BTS, Tell the truth.

[Just Weird]

On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 9:39 AM, bkk6060 said:

Have you ever been to another major city in Asia?  Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.

From your comments, I doubt it.

And complaining about people on their phones nowadays seems childish as that is the world today.

Are you aware Bangkok is a major city and Siam the #1 station on the line for business and tourist transports?

The BTS is a great system and 99 percent very efficient.

I suggest you take a hot smelly taxi and sit in traffic for an hour if it bothers you so much.

I absolutely agree with your comment to the 'teacher' except that taxis in Bangkok are not hot, they all have air conditioning and not many are "smelly", either.

[Just Weird]

21 hours ago, berybert said:

I hope the poster you were referring too now feels put in his place.

How dare someone have an opinion. 

There's a big difference between having an opinion and stating something that is just plain false.

[sunnyboy2018]

its very good compared to the london underground which IS hot and smelly, people eat food and there is the ever present fear of bombs.

[berybert]

4 hours ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

its very good compared to the london underground which IS hot and smelly, people eat food and there is the ever present fear of bombs.

Yes comparing an underground system that is well over a hundred years old to an overground system that isn't, is a good idea. 

[wordchild]

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

I use the BTS every day to get to work - Phra Khanong to Chitlom. It's crowded in rush hour but people are generally polite and civilised. It rarely breaks down. Compared to commuting on the Northern Line in London, it's a joy.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

Couldn’t agree more, I use the BTS (to get to my office) pretty much every morning and evening , during peak times, and I have being doing this for the last decade. during that whole period I have experienced a handful of what I would term serious, extended delay. Pretty good really, and I also used to commute via London’s Northern Line, many years ago.

Edited July 1, 2019 by wordchild

[Lakegeneve]

People complain about all sorts of normal events just because they have different expectations when the reality is the system in the main works very well - even with the overcrowding which really is not as bad as many other cities as others have pointed out.

 

If you don't speak Thai, I think that pax in BKK are lucky to have English announcements - no matter how vague. There are plenty of cities mass transit systems in the world that don't offer english announcements for non native speakers. Also, there are daily examples in ones own city where similar announcements are also made. Imagine how it is for not Thai and Non english speakers!

 

I also think it is a little ironic in the context of the OPs issue that this description makes no sense; "On arrival at Ari we changed to the other side of the rails and people were getting off on the wrong side of the platform. On the side we should have gotten off from was a broken down train."

 

A train cannot change "to the other side of the rails" and people cannot get "off on the wrong side" of a single sided platform (unless jumping off the station in some mass injury attempt!). A train can however switched to another track and people can alight at the opposite platform......

[berybert]

1 hour ago, Lakegeneve said:

People complain about all sorts of normal events just because they have different expectations when the reality is the system in the main works very well - even with the overcrowding which really is not as bad as many other cities as others have pointed out.

 

If you don't speak Thai, I think that pax in BKK are lucky to have English announcements - no matter how vague. There are plenty of cities mass transit systems in the world that don't offer english announcements for non native speakers. Also, there are daily examples in ones own city where similar announcements are also made. Imagine how it is for not Thai and Non english speakers!

 

I also think it is a little ironic in the context of the OPs issue that this description makes no sense; "On arrival at Ari we changed to the other side of the rails and people were getting off on the wrong side of the platform. On the side we should have gotten off from was a broken down train."

 

A train cannot change "to the other side of the rails" and people cannot get "off on the wrong side" of a single sided platform (unless jumping off the station in some mass injury attempt!). A train can however switched to another track and people can alight at the opposite platform...…

 While it makes no sense to you it seems to have made sense to every other poster who has read the post and made no note of it. 

Congratulations on nothing. 

[Crossy]

23 hours ago, berybert said:

Yes comparing an underground system that is well over a hundred years old to an overground system that isn't, is a good idea. 

 

You could try comparing it with Delhi Metro which is largely elevated and rather younger than the BTS.

 

[Lakegeneve]

16 minutes ago, berybert said:

 While it makes no sense to you it seems to have made sense to every other poster who has read the post and made no note of it. 

Congratulations on nothing. 

Au contraire, your post makes no sense. Indeed, your response is rather non nonsensical given my later suggested description of what happened.

 

I never said that the OP made no sense to me. I just made what patently seems to be an ironic point of one complaining about apparently not receiving clear information, and yet not conveying clearly what happened. And this after, making the pertinent point that these 'announcement' issues are world wide and for non Thai speakers on the BTS they are lucky to receive dual language announcements which often doesn't occur in many other cities.

[Lakegeneve]

3 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

You could try comparing it with Delhi Metro which is largely elevated and rather younger than the BTS.

 

I've said before Crossy that the Delhi model is what other asian cities should have followed. They have done an amazing job of having no metro at the turn of the century to a large, well run network in less than 20 years with progressive expansion. Compare that to Mumbai, Bangkok, Manila, HCM etc.....

[Crossy]

41 minutes ago, Lakegeneve said:

I've said before Crossy that the Delhi model is what other asian cities should have followed.

 

I think we can agree to disagree on Delhi.

 

The model, yes. 100% agree.

