Updated 03-Aug-2025
Of all the fairly ridiculous ideas, bicycle lanes in Thailand rank fairly high.
First, let's discuss the law of unintended consequences. This is when you want to do one thing, but something unexpected (and usually negative, though not necessarily) results. As Merton writes undesired effects are not necessarily undesirable effects. One did not intend these consequences, yet in retrospect the result seems to make perfect sense.
For academics, the key paper is Robert Merton's The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action. American Sociological Review 1 (6): 904. For starters, the idea focuses on purposive action, that is action as resulting from motives, and usually a result of choices, as opposed to mere behavior.
Analytically, certain actions will create changes in choices available for action. In the most simplistic approach, bicycle lanes will be opportunities for people to use for purposes besides bicycle riding. That is the basic problem.
Thai people are very creative and flexible in activities. They don't wait around for permits or permission (knowing that such things take time and cost money, if available at all). And so, the use of an unused piece of pavement or asphalt will be speedily deployed in a variety of non-bicycle-related activities.
Now, Thai people know this and are quite aware that a bit of paint and a signpost does not signal any change to empirical reality, whether it be a speeding motorbike, a parked mercedes benz, or a food vendor. The problem comes when bicycle lanes are being promoted for tourists. Tourists, especially coming from the West, are not as clear on reality in Thailand.
Indeed, in some countries bicycle lanes are virtually sacrosanct, and nothing shall impede the progress of the bicyclist and bicycle path. So the expectation of the visitor will be that this is in fact a bicycle lane rather than a press release, a pretty photo, and a bit of paint (which is the actual reality here, and the millions of baht going somewhere else entirely).
Let me be perfectly clear. I ride my bicycle a majority of days of the week, for over an hour each day, braving rush hour traffic, to ascend the delightful heights of Doi Suthep. I am a lifelong bicycle rider. Nothing would please me more than actual, functional bicycle lanes. But these things don't exist and won't exist in Thailand in the same way. Normal car lanes and traffic laws are not obeyed. There is no enforcement for basic traffic behavior such as parked cars in no-parking zones, obeying turning and non-turning lanes, and the poor driving habits and lack of driving abilities.