Showing posts with label quality control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quality control. Show all posts

Monday, January 29, 2007

On Construction Standards

The new subway, opened in mid 2005, is first class, very well designed and very efficient. On a scale of one to five, I give it five stars. The stations are wide, escalators are fast, trains are fast and clean and bright. And it's not expensive to take a trip anywhere.

The SkyTrain, built a few years ago, is efficient, but not as well designed. There are only 3 cars in the trains, although the stations can handle 5 or 6 cars, so the cars are always overcrowded. Worse, there is typically only one escalator, so there is always a mad crush. On a scale of one to five, I give it two stars.

Bangkok's sidewalks are dreadful. Most are a haphazard collection of mismatched concrete and tiles, difficult to walk on. Cracks and holes are everywhere. Sewer covers are frequently damaged and have gaping holes. Occasionally I see new construction where a sidewalk has been torn up for some reason and replaced; the new work is very sloppy, uneven, hard to distinguish from the old.

I find it incredible that a country that can produce such an amazing subway cannot build a flat sidewalk.

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