Tourists in Chiang Mai: We'd rather use Grab or Uber than rip off Red Buses

[webfact]

Tourists in Chiang Mai: We'd rather use Grab or Uber than rip off Red Buses

 

Picture: Chiang Mai News

 

A poll in Chiang Mai among Thai tourists has given a big thumbs up to Uber and Grab and a big thumbs down to the city's notorious Rot Daeng or bed buses. 

 

The Mae Jo poll revealed that 76% of Thai tourists want to see the red vehicles reined in according to the law.

 

And 78% said they'd rather use Grab or Uber for their journeys when visiting the city. 

 

The majority of respondents to the survey spoke of the city's public transport infrastructure and routing being a complete mess. 

 

It didn't even go to where tourists wanted to visit. 

 

Some 84% said they had had one problem or another on transport in Chiang Mai with the overwhelming majority having been on the red buses. 

 

More than half of those complained about politeness and lack of public service. 

 

Thai visitors wanted to see better public transport option all round - this included suggestions there should be trams and electric trains. 

 

There were 423 respondents to the poll carried out between January 9 and 23. It was headed:

 

"Thai tourists: what do you think about public transport in Chiang Mai".

 

No mention was made in the Chiang Mai News story of any foreign tourists having been asked. This was outside the brief of the poll, it appeared. 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-02-05

[mok199]

Romance , dishonesty , corruption and road carnage ,all wrapped up in a thick dark smoggy haze....Thailand has it all...

[ThaiSauce]

They should start with banning all black exhaust tuk tuks and songthaews. That would probably cut down on 80%. And I find most of the traffic pile ups are caused from them half pulling over to honk or pick up people, blocking a lane or two not caring at all about everyone else.
Two birds with one stone.....

Sent from my BLA-L29 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Vacuum]

14 minutes ago, ThaiSauce said:

They should start with banning all black exhaust tuk tuks

Hate to tell you the truth, but there are no tuk tuks that expells black exhaust.

[Saladin]

Songtaews (Red buses) get an undeserved bad press in Chiang Mai. At just 30B they do provide a cheap convenient service. Often, they must travel from one side of the city to the other for 30B or maybe not pick up a fare at all. I usually use GRAB because it's door to door service, air conditioned and comfortable and reasonably priced, although a couple of nights ago I was quoted 325B from Nimmanhaemin to Chiang Mai Gate, which I declined in favor of 40B on a songteow. The real rip-off merchants are the tuk-tuks who demand a minimum of 100B for even a 2 minute ride.

[SammyT]

Jumped in a cab the other day from Suvarnabhumi and cabbie refused to take me on the motorway into town, despite me telling him in Thai which way I wanted to go. He then proceeded to drive me round in an enormous loop for the next 100 minutes to get me to my destination, despite me showing him that I had my google maps open and telling him I knew we were going the wrong way. 

 

If taxis, songthaews etc wonder why people would rather use grab - this is a good example of why. Way more accountability, cars that have seatbelts and don't smell of stale cigarettes, cars that actually have boot space so you don't have to sit with your luggage piled on your knees. 

[JimmyJ]

Uber has not been an option in Asia since April 2018, 10 months ago.

 

Those conducting the poll didn't know this?

 

Or is this an old story being republished?

 

 

[ThaiSauce]

Hate to tell you the truth, but there are no tuk tuks that expells black exhaust.

Seems everyone I am stuck behind is puffing some black/purple cloud regardless of what fuel type they use. Those things are so beat up and old, they are not very efficient

Sent from my BLA-L29 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Vacuum]

1 minute ago, ThaiSauce said:

Seems everyone I am stuck behind is puffing some black/purple cloud regardless of what fuel type they use. Those things are so beat up and old, they are not very efficient

Sent from my BLA-L29 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

They are two-strokes and use lpg (or something like that). They can't produce black smoke from their exhaust.

[cnx355]

55 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Hate to tell you the truth, but there are no tuk tuks that expells black exhaust.

The older tuk tuk emit blue smoke form the combustion of their 2 cycle engine. Not much better.

You can see and smell if you follow one.  The newer tuk tuk have more efficient 4 cycle engine

[FolkGuitar]

They are happy taking an Uber? I call BS!

Uber is not been an option in Chiang Mai for quite some time.

