Pattaya Swaps Old ‘two Rows’ For Minibuses

[george]

Pattaya swaps old ‘two rows’ for minibuses

PATTAYA: -- Pattaya is to do away with its traditional 'song thaew' buses and switch to modern minibuses in a move designed to ensure a faster flow of traffic through this tourist resort in Thailand's eastern province of Chonburi.

Tourists who once had to endure cramped conditions in the 'song thaew' buses--named so because of their two rows of seating--will, from now on, be treated to more spacious vehicles, thanks to an initiative by Pattaya Mayor Narin Wattanasatsathorn.

Yesterday Mr. Narin said that a private sector company had already submitted its plans to replace the traditional vehicles with 16 air-conditioned 30-seater minibuses, six open-air minibuses and two buses specially designed for the disabled.

The new vehicles, said to be luxuriously decked out, will cost Bt30 for a single trip.

Also available will be daily travelcards for Bt90, three-day travelcards for Bt180, and monthly travelcards for Bt900.

Mr. Narin said that he expected the new service to commence at the end of December.

-- TNA 2004-10-06

[Darknight]

so does this mean , more busses and the bath bus goes away? Or the old bath busses still stink up the place and prohibit the new one from driving

[Martin_F]

so does this mean , more busses and the bath bus goes away? Or the old bath busses still stink up the place and prohibit the new one from driving

What do you think?

Also, I wonder if the anti graft squad is investigating the deal.

[Doi Thong]

Probabaly the private company that provide the new buses belongs to some uncle or relative of the mayor..and 30 baht instead of 10? If the one travel just few soi on second road I believe it's expensive.One conclusion: I will use rent car in Pattaya like I did all the times before...

[Up2U]

Probabaly the private company that provide the new buses belongs to some uncle or relative of the mayor..and 30 baht instead of 10? If the one travel just few soi on second road I believe it's expensive.One conclusion: I will use rent car in Pattaya like I did all the times before...

What do you mean - 30 baht instead of 10? The vast majority of Sawng Thaew riders are Thais and only pay 5 baht. There have allready been 'experiments' with these minibuses in April / May. Unsuccessful.

How many passengers in total on these buses? I believe there are around 600 'baht buses' active 24-hours in Pattaya. No chance of this measly set of minibuses coping with that amount of traffic.

They'll wind up being farang-oriented on the main drags, causing even more chaos than at present. (But i'm thinking of buying a few tuk-tuk's, just-in-case )

[jaapfries]

This, for once, surprises me, because it tops all the stupid things I have encountered in my 12 years in this Kingdom.

This is just another "abortion" waiting to happen. Why can't we just have a nice little system of these Daihatsu-type mini vans (capable of taking up to 4 paxes) like they have in Phuket and some parts of Bangkok. Running on some type of LPG gas, no stink; no noise; no big empty vehicle-bodies cluttering the already overfull streets of Pattaya and maintan the 5 Bt / 10 Bt pricing strategy ? !

[britmaveric]

This will probably go the same way the 40 pax coaches went...

[kippers]

I can really see this this working well, 20 odd minivans replacing more than 4,000 registed baht buses.

They are a pain in the arse if you don't use them and are a motorist, but if you are a tourist they provide a good cheap way to get around.

It's necessary evil.

Another Pattaya mayor who wants to solve the worlds problems, probably to the benefit of one of his relatives..............what a joke.

[GuestHouse]

Baht busses come in for a lot of flack, some of which they deserve but much of which neglects the truth that they are cheap, convenient (both in terms of availability and access/egress).

The proposal suggests a move to a new vehicle without addressing the actual problem which is over supply of the Bht busses.

Total <deleted>.

My guess is that someone in the decision chain has 'friendly relations' with the prospective supplier of the new minibusses.

TIT again!

[Artisan]

I can really see this this working well, 20 odd minivans replacing more than 4,000 registed baht buses.

They are a pain in the arse if you don't use them and are a motorist, but if you are a tourist they provide a good cheap way to get around.

It's necessary evil.

Another Pattaya mayor who wants to solve the worlds problems, probably to the benefit of one of his relatives..............what a joke.

I agree completely. The baht buses in Pattaya serve the community extremely well, despite the 'co-operative' receiving bad press because of the attitude of a minority of the baht bus drivers. In this new 'initiative', how will a driver of a 30-seater minibus respond to a request to carry a single passenger to the other side of the Sukhumvit Road......"O.K. no pombrem, 900 baht krap".

Pattaya construction projects dominate the city. Sadly, and foolishly, the local authority is giving no thought to the infrastucture to support the increase in property. Try parking, try crossing 2nd Road...to do both easily, it's necessary to wait until after 3 a.m.

As I have said before on this Forum, nobody in authority here gives a toss. This is just another hair-brained scheme by someone who doesn't think through the issue enough.

[Xeque]

There's nothing wrong with the Baht Buses - there's just too many of them.

All that is required is some properly enforced licencing and regulation rather than the free-for-all that seems to exist today.

Licencing and regulation can include MOT checks to take the older and fume belching vehicles off the road. Strict licencing quotas could reduce the numbers and the congestion particularly on Beach Road.

Spend half an hour at any time of day and count how many empty or near empty Baht Buses pass you by. Like I said - there's just too many of them.

[Phil Conners]

30 bt per trip? They are dreaming. No, we need normal metered taxi service just like in Bangkok.

[astral]

Don't hold you breath.

We have nice new buses in Sri Racha

but the old Song Thaews still ply their trade.

I cannot see an open air minibus getting much trade,

too hot half the year and too wet the other half.

Edited October 6, 2004 by astral

[Foggy Bottom]

In Chiangmai we have a form of open sided , and closed sided, midi-bus referred to as electric trams

Quick entry & exit, plus cheap enough to run on the same price structure as the songthaews - why have they not been considered for somewhere like Pattaya

Also why not a mini railway (with steam engine?) up and down the promenade?

