Pattaya Baht Bus

[Davai]

For the past 3 month I've been taking the Baht bus from my apartment in Jomtien to Central Festival for 10 baht each no matter where either central festival or central marina 

 

Today morning I took the same route and charges 10 baht 

 

In the afternoon 1 hour ago from this post I took the same route again from jomtien to central marina with my wife hopping in the baht bus as. Usual from our home 

 

Out of shock the driver ask for a 20 baht each total of 40 baht why I asked him why in Thai he said I am entering a different area 

 

It became an argument for 5 mind and hee insists on asking 20 baht each I threthen to call the police and he surrender and drive away with 20baht 

 

I then called my Thai friend who is working in Bangkok according to him baht bus sometimes try to get extra if they think we are tourist 

 

Have anyone else experience this kind of situation? 

 

[observer90210]

One could anticipate the regular keyboard warriors who would rant up with something like "what's the point for such a petty amount" etc. etc.

 

But I feel you were right in not allowing the cheat to rip you off. If all farangs allow themselves to be cheated, no matter how petty the amount, it will become a norm and make life difficult for all.

 

Let the cheats be aware that farangs are not just stupid walking suckers.

[bartender100]

I always thought it was B20 from Jomtien beach to central, see what Jingthing thinks as he uses regularly, its only B10 if you use the bus the stands and fills up first

[Davai]

1 hour ago, observer90210 said:

One could anticipate the regular keyboard warriors who would rant up with something like "what's the point for such a petty amount" etc. etc.

 

But I feel you were right in not allowing the cheat to rip you off. If all farangs allow themselves to be cheated, no matter how petty the amount, it will become a norm and make life difficult for all.

 

Let the cheats be aware that farangs are not just stupid walking suckers.

Yes you are right I don't like the feel f being cheated I don't mind giving as an act of kindness but to argue to cheat is unacceptable 

 

I have seen other farangs paid 20 baht per person without the driver asking and I've seen farangs paid 10 baht which include me I always have been paying 10baht

[chickenslegs]

According to this report the fare for that journey should be 10 Baht each. 

http://www.pattayamail.com/news/army-formalizes-baht-bus-routes-cuts-fares-159701

 

It's been quite a while since I used a dark blue Baht bus. Do they still display the fare on a notice inside?

[Jingthing]

In my opinion the standard fares from Jomtien are thus --

 

As far as Central Pattaya Beach and even as far as just past PATTAYA KLANG -- 10 baht will almost always be accepted.

 

Past Klang and as far as MARINA and certainly North Road, TWENTY BAHT is often expected. 

 

Pay the 20 baht if you're going to MARINA and don't make a scene, you really could be beat up. 

 

There was a member here who said he is consistently paying 10 going well past Pattaya KLANG. I had said before I would test that. I decided not to. I basically don't believe him (sorry). I still think TWENTY BAHT is often expected for that.

 

Again, the TEN baht is totally OK as far as just past Pattaya Klang.

 

Next ... 

[Jingthing]

12 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

According to this report the fare for that journey should be 10 Baht each. 

http://www.pattayamail.com/news/army-formalizes-baht-bus-routes-cuts-fares-159701

 

It's been quite a while since I used a dark blue Baht bus. Do they still display the fare on a notice inside?

I don't pay any attention to stuff like that. To me, the only reality is the rate of PUSHBACK from drivers. In other words, Jomtien as far as Klang, the rate of PUSHBACK on paying 10 will be very low. Going to Marina or North Road, it's still my opinion the PUSHBACK rate will be high enough not to bother with the stress of even trying to pay 10. Because sometimes drivers get aggressive even if you're ready to cave on the spot. Don't play with them. It's not a happy job. 

[Davai]

Another update my neighnerbour took the baht bus at 9pm same route jomtien to Big C central Marina 10 baht and the driver didn't even say anything 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Davai said:

Another update my neighnerbour took the baht bus at 9pm same route jomtien to Big C central Marina 10 baht and the driver didn't even say anything 

A significant pushback rate doesn't mean it happens every time.

[Henryford]

I can't believe some of the tight wads on this site. I always pay 20 baht to Central because i think it's a fair price. Sometimes you could probably get away with 10 baht but are you going to argue the toss, and risk getting beaten up, for 10 baht !!!

