Public Transport in CM

[nglodnig]

10 hours ago, arithai12 said:

There is now talk of a light rail system... don't hold your breath.

haha! That'll be right after the underground railway that was going to to go from central Chiang Mai via the airport to Hang Dong. 

[sqwakvfr]

In the last few days I have noticed a slight increase in Grab fares and the wait times have gotten a few minutes longer.  The latest was a one way from Central Festival to Orchid Hotel.  Last week it was 115 Baht in the early afternoon.  Yesterday it was 129 Baht.  Also, when I look at the available drivers in my area on the app it looks like fewer drivers waiting for fares.  This is understandable because of the cost of gasoline.  As usual the service was safe, dependable and the drivers were courteous.  

[elektrified]

On 8/5/2022 at 2:57 PM, malibukid said:

why?  too much competition? 

No, no competition. The company that ran them went broke. When Covid came along, they were all empty and they stopped running. Then the petrol station where the buses fueled up every morning with CNG (PTT on Doi Saket Road), ceased selling CNG. There is only one other station in C.M. that sells CNG and it has no room for buses. So they put the fleet up for sale. I think two million each.

[EricTh]

On 8/6/2022 at 7:11 AM, sqwakvfr said:

In the last few days I have noticed a slight increase in Grab fares and the wait times have gotten a few minutes longer.  The latest was a one way from Central Festival to Orchid Hotel.  Last week it was 115 Baht in the early afternoon.  Yesterday it was 129 Baht.  Also, when I look at the available drivers in my area on the app it looks like fewer drivers waiting for fares.  This is understandable because of the cost of gasoline.  As usual the service was safe, dependable and the drivers were courteous.  

I did talk with a Grab driver one day with my lower intermediate Thai. They actually don't earn much per trip. Petrol prices have gone up which make it difficult to make much profit.

 

Blame it on the parties which  caused the oil price to go up.

 

At one time, nobody wanted to drive me to a spot in sansai bcos it's not worth it

Edited August 9, 2022 by EricTh

[ramrod711]

On 8/5/2022 at 2:57 PM, malibukid said:

why?  too much competition? 

Not long before the blue (scheduled) buses shut down, the main ridership seemed to consist, mainly, of students. Excellent for them i would have thought

[cardinalblue]

Are you admitting that CM doesn’t have a modern or reasonable PT system?

 

one can get around by piece mailing it…dominated by private scooters or private vehicles…

 

bottom line is they don’t have a coordinated well thought out PT system…it just the way it is and it’s not going to change as they are pumping money into widening roads in a one step forward two step back mentality…

 

PT in CM not part of any visionary plan…just the way it is

[FolkGuitar]

Since I've been in Chiang Mai, the city has twice tried setting up modern, large public bus systems with routes all around and outside the city. I rode them a few times myself. Usually they were just about empty. I guess the locals prefer the old ways.