pedestrian bridge, a riverside observation deck and a city museum, preparing a portfolio of major projects to hand off to the next administration.

Why it matters: These projects are pitched as a bid to elevate Bangkok to a world-class metropolis and boost tourism. While Chadchart hasn’t confirmed whether to run another campaign, he’s establishing a ready-to-build roadmap for whoever the next governor is.

The development roadmap highlights three key projects:

The quote: “Bangkok doesn’t have any new landmarks,” Chadchart said. “We only have the old landmarks that our ancestors left us, which are valuable. Our duty might be to create something new for the city.”

Flashback: These projects aren’t new. The funds for the pedestrian bridge design and the city hall transformation were approved in previous years. Officials floated the idea for the Thonburi center last year, but it didn’t make it to the budget proposal.

The bottom line: Whether these projects happen depends entirely on who wins the next gubernatorial election — and whether they choose to pick up where Chadchart left off. Chadchart said he will decide whether to run after the general election.

The Bangkok City Council passed a draft ordinance that would allow owners of abandoned buildings to bypass building codes if they provide public walking space and a fire prevention system.

Why it matters: It’s a bid to fix two major blights: decaying ghost townhouses and the lack of walkable pavement.

Big picture: Current building codes are strict. Many old, abandoned buildings violate these modern rules because they were grandfathered in. This means owners can’t legally renovate them without tearing them down, so they sit rotting.

The deal: Owners get exemptions from some building regulations. In exchange, they must install fire suppression systems and set back the ground floor to create a 1.5-meter public walkway, according to the draft bill.

Yes, but… Some councilors fear this creates a loophole for investors to turn old shophouses into substandard hotels or hostels, evading regulations meant to protect the community.

What’s next: The bill is now in committee before its second and third readings within 60 days.

A wave of closures has hit the Chulalongkorn University neighborhood as rising rents and administrative changes have forced out legacy small businesses, Chula-focused outlet The Unlock reports.

Why it matters: Sam Yan is transforming from an affordable, student-centric community into a high-value commercial zone.

Driving the news: Three businesses shut their doors in the final weeks of 2025: a 20-year-old Curry Boy, a nine-year-old Knight's Tale Board Game Cafe and a five-year-old Rocket Rolls.

State of play: Tenants say the tipping point was the university’s management arm taking direct control three years ago.

What they’re saying: “Chula is an institution that’s a national pillar,” said Curry Boy owner Rachanee Ithaya. “They should help support because SMEs like us, of course, can’t compete with bigger ones.”

City and Industry Ministry officials ordered 156 factories with boiler stacks to install emission monitoring systems to report air quality in real-time by July 1.

Big picture: The goal is to make emission data from these factories publicly viewable 24/7.

Why it matters: The new emission cap for these factories are 62% stricter than the general national standard. Previously, only eight factories were required to have this real-time monitoring.

The picture shows Thai boys playing with a mounted machine gun in an army jeep under the watchful eye of an army officer in Bangkok on Saturday, January 13, 1996. Special activities and celebrations for kids took place all over the country, marking Thailand's National Children's Day.

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