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MRT Travel cards

anon537687643

By anon537687643
in Bangkok

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anon537687643 Apprentice Member

anon537687643

Posted
Posted

Why cant the management of MRT in Bangkok have terminals at stations where travel cards can be topped up with funds rather than queueing for 15-20mins at some stations, such as Sukhumvit and Silom. Seems so simple, Of course I know "simple" not in vocabulary of anything to do with customer service. 

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Crossy Star Member

Crossy

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Go to the Purple Line for new machines that will top up your cards, the Blue Line extension machines will also top up when it (eventually) opens.

 

Or do as I do, if I see a ticket office with no queue I'll check my balance and add a couple of hundred Baht, no need to ever be caught short.

 

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Greyhat Explorer Member

Greyhat

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I take the MRT to Sukhumvit every morning, any other station would be a better place to top up but if I discover I'm in the red as I pass through the gates I'll go back at lunch time to top up rather than waiting during peak hours. It usually only takes a couple of minutes between 12 and 1.

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samsensam Gold Member

samsensam

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get organised and top up at quiet times.

 

what puzzles me is the number of locals who dont use travel cards, they seem to prefer to queue, in sometimes massive queues, rather than buy a travel card and breeze straight through the gate.

 

you are right more machines are required - lack of forethought/investment?

 

i remember having to queue at a window where they would give me change but not sell me a ticket(!) so i'd have to queue again to buy a ticket. maybe no one designing the system had botherd to look at how other systems worked.

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samsensam Gold Member

samsensam

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19 minutes ago, kkerry said:

Top up when it's quiet, don't leave it until you only have twenty baht credit left.

 

There are other places to top up besides MRT stations.

https://rabbit.co.th/en/top-up/

 

Nothing wrong with the BTS that some more rolling wouldn't fix.

 

agree more rolling stock; longer trains because the stations can take them and more frequent trains in the rush hour - it's common sense really...

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Greyhat Explorer Member

Greyhat

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Just now, samsensam said:

and there's another simple common sense problem yet to be fixed

As I understand it the "Mangmoon" card has aimed to fix this problem for a number of years now. It can already be used for a few services such as the MRT, ARL (I think) buses etc. Unfortunately It seems a deal cannot be struck with the BTS service.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/mangmoon-card-holders-still-cannot-access-bts-train-service/

 

As a frequent MRT user I would much rather the Rabbit card come to us as it seems to have more advantages.

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Nyezhov Gold Member

Nyezhov

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I never let either of my cards drop below 60 baht or so. My BTS station (Talat Phlu) is never that busy at non peak times so I always can top up my Rabbit. And when I do use the MRT and see no line, and my balance is getting low, I drop 100 or so on it. Its all about the planning.

 

I find that BOTH transit lines are efficient and get me where I want to go quickly. I mostly ride off peak, but recently have had to ride during Rush hours (8-9am and 5-7;30).  For example, I had to go to Chaeng Wattana in the morning. Including the walk to the BTS, letting the first crowded train pass at Talat Phlu, switching at Siam, Traveling to Mo Chit, walking to get a cab, and then cabbing it to Chaeng Wattana, I traveled for just about an hour or less. It cost me half of what a cab would cost from my door to CW, and half the price, and far less stress. I dont mind standing, and I was not Tokyoed at all. Tonight, I hit the MRT at Fortune Town at 6:20 and headed to the BTS. Im smart enough to ride it to SiLom to avoid Asoke and Siam. There was some minor Tokyoing between Rama 9 and Airport Link, little crowded thereafter but nothing bad. Silom BTS up to Saphan Taksin was Tokyo jammed but its rush hour in a major city. There was enough room to dance after Saphan Taksin, and I could have sat down after Krung Thonburi. I was in my kitchen by 7:30 including a stop at 7-11 and the Nooodle lady.

 

My point is that for a city that has basically just sprung up to a mega city in the past 30 years, in a country where slavery was still legal 100 years ago, where the idea of urban planning was a wet dream until 25 years ago, where government can be pretty dysfunctional, where there are a whole bunch of poor people and low taxes, where modern infrastructure has to be Joint Profit Making Ventures (where there is always going to be backstabbing) otherwise it wont get built, whoever is doing the transit work here should be commended. Off peak I can be all the way across town sitting on my ass for what..$2? Try that in NYC or Tokyo.

 

Im sure I could think of dozens of ways to improve things but there are folks smarter than me working on it IM sure.

 

 

 

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Nyezhov Gold Member

Nyezhov

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, markaoffy said:

“Smart people” working on transport

in Bangkok ? Ummmm

Well how many big city transit systems have you run or planned?

 

I should qualify then...they are smarter than me. Im not qualified to blow the whistle and I look bad in a beret.

1 hour ago, markaoffy said:

Whole lot of “poor people and low taxes for wealthy” in NYC.

Really? Low taxes in NYC? hahahahahahahahahahahah ????????????????????????????????????????????????