This poll is a fake.

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, hyku1147 said:

Awwww, someone was mean to the poor little tourists...LOL

Well ask a bunch of foreigners who live in Chiang Mai, many of whom can speak passable to advanced Thai, you'll find many negative stories.

 

And ask from local Chiang Mai Thai folks, again plenty of negative stories.

 

Except when it's just jump on - jump off on a standard route.

 

 

[scorecard]

"

The majority of respondents to the survey spoke of the city's public transport infrastructure and routing being a complete mess. 

 

It didn't even go to where tourists wanted to visit. 

 

Some 84% said they had had one problem or another on transport in Chiang Mai with the overwhelming majority having been on the red buses. 

 

More than half of those complained about politeness and lack of public service. 

 

Thai visitors wanted to see better public transport option all round - this included suggestions there should be trams and electric trains."

______________________________________

 

It's not only tourists, a very large percentage of local thai folks and resident foreigners would love to see big changes and a much better organized / much more modern and economical public transport system, free of rip offs. 

 

[arithai12]

4 hours ago, Vacuum said:

They are two-strokes and use lpg (or something like that). They can't produce black smoke from their exhaust.

Whatever the color, it's not something I want to breath. Or smell.

[tabarin]

22 hours ago, Saladin said:

Songtaews (Red buses) get an undeserved bad press in Chiang Mai. At just 30B they do provide a cheap convenient service. Often, they must travel from one side of the city to the other for 30B or maybe not pick up a fare at all. I usually use GRAB because it's door to door service, air conditioned and comfortable and reasonably priced, although a couple of nights ago I was quoted 325B from Nimmanhaemin to Chiang Mai Gate, which I declined in favor of 40B on a songteow. The real rip-off merchants are the tuk-tuks who demand a minimum of 100B for even a 2 minute ride.

IDK what app you use but Nimmanhaemin to Chiang Mai gate is nowhere near 325B ever. I never even paid more than 200B for that from Sansai. And cheap songtaews? Never found one near the city. Also they easily do 4 loads of a dozen people * 30THB = 1,440B per day in peak hours alone.

Most just pretend to be sad and poor but are nowhere near it and if they are because of poor decision making.
I rather think they are spoiled instead as they earned even more before ripping off boat loads of tourists.

Should simply restrict the amount of them outside of peak hours and at least force them to install an exhaust filter.

[ChristianBlessing]

On 2/5/2019 at 4:56 PM, Vacuum said:

They are two-strokes and use lpg (or something like that). They can't produce black smoke from their exhaust.

They may not produce "black smoke" but the emissions are significantly higher than would be the case with 4 stroke engines where petroleum oil is not injected directly into the fuel.

[jonwilly]

Er thats tourist and one CM resident, ME.

 

john

[Peasandmash]

ahhh??? <deleted> is 2019 and it's news that people don't like riding in the back of pick-up truck..  more information for the low IQ. what a joke

[ifmu]

as for me english speaker .. i like grab . i can see the cost and dont have to speak thai ..       

now when i am with thai wife she can negotiate price and location  easily

 

red taxi have limitations . they travel a select area  for the most customers . around the moat 

[Uptooyoo]

On 2/5/2019 at 3:19 PM, Saladin said:

Songtaews (Red buses) get an undeserved bad press in Chiang Mai. At just 30B they do provide a cheap convenient service. Often, they must travel from one side of the city to the other for 30B or maybe not pick up a fare at all. I usually use GRAB because it's door to door service, air conditioned and comfortable and reasonably priced, although a couple of nights ago I was quoted 325B from Nimmanhaemin to Chiang Mai Gate, which I declined in favor of 40B on a songteow. The real rip-off merchants are the tuk-tuks who demand a minimum of 100B for even a 2 minute ride.

It isn't cheap when you consider all the costs, such as treating respiratory disease in hospital. Lung cancer, emphysema and premature death is a high price to pay for a 30 baht ride. Who wants to visit a city when it's recording the highest PM 2.5 pollution levels in the world. There is a high price to pay when tourists avoid the city. Businesses suffer; millions of baht lost.