[steven100]

2 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I can't believe some of the tight wads on this site. I always pay 20 baht to Central because i think it's a fair price. Sometimes you could probably get away with 10 baht but are you going to argue the toss, and risk getting beaten up, for 10 baht !!!

agree fully .....     so many cheap charlies in Thailand ,  how the heck do they survive      

they would argue with Thai's for 10 baht ....  lol

I have thai friends I go out with regularly , we go to restaurants, bars & whatever comes .....   in more than 14 years they have rarely had to pay for anything,  maybe a couple of times ....    you only live once so I just enjoy ..

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, Henryford said:

I can't believe some of the tight wads on this site. I always pay 20 baht to Central because i think it's a fair price. Sometimes you could probably get away with 10 baht but are you going to argue the toss, and risk getting beaten up, for 10 baht !!!

You're wrong and I know with full confidence you are wrong from years of personal experience. Not sure what your motivation is to spread false information that it's a problem to pay 10 baht to Central from Jomtien. It is not. You can "get away"  as you put it with paying 10 from Jomtien to Central well over 99 percent of the time. In my book, that's clear evidence that the actual fare is 10 baht. 

To Marina, that's a different story. I believe the non-acceptance rate is much higher to there. I can't quantify it exactly but in my view that's a good enough reason just to pay the 20.

You can be rude and call people names. Who cares? Paying the correct fare is a reasonable thing to do. To Central, again, it is DEFINITELY 10 baht. 

[pegman]

16 hours ago, Jingthing said:

In my opinion the standard fares from Jomtien are thus --

 

As far as Central Pattaya Beach and even as far as just past PATTAYA KLANG -- 10 baht will almost always be accepted.

 

Past Klang and as far as MARINA and certainly North Road, TWENTY BAHT is often expected. 

 

Pay the 20 baht if you're going to MARINA and don't make a scene, you really could be beat up. 

 

There was a member here who said he is consistently paying 10 going well past Pattaya KLANG. I had said before I would test that. I decided not to. I basically don't believe him (sorry). I still think TWENTY BAHT is often expected for that.

 

Again, the TEN baht is totally OK as far as just past Pattaya Klang.

 

Next ... 

I may be the person you think is lying and I standby what I have stated is my experience. Seems to me most others who have commented here and on the other threads have also been paying ฿10 for that complete route. Your "opinion" on this is not exactly a statement of fact.  Is there something about you that causes these drivers to think you are easily intimated?

[keithpa]

I always pay 50, I get a big smile and a thank you. 50 is nothing to a farang the means a lot to a baht bus driver. Perhaps I only do it for selfish reasons, it makes me feel good about myself.

[Jingthing]

35 minutes ago, pegman said:

I may be the person you think is lying and I standby what I have stated is my experience. Seems to me most others who have commented here and on the other threads have also been paying ฿10 for that complete route. Your "opinion" on this is not exactly a statement of fact.  Is there something about you that causes these drivers to think you are easily intimated?

There is something about my experience of being violently assaulted in the past by drivers ... yes. You can insult me. I don't care. I'm still not convinced that there isn't a significant pushback rate going from Jomtien to Marina Mall or North Road.
"Significant" may be as low as 10 or 20 percent or maybe higher. That's enough for me to avoid such unpleasantness and risk of violence. I may be wrong! That's my opinion for now. I won't risk being assaulted again. I'm paying 20 baht for that. End of. 

To add, I sincerely apologize for indirectly maybe calling you a liar. Your experience is your experience. I can't verify it any more than people can verify my experience. But I'm still paying 20 baht for rides from Jomtien to Marina or North Road. I may change in future based on multiple reports of people riding that route very regularly and reporting pushback rates as low as from Jomtien to Central. I'm not there yet. Others go ahead and test it. Be my guest!

[Jingthing]

32 minutes ago, keithpa said:

I always pay 50, I get a big smile and a thank you. 50 is nothing to a farang the means a lot to a baht bus driver. Perhaps I only do it for selfish reasons, it makes me feel good about myself.

Tourist? 

[wpcoe]

2 hours ago, keithpa said:

I always pay 50, I get a big smile and a thank you. 50 is nothing to a farang the means a lot to a baht bus driver. Perhaps I only do it for selfish reasons, it makes me feel good about myself.

 

If you take the B120 bus to the airport, do you pay B600 to feel good about yourself? Or is there some sliding scale of over-payment vs self-worth?

[Jingthing]

My attempt to settle this controversy.

Please follow the suggested FORMAT of the thread or it will be worthless.