 

The reality, built down to a price with contracted timescales, shortcuts at every corner, (ever been back of house?) a significant number of deaths both of construction workers and innocents caught up in viaduct collapses. Dirty stations, long queues (due to "security"). I've ridden Delhi metro exactly once, from Jantar Mantar (which was near our site office) one stop. We came back by taxi.

 

Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai are much nicer (although a lot smaller). As to Mumbai ????

[berybert]

1 hour ago, Lakegeneve said:

Au contraire, your post makes no sense. Indeed, your response is rather non nonsensical given my later suggested description of what happened.

 

I never said that the OP made no sense to me. I just made what patently seems to be an ironic point of one complaining about apparently not receiving clear information, and yet not conveying clearly what happened. And this after, making the pertinent point that these 'announcement' issues are world wide and for non Thai speakers on the BTS they are lucky to receive dual language announcements which often doesn't occur in many other cities.

It makes no sense but you know exactly what I meant as you explained it. OK.

 

Edited July 2, 2019 by berybert

[ballpoint]

If they announce that there will be a delay of 15 minutes, and 15 minutes later we are on our way again, then I really couldn't care what reason they give.  However, if they announce a 15 minute delay, and 30 minutes later we're still not moving, or, worse still, make no announcement at all, then that would be the time to start getting upset.  Though, if midway between stations, there's not a lot you can do about it, so might as well keep calm, keep listening to music, and keep looking at the girls.  I'm sure that seething away on the train, rushing home and furiously writing about it on TV is bad for your health.

 

Having lived in Bangkok for many years prior to the BTS and MRT, I have nothing but praise for both systems, and I'd happily put up with an occasional delay rather than go back to sitting in the traffic again.  Not that I have really experienced any major delay.  Despite using the BTS almost every working day in the past 4 years, the only delays were the occasional waiting at a station while the train in front cleared the next one during peak hours. 

 

I'd also add that, in my old home city, the council voted on funding for a mass transit system 6 years ago.  Construction still hasn't started though, as they're still arguing over what type of system to use.  Give me Thai directness any day.

[madmen]

From CNN this morning, Thailand didn't even make the top 10 !

 

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-busiest-transit-lines/index.html

 

"Using this data, they also compiled a list of the world's most-crowded transit lines"

 

1. Buenos Aires -- Urquiza Line

2. São Paulo -- Line 11 (Coral)

3. Buenos Aires -- Line A

4. São Paulo -- Line 8 (Diamond)

5. Paris -- Line 13

6. Buenos Aires -- Line C

7. Tokyo -- Chuo Line

8. São Paulo -- Line 9 (Emerald)

9. Tokyo -- Nippori-Toneri Liner

10. New York -- L Train

Edited July 3, 2019 by madmen

[berybert]

2 hours ago, madmen said:

From CNN this morning, Thailand didn't even make the top 10 !

 

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-busiest-transit-lines/index.html

 

"Using this data, they also compiled a list of the world's most-crowded transit lines"

 

1. Buenos Aires -- Urquiza Line

2. São Paulo -- Line 11 (Coral)

3. Buenos Aires -- Line A

4. São Paulo -- Line 8 (Diamond)

5. Paris -- Line 13

6. Buenos Aires -- Line C

7. Tokyo -- Chuo Line

8. São Paulo -- Line 9 (Emerald)

9. Tokyo -- Nippori-Toneri Liner

10. New York -- L Train

I would guess that most of those transit lines are super fast lines. In Thailand you can walk faster than the train. So no surprises.

 

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, berybert said:

I would guess that most of those transit lines are super fast lines. In Thailand you can walk faster than the train. So no surprises.

 

Nonsense.

[madmen]

1 hour ago, berybert said:

In Thailand you can walk faster than the train

Busted! clearly you have never been to Thailand. Why do people spend their days posting from the west is beyond me, its pretty sad

[Lakegeneve]

6 hours ago, ballpoint said:

Having lived in Bangkok for many years prior to the BTS and MRT, I have nothing but praise for both systems, and I'd happily put up with an occasional delay rather than go back to sitting in the traffic again.  Not that I have really experienced any major delay.  Despite using the BTS almost every working day in the past 4 years, the only delays were the occasional waiting at a station while the train in front cleared the next one during peak hours. 

Most people just don't know how utterly bad it was to get around BKK before the BTS opened - and that was with around half the amount of cars on the road compared to now.

 

After the BTS opened for the first 12 months ridership was so low that many were saying it was a waste of money. There were literally empty carriages with a few pax at times. The then BMA Gov Samak even said that it should be torn down - he had this whole noise thing about the BTS and had probably never taken a PT in his adult life! (Which is why when he was PM he planned he infamous Gold Ring line to be built in 2 years on a restaurant napkin one night). 

 

The main problem with the BTS has been that the BTSC did not invest in extra rolling stock ahead of the pax growth curve. The issues with the various evolution of the signalling system over the years have been a problematic but the reality is that apart from overcrowding the system runs very well. 

[CharlieH]

Reported off topic post and response removed.

[madmen]

The BTS is vital to Bangkok. Most certainly wouldn't live here without it

[berybert]

9 hours ago, madmen said:

Busted! clearly you have never been to Thailand. Why do people spend their days posting from the west is beyond me, its pretty sad

Congratulations on an off topic post that isn't off topic.