But on the bright side, electric Tuk-Tuks (Grab) are being introduced in Chiang Mai. If they introduce Songtaews with cleaner-burning fuel, I would gladly pay a bit more to breath clean air. I might even consider going up to Chiang Mai and stay awhile---spend some money. (when they're not burning the mountains and fields)

[VocalNeal]

I wouldn't use those silly low roof songtaews. One cannot see out to know where one is.

[BritManToo]

On 2/5/2019 at 3:19 PM, Saladin said:

At just 30B they do provide a cheap convenient service.

Even the 30bht sign is cheating foreigners.

In Thai the sign reads up to 30bht, which is the maximum fare they are allowed to charge.

[KittenKong]

The basic bahtbus fare in Pattaya is 10B, and that gets you all the way from central Pattaya to southern Jomtien which is around 10km. To go all the way from Naklua to Jomtien is just 20B. The white bahtbuses on Sukumvit go even further for the same price.

 

The red buses in CM that charge 30B for the basic fare are clearly a rip-off, pure and simple.

[CMBob]

12 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Even the 30bht sign is cheating foreigners.

In Thai the sign reads up to 30bht, which is the maximum fare they are allowed to charge.

Correct.  Too many people simply see (and can only read) the number 30 on the side of the songteaws.  Occasionally, when asking a driver if he/she is going to a particular location, the driver will either say 30 baht or raise 3 fingers meaning 30 baht and, when that happens, I have the right to say okay or not (typically, the extra ten baht doesn't stop me from taking the ride); however, unless that happens, the fare remains at 20 baht and that's all I pay (and not once have I had a scowl or problem with any songteaw driver over that).

 

But people who either (1) ask how much or (2) show up at the passenger (or driver's window) with a paper or phone map are going to see a slight smile on the driver's face as the fare is about to go up.  

[JimmyJ]

5 hours ago, CMBob said:

Correct.  Too many people simply see (and can only read) the number 30 on the side of the songteaws.  Occasionally, when asking a driver if he/she is going to a particular location, the driver will either say 30 baht or raise 3 fingers meaning 30 baht and, when that happens, I have the right to say okay or not (typically, the extra ten baht doesn't stop me from taking the ride); however, unless that happens, the fare remains at 20 baht and that's all I pay (and not once have I had a scowl or problem with any songteaw driver over that).

 

But people who either (1) ask how much or (2) show up at the passenger (or driver's window) with a paper or phone map are going to see a slight smile on the driver's face as the fare is about to go up.  

 

How does the pricing work then?

 

If the driver says nothing when you ask for the destination, you give 20 BHT and the drivers never have a problem with this?

[FolkGuitar]

20 baht?  30 baht?  Are you really so miserly that 10 baht is going to cause you all this drama?  Principle of thing? Even more foolish to get upset about! You'll wind up spending that 10 baht on another day's worth of stress medicine.

[Mitkof Island]

They have a long history of being weasels. One of numerous reasons i stopped staying in Chiang Mai nearly two decades ago i thought it was bad. Had one problem after another besides i did not move to Thailand to live in mini-Europe . My rule is always have small change. Hand them the fare and walk away.

[Mitkof Island]

13 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

20 baht?  30 baht?  Are you really so miserly that 10 baht is going to cause you all this drama?  Principle of thing? Even more foolish to get upset about! You'll wind up spending that 10 baht on another day's worth of stress medicine.

Because if you don,t do anything they continue harming others. I guess that is ok with you?

[mania]

On 2/4/2019 at 10:56 PM, Vacuum said:

They are two-strokes and use lpg (or something like that). They can't produce black smoke from their exhaust.

You are half correct that some Tuks are 2 stroke engines

 

You are wrong that it runs LPG

 

It runs gasoline/gasohol  but with 2 stroke oil either mixed into the tank or injected thru the intake port

 

That in turn produces black exhaust of the engine is running rich

 

[Vacuum]

30 minutes ago, mania said:

You are half correct that some Tuks are 2 stroke engines

 

You are wrong that it runs LPG

 

It runs gasoline/gasohol  but with 2 stroke oil either mixed into the tank or injected thru the intake port

 

That in turn produces black exhaust of the engine is running rich

 

Mmmm, most of the tuk tuks are in fact two strokes, and they do run on LPG. The two stroke oil injected to the engine, doesn't produce black smoke, more like gray/blue (ish).

 

In later years they have introduced the new 4 stroke tuk tuks (the red ones), which run on gasohol.