I'm not optimistic that people will do that, but I thought worth a try --

 

[Davai]

Thank you for the replies I appreciate it,  I think some of your might be wrong it's not about cheap Charlie or that we can't afford on average spending on house, food and beverage utilities it self is cost 50k per month I don't think that I'm a cheap Charlie,  let's put this aside

 

Sometimes we travel by grabar because my wife is pregnant 

 

10 years ago I used to work in Thailand on a work permit and I have no intention of working again here now it's just time yo have fun relax be with my family 

 

My wife who is half Russians half Thai but unfortunately her dad did not apply for her Thai ID and she spent most of her life in Moscow 

 

We felt cheated by this incident,  this is not the first time there are another occasion where the driver asked 100 baht each from us just to test his luck maybe because we look white young dumb and stupid, when we decline he just accept 10 baht each

 

By anymeans if those who paid 20 baht per person just go on just continue what are you doing but it will hurt other farang inside.

 

I have on several occasion paid more than 10 baht each because the driver let me sit on the front of the car with him and we had good conversation 

 

So I think please do not judge anyone by saying they are cheap Charlie 

 

Thank you 

 

 

 

 

[keithpa]

9 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Tourist? 

19 years here.

 

[keithpa]

7 hours ago, wpcoe said:

 

If you take the B120 bus to the airport, do you pay B600 to feel good about yourself? Or is there some sliding scale of over-payment vs self-worth?

Self worth, no, pride in myself.

[keithpa]

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

My attempt to settle this controversy.

Please follow the suggested FORMAT of the thread or it will be worthless.

I'm not optimistic that people will do that, but I thought worth a try --

 

"Suggested format, structured, thread". I believe in the KISS principal. Lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill, more important things in life to concern oneself about.

[Jingthing]

13 minutes ago, keithpa said:

"Suggested format, structured, thread". I believe in the KISS principal. Lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill, more important things in life to concern oneself about.

If that thread doesn't interest you, you're very welcome not to read it and not to post on it. The only welcome posts there are reports about trips of people paying TEN BAHT on the route in question, to report whether that amount was accepted or not. 

[keithpa]

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

If that thread doesn't interest you, you're very welcome not to read it and not to post on it. The only welcome posts there are reports about trips of people paying TEN BAHT on the route in question, to report whether that amount was accepted or not. 

It did interest me, very much so, how .307 US dollars could even warrant such concern. Ive more important things to do with my time, over and out.

[Jingthing]

8 hours ago, keithpa said:

It did interest me, very much so, how .307 US dollars could even warrant such concern. Ive more important things to do with my time, over and out.

Perfect. It's only purpose is to gather valid reports. So it's not for you anyway. 

[Jingthing]

This thread was CLOSED on my request as it failed miserably.

 

 

People were unwilling to accept the structure of the thread which required only one kind of post -- valid trip reports. 

The idea was to collect enough raw data to eventually conclude after 100 or 200 reports what the actual CORRECT fare was for trips from Jomtien to North Pattaya.

Well, it occurs to me there is no reason this can't be done in a more casual format like this on topic to baht buses thread.

So I will post my reports here and others may wish to as well. It can't possibly be as clean and focused an exercise as the dedicated to trip reports thread could have been if it had succeeded, but maybe it will provide some good clues over time.

 

If you want to post valid reports here, just read the OP in the link for the rules and suggested format. I'll start this out by reposting my one report from there, and I also have a new one today.

 

So I will personally be testing this over the coming days and weeks.

 

I suppose if I make TEN trips without one pushback (demand for 20 when 10 is paid) I will feel more comfortable that 10 baht is indeed the correct fare. BUT ... I would have been much happier to hear a much larger sample of tests, like HUNDREDS of ride reports. Not to be it seems. 

[Jingthing]

JOMTIEN

To Marina Mall

10 baht accepted

[Jingthing]

JOMTIEN
To North Pattaya Road
10 baht accepted

[Jingthing]

Hey folks.

What's up with the cross town service on North Pattaya road?!?

It used to be there was often a bus waiting in front of Best Supermarket on North Pattaya road near the Dolphin Circle heading towards Sukhumwit.

I haven't seen that bus waiting in a very long time.

So I end up basically WALKING to where I'm going on North, which is usually to 3rd road.

What a drag. 

[keithpa]

5 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Hey folks.

What's up with the cross town service on North Pattaya road?!?

It used to be there was often a bus waiting in front of Best Supermarket on North Pattaya road near the Dolphin Circle heading towards Sukhumwit.

I haven't seen that bus waiting in a very long time.

So I end up basically WALKING to where I'm going on North, which is usually to 3rd road.

What a drag. 

I would get a  motor bike taxi, 40 baht i recon, what do others think?