snoop1130 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Phuket Smart Bus to ride again By The Phuket News The Phuket Smart Bus will start rolling again on Monday (Nov 16). Photo: PKSB / file PHUKET:-- The Phuket Smart Bus will resume rolling from Phuket International Airport on Monday (Nov 16) and continue along its standard route down the west coast to Rawai Pier at the southern end of the island. The service was stopped in March just before the island went into full ‘Tambon Lockdown’ and all foreign commercial passenger flights were banned from entering the country as a COVID-19 protection measure, Phuket Smart Bus Co Ltd (PKSB) General Manager Wanida Nimnuan explained to The Phuket News today (Nov 13). Of note, Phuket Smart Bus was among the first to introduce ‘New Normal’ protection measures, with each bus cleaned with alcohol-based sanitiser after completing each run when the COVID-19 alarm sounded in January. Full Story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-smart-bus-to-ride-again-77968.php -- © Copyright Phuket News 2020-11-13 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETERTHEEATER Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 It doesn't stand a chance against the Immigration smart BMW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ourdon Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 (edited) Good to see. I found the service quite useful and am happy that my rabbit card has a use again. I always thought that the fact that you could go from Rawai to the airport in Air conditioned comfort for 170 Baht another nail in the taxi mafias' coffin. Now all i have to do is get my saggy old butt back to Thai Edited November 14, 2020 by ourdon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny1990 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 1 hour ago, ourdon said: Good to see. I found the service quite useful and am happy that my rabbit card has a use again. I always thought that the fact that you could go from Rawai to the airport in Air conditioned comfort for 170 Baht another nail in the taxi mafias' coffin. Now all i have to do is get my saggy old butt back to Thai And then from Rawai to Patong you will take a smart tuk tuk? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olmate Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Destiny1990 said: And then from Rawai to Patong you will take a smart tuk tuk? Smart bus goes from Rawai to Patong sunshine . Edited November 15, 2020 by Olmate Add photo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFPhuket Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 I wish them success, but with busses departing Phuket airport at 10am, noon, 3pm and 5:30pm I can't see how they plan to attract enough business to keep from losing money. With the 20% discount offered by shared van services, the van cost will be less, you generally won't have to wait as long to depart, and the van would deliver you to your hotel rather than a bus stop. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ourdon Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, DFPhuket said: I wish them success, but with busses departing Phuket airport at 10am, noon, 3pm and 5:30pm I can't see how they plan to attract enough business to keep from losing money. With the 20% discount offered by shared van services, the van cost will be less, you generally won't have to wait as long to depart, and the van would deliver you to your hotel rather than a bus stop. Did they change the schedule??? The schedule above just put out by Olmate (which is the one i have on my phone) shows a bus leaving the airport hourly on the hour. The bus was fairly empty when I started using it. By the time it shut down it was pretty even between Thai and tourist. I just used my scooter for local stuff and driving in to Phuket town. Edited November 15, 2020 by ourdon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olmate Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 34 minutes ago, ourdon said: Did they change the schedule??? The schedule above just put out by Olmate (which is the one i have on my phone) shows a bus leaving the airport hourly on the hour. The bus was fairly empty when I started using it. By the time it shut down it was pretty even between Thai and tourist. I just used my scooter for local stuff and driving in to Phuket town. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psimbo Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 Positive news but as usual the first and other posts are negative. I'm betting all the negative comments are by people who never used it. This is a baby step in restoring the western coast bus service, which was slammed at the beginning with the usual naysayers going on about burnt out buses years ago (IIRC there was only one but that's by the by and become an urban exaggerated myth). It became more and more popular and was a transport success. It's not just about the airport- plenty of local users were taking advantage of it and its far easier than having to get a bus into Phuket Town then back out to a west coast location. Hopefully as people realize it is back in service it will get the support it deserves- as for the reduced amount of journeys that makes sense given the limited domestic flights at present. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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