 

By the way, the transit system there is horrorshow.

 

Spit my coffee all over my screen....

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Crossy Star Member

Crossy

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13 hours ago, kkerry said:

Perhaps Crossy could make representations on our behalf... ????

Trust me, I and many others have tried, only to be thwarted by politcal and corporate mistrust and infighting.

 

As an example.

 

A number of years ago I was working on the initial Mangmoom job (it's working-title was a very apt "White Elephant"). Rabbit was still in relative infancy working on the BTS and (IIRC) in McDonalds and little else.

 

We had a miniscule budget (a few million US) and no transit providers were remotely interested. Muggins here piped up in a steering committee meeting "Why don't we buy, or buy in to, Rabbit" seemed like a good idea, after all they had a working system and a customer base. Let's say I escaped with my life and my job, just ????

 

Meanwhile down in KL. In the time that Mangmoom has failed to get off the ground SPAD have designed and implemented a common card which is very Octopus-like and works pretty well. How did they do it so quickly? They bought out Touch-n-Go which was in a similar position to Rabbit at the time. Hindsight is always 20-20.

 

Knowing who pays my salary (not Mangmoom) I'll just stay well out of the Mangmoom debacle. I don't see a truly common card for Bangkok in the near future, I would love to be proved wrong.

 

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Nyezhov Gold Member

Nyezhov

Posted
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35 minutes ago, Crossy said:

I don't see a truly common card for Bangkok in the near future, I would love to be proved wrong.

I dont want to be a Positive Polly among the negative Nancies, and I bow to your expertise, but what is the practical problem for the educated consumer with having two cards? If you never take the BTS, all you need is the MRT card. If you never take the MRT, all you need is a Rabbit. I take both and have 2. One is Blue. One is Orange. I get to the station, pull my appropriate card out and use it......

 

I guess if one was colour blind, but the Rabbit has a Rabbit on it, the MRT has an M. I keep both topped off so I just zip on through and ride.

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Crossy Star Member

Crossy

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Posted
15 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

I dont want to be a Positive Polly among the negative Nancies, and I bow to your expertise, but what is the practical problem for the educated consumer with having two cards?

Two cards is manageable, but how about (soon to be) four or five (if we include "Mangmoom")? It rapidly becomes a wrestling act to get the right card at the right time.

 

It's all about passenger convenience. Go to HK, your Octopus card works on the MTR, the buses, the Star Ferry, in convenience stores, vending machines etc etc. You don't even need to remove it from your wallet and it even fills up automagically when the balance gets low. Similarly in Singapore and London.

 

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kkerry Gold Member

kkerry

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6 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

I dont want to be a Positive Polly among the negative Nancies, and I bow to your expertise, but what is the practical problem for the educated consumer with having two cards? If you never take the BTS, all you need is the MRT card. If you never take the MRT, all you need is a Rabbit. I take both and have 2. One is Blue. One is Orange. I get to the station, pull my appropriate card out and use it......

 

I guess if one was colour blind, but the Rabbit has a Rabbit on it, the MRT has an M. I keep both topped off so I just zip on through and ride.

 

You're right, it's no big deal to carry two cards but I have travel cards for eight different cities and Bangkok is the only place I need two. It makes you ask why Bangkok can't do what other places can. A couple of overseas cards I use are set and forget. If the balance goes below $20 it is topped up from my credit card automatically, never need to worry about long lines but for Bangkok I do the same as some other posters here and top up ahead of time.

 

Maybe it's been tried before but BTS & MRT could set-up promotions at stations like Asok and Sukhumvit selling new users cards with 100 baht worth of free rides. Get some Korean actors promoting the deal on the tvs in the stations and on the trains. Do it for six months ahead of making the entire network cashless. A lot of the problem here is likely to be the companies behind the competing systems doing what benefits them best rather than simplifying things for the commuter. I've taken visitors on the MRT and BTS before and they all thought it was pretty good, some even decided they preferred using it to taxis. Just need to get some more carriages to reduce overcrowding and consolidate the ticketing systems.

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Nyezhov Gold Member

Nyezhov

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9 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Two cards is manageable, but how about (soon to be) four or five (if we include "Mangmoom")? It rapidly becomes a wrestling act to get the right card at the right time.

 

It's all about passenger convenience. Go to HK, your Octopus card works on the MTR, the buses, the Star Ferry, in convenience stores, vending machines etc etc. You don't even need to remove it from your wallet and it even fills up automagically when the balance gets low. Similarly in Singapore and London.

 

I understand its primitive, but for me at least, I can deal with it. But if the Mangmoon covers more than one line, wouldnt that limit the number of cards? 

 

 

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Nyezhov Gold Member

Nyezhov

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1 minute ago, kkerry said:

You're right, it's no big deal to carry two cards but I have travel cards for eight different cities and Bangkok is the only place I need two.

Im American, I drive at home ????

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