Thai Smile Bus launches electric bus services across Bangkok

[webfact]

Thai Smile Bus (TSB) launched 24-hour air-conditioned bus services across 13 routes in Bangkok, featuring electric-powered buses operating every hour. This initiative aims to assist night-shift workers who struggle with transportation. The service began today, August 20.

 

Kulapornphas Wongmacharapinya, CEO of Thai Smile Group, announced that the licenced public transport provider has expanded its services to meet the demand for night travel. This decision follows multiple complaints from citizens about the lack of nighttime bus services after previous operators discontinued some night routes.

Understanding the importance of night travel for economic activities, TSB has introduced round-the-clock bus services. Starting from midnight to 5am, these electric buses operate hourly across various routes. The company plans to increase the number of buses gradually to match passenger demand.

 

Routes now available for night service include:

Route 1-3(34): Bang Khen – Phahonyothin Road – Hua Lamphong, operating at 11pm, midnight, 1am, 2am, 3am, and 5am

Route 1-37(27): Min Buri – Victory Monument, operating at 10pm, midnight, and 5am

Route 1-39(71): Suan Siam – Khlong Toei, operating at 10pm, 10.40pm, midnight, 1am, 2am, 3.45am, 4am, 4.15am, 4.30am, 4.45am, and 5am

Route 2-15(97): Ministry of Public Health – Somdej Phra Pinklao Hospital, operating at 11pm, midnight, 1.30am, 3am, 4am, 4.10am, 4.20am, 4.30am, 4.40am, 4.50am, and 5am

Route 2-38(8): Happyland – Phutthaphot Bridge Pier, operating at 10pm, 11pm, midnight, 1am, 2am, 3.45am, 4am, 4.10am, 4.20am, 4.30am, 4.40am, 4.50am, and 5am

Route 3-1(2): Pak Nam – Phutthaphot Bridge Pier, operating at 10pm, midnight, 1am, 2am, 3am, 3.50am, 4.05am, 4.20am, 4.35am, 4.50am, and 5am

Route 3-6(25): Pathumkongka School Samut Prakan – Ekkamai Bus Terminal (one additional bus), operating at 10.40pm, 11pm, 1am, 2am, 4.30am, 4.45am, and 5am

Route 3-36(4): Khlong Toei Pier – Phasi Charoen Pier, operating at 10pm, 11.30pm, 1am, 2am, 3.30am, 4am, 4.30am, and 5am
Route 34: Rangsit – Hua Lamphong, operating at 10.10pm, midnight, 3.40am, 4.20am, and 5am

Route 4-36(7): Suksanaree School – Hua Lamphong, operating at 11.30pm, 1am, 2.30am, 3.45am, 4am, 4.10am, 4.20am, 4.30am, 4.40am, 4.50am, and 5am

Route 4-44(80A): Wapawor 11 Village – Suan Luang Rama VIII, operating at 10.30pm, 1am, 4.45am, and 5am

Route 4-46(84): Wat Rai Khing – BTS Krung Thon Buri, operating at 10pm, 11pm, midnight, 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, 4.10am, 4.20am, 4.30am, 4.40am, 4.50am, and 5.10am

Route 4-15(82): Phra Pradaeng Pier – Bang Lamphu, operating at 10pm, 11pm, midnight, 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, 4.30am, 4.40am, and 5am.

TSB also considers the cost of living for citizens. All blue electric buses now accept the HOP Card, which offers the Daily Max Fare benefit. Passengers can ride unlimited times in one day for a maximum fare of 40 baht per day. Combining bus and boat rides will cost no more than 50 baht per day. Otherwise, fares are based on actual usage, starting at 15, 20, or 25 baht, reported KhaoSod.

 

by Puntid Tantivangphaisal
Photo courtesy of KhaoSod

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-08-20

 

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[Will B Good]

 

 

What about the sharks?

[john donson]

1-  unreliable at best

 

been waiting one + hour once...

 

then, took alternative travel and I saw 2 EMPTY busses, same route, pass me at high speed

[malibukid]

great for BKK but as always we are SOL up here in CM.  the Bangkok elites could care less about us.  we desperately need an alternative to those smog belching songthews. 

[mfd101]

Sounds like real progress! Just need all the fumes-bellowers everywhere removed & replaced by clean & punctual EVs.

[KhunLA]

29 minutes ago, john donson said:

1-  unreliable at best

 

been waiting one + hour once...

 

then, took alternative travel and I saw 2 EMPTY busses, same route, pass me at high speed

... and the service just started 

 

....... "The service began today, August 20" ......

[khunjeff]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Starting from midnight to 5am, these electric buses operate hourly across various routes.

 

...and then we see the schedules below, indicating that only two of the dozen routes actually have hourly service (and all of them start before midnight). Unless these buses follow a very precise timetable, and can be tracked by GPS, it will be difficult for people to rely on them. I used to have to wait (and wait...and wait) for late night buses, and it was no fun at all.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Understanding the importance of night travel for economic activities, TSB has introduced round-the-clock bus services. Starting from midnight to 5am, these electric buses operate hourly across various routes. The company plans to increase the number of buses gradually to match passenger demand.

Progress is slow but at least it's progress.

[KhunLA]

28 minutes ago, malibukid said:

great for BKK but as always we are SOL up here in CM.  the Bangkok elites could care less about us.  we desperately need an alternative to those smog belching songthews. 

I think you / CM, have had E-tuk tuks for a few years now.

 

Do you actually use public trans ?

 

Chiang Mai Uni has been using E-buses & songthaews.

Red truck why be using electric soon, if not already.

