MRT for foreign seniors?

[Classic Ray]

I lost my ARL Elder card and they will not sell me a new one as I am not Thai. They even said they had no stock for Thais.

 

My MRT Elder card still works with the discounted fare.

[Drumbuie]

14 hours ago, Crossy said:

I had cause to use my MRT "Elder" card on Wednesday, and, for a change, checked the fare charged against what the ticket machines would want.

 

I am still getting the 50% discount 🙂 

 

I will continue using it until someone tells me to stop

 

Of course, I will avoid any contact with staff and top the card up at the ticket machines.

 

The staff don't care, at least the ones I've dealt with haven't. I've topped up several times since they changed the rules. 

 

Anyway, OP..... what's the fuss over a couple of hundred baht? It's not a lifechanging amount. 

 

[georgegeorgia]

On 12/18/2024 at 2:43 PM, Upnotover said:

I use my "Elder" card and still get the discount.  And I've topped it up since the new rules came in.  Maybe it'll just keep working until it, or I, expire.

Are you allowed?

[Upnotover]

8 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Are you allowed?

Yes why not?  I purchased the card based upon the terms in force at the time.  That they changed their terms subsequently only prevents me from buying a new card.

[suzannegoh]

On 12/18/2024 at 3:51 PM, impulse said:

 

Does that have to be a Thai bank card, or can it be a card from back home?

 

No it doesn' t need to be a Thai card, I use a Chase card from the US.  I've never seen any official documentation about this but Singapore uses that system so when I saw the wifi emblem on the Thai turnstile I gave it a go and it worked the same as in Singapore.   And since Chase is very good about reversing fraudulent charges (as required by US law) so I'm not especially worried about the security aspects of this.

[impulse]

20 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

No it doesn' t need to be a Thai card, I use a Chase card from the US.  I've never seen any official documentation about this but Singapore uses that system so when I saw the wifi emblem on the Thai turnstile I gave it a go and it worked the same as in Singapore.   And since Chase is very good about reversing fraudulent charges (as required by US law) so I'm not especially worried about the security aspects of this.

 

When you look at your account statements, are there any service charges added for pulling out your American plastic for a $0.76 charge in Thailand?  I'd be afraid the bank would tack on some horrendous fee.

 

[khunjeff]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

When you look at your account statements, are there any service charges added for pulling out your American plastic for a $0.76 charge in Thailand?  I'd be afraid the bank would tack on some horrendous fee.

 

That's entirely dependent on your individual bank and its policies, so other people's experiences won't tell you what might happen in your particular case. If your card has no foreign transaction fees, there shouldn't be any additional charge.

[connda]

Thank God Buddha I don't live in BKK. 

[suzannegoh]

5 hours ago, impulse said:

 

When you look at your account statements, are there any service charges added for pulling out your American plastic for a $0.76 charge in Thailand?  I'd be afraid the bank would tack on some horrendous fee.

 

No, but you should test out your cards first - maybe by charging a candy bar at a Tops Daily - to make sure.   Chase offers several credit cards that have no international transactions fees, use very close to the Interbank exchange rate on purchases, and give a kickback of 1 to 3% in rewards points or cash to boot. 

[suzannegoh]

On 12/18/2024 at 3:47 PM, HermesHermes said:

Thanks. I am skeptical of using bank cards any more than I have to.

If you’re worried about your card numbers being stolen, a work around is to put you card into the GPay (Google Pay) app and then swipe the turnstile with your phone instead of with your card.  What GPay does to improve security is that instead of transmitting your real card number it generates a temporary number which is an alias for your real card number but it’s good for only one translaction.