page_title: Transport in Bangkok
section_title: Water transport
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in Bangkok / Water transport
caption_attribution_description: Watertaxi moving at high speed on the Khlong Saen Saeb in Bangkok, Thailand
context_page_description: Bangkok has 9.7 million automobiles and motorbikes, a number the government says is eight times more than can be properly accommodated on existing roads. And those numbers are increasing by 700 additional cars and 400 motorbikes every day. Charoen Krung Road, the first road to be built by Western techniques, was completed in 1864. Since then, the road network has expanded to accommodate the sprawling city's needs. Besides roads, Bangkok is served by several other transport systems. Bangkok's canals and ferries historically served as a major mode of transport, but they have long since been eclipsed by land traffic. A complex elevated expressway network helps bring traffic into and out of the city centre, but Bangkok's rapid growth has put a large strain on infrastructure. By the late-1970s, Bangkok became known as "the city of traffic disaster". Although rail transport was introduced in 1893 and electric trams served the city from 1894 to 1968, it was only in 1999 that Bangkok's first rapid transit system began operation. Older public transport systems include an extensive bus network and boat services which still operate on the Chao Phraya and two canals.
context_section_description: Bangkok in former times was sometimes referred to as "Venice of the East". Canals were the main transport option for goods and people. Although many were filled in to construct roads and infrastructure, in 2018 there still remain 1,161 canals with a total length of 2,272 km.
  Although much diminished from their past prominence, water-based transport still plays an important role in Bangkok and the immediate upstream and downstream provinces. As of 2018, three routes remain for canal and river transportation: Khlong Saen Saep, Khlong Phasi Charoen and the Chao Phraya River. Several water buses serve commuters daily. The Chao Phraya Express Boat carries passengers along the river, regularly serving thirty-four stops from Rat Burana to Nonthaburi and carrying an average of 35,586 passengers per day in 2010. The smaller Khlong Saen Saep boat service serves twenty-seven stops from Wat Si Bun Rueang to Phan Fa Lilat on Saen Saep Canal, and another service serves thirteen stops on Khlong Phra Khanong. They served a daily average of 57,557 and 721 passengers, respectively. Long-tail boats operate on fifteen regular routes on the Chao Phraya, with an average of 2,889 passengers per day. Passenger ferries at thirty-two river crossings served an average of 136,927 daily passengers in 2010.
  Bangkok Port, popularly known by its location as Khlong Toei Port, was Thailand's main international port from its opening in 1947 until it was superseded by the deep-sea Laem Chabang Port in 1991. It is primarily a cargo port, though its inland location limits access to ships of 12,000 deadweight tonnes or less. The port handled 11,936,855 tonnes (13,158,130 tons) of cargo in the first eight months of the 2010 fiscal year, about 22 percent the total of the country's international ports.
caption: The Khlong Saen Saep water bus serves over 50,000 passengers daily.
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