Though few would believe it, Bangkok was the first city in Southeast Asia to draw up plans for a system to reduce traffic congestion. Thailand was, ironically, the third Asian country, after Japan and Hong Kong, to plan such a system.
More than two decades ago, the World Bank hired German experts to evaluate Bangkok's traffic problems. The resultant "Bangkok Transportation Study" in 1971 stressed that Bangkok, even then, badly needed a mass transit system, as well as a city study plan. Neither were ever drawn up and today Bangkok is one of the world's most heavily congested cities, with arguably, its worst traffic.