 

It's a work in progress.  Actually impressive for a 3rd world

country ... IMHO

 

I hope folks complaining about not enough E-public trans are driving diesels or ICEVs 

Edited August 20 by KhunLA

[Burma Bill]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

bus services across 13 routes in Bangkok, featuring electric-powered buses

 For reference:

 

January 2024 -  An electric bus has caught fire in London, making it the third to burst into flames in the capital this month.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/electric-bus-london-fire-putney-capital-b2484622.html

 

June 2024 -

Three electric buses that were parked at Vastral bus depot in Ahmedabad were gutted after they caught fire early on Tuesday morning, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation officials said. No casualties or injuries have been reported. 

The Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) buses were being charged when one of them caught fire, with the fire then spreading to two other buses parked adjacent. The buses as well as the chargers have been damaged in the fire.

indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/3-electric-buses-gutted-in-fire-at-ahmedabads-vastral-bus-depot-9413298/

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

I hope this is a success but cynic that I am I expect the service to be disrupted with charging delays and AC turned off to conserve battery. Hybrids are practical and work well in city suburb travel involving low speed and stop/start travel. Services must be trackable using mobile phone app and GPS to maintain passenger confidence.

[Homburg]

ICE vehicles have problems, mostly surrounding air pollution.  EV's are by no means problem-free, but Bangkok is in dire need of anything that can reduce air pollution, so this is surely a step in the right direction?  (Albeit a very small step.)

[oldestswinger]

2 hours ago, malibukid said:

great for BKK

No, it's not. Very limited routes . Like many others, these bus routes don't come within miles of my house.

[kingstonkid]

I hope this works. I just wish there was a map that showed where the routes go.  

 

Normally I would expect that theser routes go both ways but then again T I T

[Gottfrid]

Ouch! be aware of the Win driver and Taxi-Mafia coming out in force with baseball bats.

[john donson]

4 hours ago, KhunLA said:

... and the service just started 

 

....... "The service began today, August 20" ......

 

not where I live... around suwannapum... many months already... 

[ExpatOilWorker]

Electric busses is actually a good idea, especially since the alternative is this....

 

[cowellandrew]

But how is the electricity produced?

 

Coal-fired plants produce an additional 20%

 

so coal powered bus!

😬😁😳🐒😂☻🦌🙈👮‍♂️

[KhunLA]

30 minutes ago, cowellandrew said:

But how is the electricity produced?

 

Coal-fired plants produce an additional 20%

 

so coal powered bus!

😬😁😳🐒😂☻🦌🙈👮‍♂️

Coal can be burned cleaner, if done right.   And the issue is low, street level local air pollution.  Even if electric generated with, do we really need to burn more,, especially the usual choice, diesel again to run the buses.

 

Who knows, the bus companies may be using solar all day, charging and or feeding the grid, to lower their cost.   Passing on savings to customer and supplementing the grid, so less fossil fuel is needed to sustain the grid.

 

How can BEVs be a bad thing, considering the diesel alternatives they would use instead.

 

Big oil has some of y'all so brainwashed it's unbelievable.

 

When I was driving down out of the parking garage at Future Park Mall (Rangsit), I saw nothing but solar panels on almost all the roofs.  Surely that takes a bg bite out of the pollution made to power the malls, and obviously saves the millions of baht, or they wouldn't have bothered.

 

Again, people complain about the pollutions, when all they do is contribute to it, instead of alleviating some of it with simple solar system installations.

 

Continue being the problem, instead of the solution.

 

Roofs @ Future Park complex ...

Edited August 20 by KhunLA

[cowellandrew]

4 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Coal can be burned cleaner, if done right.   And the issue is low, street level local air pollution.  Even if charged with fossil fuel, do we really need to burn more,, especially the usual choice, diesel again to run the buses.

 

Who knows, the bus companies may be using solar all day, charging and or feeding the grid, to lower their cost.   Passing on savings to customer and supplementing the grid, so less fossil fuel is needed to sustain the grid.

 

How can BEVs be a bad thing, considering the diesel alternatives they would use instead.

 

Big oil has some of y'all so brainwashed it's unbelievable.

Yes I agree with some of your points,

As for brainwashed we in the UK are cutting down trees in north and south America making them into wood pellets  ferry them across the Atlantic in a ship burning bunker oil, off load it at liverpool docks, load it on a train class 66  built in the 1990s

Burning diesel taking the wood pellets to the power station, Drax power station did burn coal, but now its green as the emission are created abroad!

 

[KhunLA]

17 minutes ago, cowellandrew said:

Yes I agree with some of your points,

As for brainwashed we in the UK are cutting down trees in north and south America making them into wood pellets  ferry them across the Atlantic in a ship burning bunker oil, off load it at liverpool docks, load it on a train class 66  built in the 1990s

Burning diesel taking the wood pellets to the power station, Drax power station did burn coal, but now its green as the emission are created abroad!

 

Holy crap ... you do have to wonder.   Then the govt charges you a carbon tax, for just about everything, for climate change and how good they are saving the planet for you and your children ... 

 

As long as they get their kickbacks, screw the public ... freakin' embarrassing.

[cowellandrew]

Once you see this you cant believe it!

Yes I understand the oil company's etc,

Drax power station use to burn coal from a couple of miles down the road,

 

[khunjeff]

Many people don't seem to have actually read this article. The news is not that they are using electric buses (the company has been using those for over a year now, if I recall), but that they are instituting all-night services on a few routes.

[Will B Good]

7 hours ago, cowellandrew said:

Once you see this you cant believe it!

Yes I understand the oil company's etc,

Drax power station use to burn coal from a couple of miles down the road,

 

 

 

Thank you Margaret Thatcher.........may the Iron Lady rust in hell.