Page 20 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
October 4, 2021
Idled Thai taxis go green with mini-gardens on car roofs
By Jerry Harmer
The Associated Press
ANGKOK — Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving
new meaning to the term “rooftop garden,” as they
utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus
crisis to serve as small vegetable plots.
Workers from two taxi cooperatives assembled the
miniature gardens using black plastic garbage bags
stretched across bamboo frames. On top, they added soil
in which a variety of crops, including tomatoes,
cucumbers, and string beans, were planted.
The result looks more like an eye-grabbing art instal-
lation than a car park, and that’s partly the point: to draw
attention to the plight of taxi drivers and operators who
have been badly hit by coronavirus lockdown measures.
The Ratchapruk and Bovorn Taxi cooperatives now
have just 500 cars left plying Bangkok’s streets, with
2,500 sitting idle at a number of city sites, according to
54-year-old executive Thapakorn Assawalertkul.
With the capital’s streets deathly quiet until recently,
there’s been too much competition for too few fares,
resulting in a fall in drivers’ incomes. Many now can’t
afford the daily payments on the vehicles, even after the
charge was halved to 300 baht ($9.09), Thapakorn said. So
they have walked away, leaving the cars in long, silent
rows.
Some drivers surrendered their cars and returned to
their homes in rural areas when the pandemic first hit last
year because they were so scared, he said. More gave up
and returned their cars during the second wave.
“Some left their cars at places like gas stations and
called us to pick the cars up,” he recalled.
With new surges of the virus this year, the cooperatives
were “completely knocked out,” as thousands of cars were
given up by their drivers, he said.
The situation has left the taxi companies in financial
peril, struggling to repay loans on the purchase of their
fleets. Ratchapruk and Bovorn cooperatives owe around 2
B
GARDENS ON WHEELS. Miniature gardens are planted on the rooftops of unused taxis parked in Bangkok, Thailand, on September 16, 2021.
Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving new meaning to the term “rooftop garden,” as they utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus crisis to serve as
small vegetable plots and raise awareness about the plight of out-of-work drivers. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
billion baht ($60.8 million), Thapakorn said. The govern-
ment has so far not offered any direct financial support.
“If we don’t have help soon, we will be in real trouble,” he
told The Associated Press.
The taxi-top gardens don’t offer an alternative revenue
stream. The cooperatives staff, who were asked to take
salary cuts, are now taking turns tending the newly made
gardens.
“The vegetable garden is both an act of protest and a
way to feed my staff during this tough time,” said
Thapakorn. “Thailand went through political turmoil for
many years, and a great flood in 2011, but business was
never this terrible.”
AP video journalist Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS BEIJING. A family wearing raincoats and
face coverings to help protect themselves from the coronavirus pose for a
selfie with an icon near the entrance to Universal Studios Beijing, located
on the eastern outskirts of Beijing. Thousands of people braved the rain
to visit the newest location of the global brand of theme parks. The Holly-
wood studio’s Jurassic Park, Kung Fu Panda, and Harry Potter film fran-
chises, plus Minions from Despicable Me feature prominently at Universal
Studios Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Universal Studios opens Beijing
park under anti-virus curbs
BEIJING (AP) — Harry Potter fans came dressed as
wizards as Universal Studios opened its first theme park
in China last month under anti-virus controls.
The Hollywood studio’s Jurassic Park, Kung Fu Panda,
and Harry Potter film franchises, plus Minions from
Despicable Me feature prominently at Universal Studios
Beijing on the Chinese capital’s eastern outskirts.
The opening went ahead despite coronavirus outbreaks
in China’s southeast that prompted the government to
tighten travel controls in some areas.
“We’ve been longing for the opening for quite a while,”
said a visitor, Niu Haoxuan.
Visitors were required to wear masks and display a
smartphone-based health code that shows whether they
have been to regions deemed at high risk of infection.
After a report of a possible case in Beijing, “we were very
worried,” said Zoe Shi. “We thought about whether we
should still go. It turned out to be untrue in the end. We
feel lucky.”
Universal Studios Beijing is the Chinese capital’s first
foreign-branded amusement park. It is the fifth
worldwide for Universal Studios and the third in Asia,
after Japan and Singapore. Universal Studios is part of
NBCUniversal, a unit of Comcast Corp.
The park received high-profile support from the Beijing
city government despite tension between the ruling
Communist Party and Washington. The city extended a
subway line and added a station named for the park.
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