Living a life in transit

From Thailand to Cairo, Bangkok transport planner Len Johnstone is giving the green light to transport projects around the globe.

The University of Queensland (UQ) civil engineering graduate works as a Senior Transport Planner with Tokyo-based engineering consultants Pacific Consultants International.

Governments and transport companies hire Mr Johnstone to predict and evaluate new transport and recommend the best use of public money.

Mr Johnstone said he used mathematical models and computer software to forecast passenger numbers and traffic movements and analyse transport and traffic problems.

One of his biggest projects so far has been Bangkok’s SkyTrain — the elevated railway that carries about 350,000 passengers a day above the congested streets of the Thai capital.

“We were involved in the ridership forecasts for that which then led into the financial analysis packages,” Mr Johnstone said.

“We have something like over 10 million people here so you’re looking at 16 million trips a day and half of those are being made on public transport.”

Mr Johnstone is now updating Bangkok’s road and rail master plan which aims to build about 200 kilometres of elevated and underground rail.

The 50-year-old, originally from Ashgrove in Brisbane, has also worked on other major transport overhauls in Dhaka, Bangladesh and two Japanese aid projects in Bosnia and Cairo.

In Bosnia, he said his national transport plan for road, rail and water helped revitalise the country and also brought post war enemies closer together.

“We managed to bring all the parties to talk even though it was only about transport. It was big step forward in 2001.”

In Cairo, he created a 10-year-plan plan to improve the city’s ageing transit system which struggles with at least two million passengers a day.

Mr Johnstone graduated from UQ with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) in 1975.

He became a permanent Thai resident in 1993 after working around Australia as an engineer and transport planner.

UQ, based in Brisbane, Australia, is Queensland`s oldest and largest University which consistently ranks as one of Australia`s most outstanding research and teaching and learning universities.

Media: contact Mr Johnstone (+66 0 2255 6813, jhonstonel@pcitokyo.co.jp) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (+61 7 3365 2619, m.holland@uq.edu.au) Hi-res photo available.