Lots of tourist friendly / attracting alternatives could have been considered - definately seems some form of graft was involved in the decision.

[stumonster]

as some other posters have pointed out, there just needs to be less of the song taew's.

how are people going to get in and out of mini buses with bags and suitcases?

[madmitch]

To do away with the songthaews would mean something like four thousand job losses! It won't happen. The two services will run alongside each other, I am sure. Agree with all the posters stating that there are too many baht buses. The most annoying trait: when the driver stops to pick you up when you are actually trying to cross the road, causing you to miss the elusive gap in the traffic!

[mtsanford]

It's truly mind boggling how many 'solutions' have been tried, all of them awful.

The reason there are way too many baht busses is that the price of 10 baht (for farang) is too high. Have you ever notived that at any given time maybe half of them are empty, and lots of others have just a few people? It's simple supply and demand, and when you fix the price too high you get a surplus. Go anywhere else in Thailand and the fare is not this high. A high fare makes it so a driver doesn't have to have very many people in his bus in a day to make a good daily wage.

** If Pattaya is serious about reducing te traffic caused by the excess baht busses, all they have to do is set the prive at a reasonable 5 baht. **

One has to think the authorities understand this but are pretending not to. The problem is the company that owns all the songtaews will fight tooth and nail to keep the status quo. If all the sudden the fare goes down, fewer drivers will be renting songtaews, profits go down. And perhaps payoffs to transit authories go down? The owners should be able to sell off these busses though to other companies in other cities.

[mtsanford]

** If Pattaya is serious about reducing te traffic caused by the excess baht busses, all they have to do is set the prive at a reasonable 5 baht. **

Actually, now that I think of it... last time I was in pattaya about 6 weeks ago, it looked like they had new fare tables put up in at least some of the songtaews, specifying the correct fare to pay between two places, and most trips came to about 5 baht. I don't remember though if these tables were in English or not. Anybody know the current status of those fare tables?

[davethailand]

I'll bet it does'nt happen (it better not because i advertise on 70 buses ) there will be an all mighty uproar from the baht buses.

The mayor has'nt got the power or influence to do it.

[davethailand]

the nice shiny new coach company will have burnt out wrecks in the first day. GUARANTEED

[PD0NVJ]

the nice shiny new coach company will have burnt out wrecks in the first day. GUARANTEED

I don't think so.

We are planning to buy another 150 busses an take over the business

And the fire won't happen qause the owner of the "song taew" business will die, shot by a motorcyclist after finishing his last evening meal

Oh no it is Pataya i guess he wil commit suïcide by jumping out of his window on the 5th floor

[noBuzz]

Stupidity at its finest

They'll add nicely to the polution.

[medicinebox]

It's simple supply and demand, and when you fix the price too high you get a surplus. Go anywhere else in Thailand and the fare is not this high.

A baht bus in Samui will cost you 40bht to go part way along Chaweng beach road.

If they could get away with it in Pattaya I'm sure they would put the prices up accross the board.

Apart from there being too many on the roads, at least it kinda keeps the price down, so maybe its not a bad thing.

Are there really 4000 registered bht buses in Pattaya???

[Trevor]

Pattaya's songtaew drivers are real fcukheads. Baht 10 for farang but Baht 5 for your Thai friend. Outrageous discrimination! They even refuse to take a polite, Thai-speaking farang for Baht 5 after taking the trouble to stop -- talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! Even Baht 5 goes against the fare table in the back which starts at Baht 4 for the vast majority of trips, rising to Baht 20 maximum. Some drivers will even charge your Thai girl Baht 10 just because she's with you. And when it rains the fare goes up to Baht 20 per person for short trips.

How I hate Pattaya, and everywhere the <deleted> Thai have been over-exposed to foreign tourists! I think the fairest city is Hat Yai where microvan "tuk-tuk" songtaews charge a flat Baht 10 for ALL, which doubles after midnight -- fair enough.

[chanchao]

> The most annoying trait: when the driver stops to pick you up

> when you are actually trying to cross the road, causing you to

> miss the elusive gap in the traffic!

Soon you will learn to use this to your advantage, and CREATE that gap in traffic where previously none existed...! (by pretending you want to grab a baht bus)

And 5 baht really is quite low for such a developed place in that region of Thailand. Chiang Mai is also 10 baht for most distances. Chiang Mai also has an airconditioned mid-sizes bus line (same type as the Sri Racha one pictured in a previous post) but they cost a very fair 10 baht no matter the distance. They even pass CNX airport, as well as pretty much any place in town where a tourist would want to go. Excellent service.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[Up2U]

** If Pattaya is serious about reducing te traffic caused by the excess baht busses, all they have to do is set the prive at a reasonable 5 baht. **

Actually, now that I think of it... last time I was in pattaya about 6 weeks ago, it looked like they had new fare tables put up in at least some of the songtaews, specifying the correct fare to pay between two places, and most trips came to about 5 baht. I don't remember though if these tables were in English or not. Anybody know the current status of those fare tables?

The fare tables have been up for a long time now - but refer to journeys off the recognised routes (i.e. private hire) these are for groups of up to five people and vary from about 50 baht for local journeys to 150 baht for Pattaya Nua to Jomtien.

With my wife and daughter, on a normal trip, we pay 15 baht - 10 for me, 5 for my wife, nothing for my seven-year-old. What would we pay on these new buses - assuming they operated down Pattaya Tai, along Second Road / down Pattaya Tai / Thepprasit / Jomtien Beach? 30 + 30 + ??. Sorry, but the Thais will never accept this rampant robbery by the new (TRT) mayor.

[Up2U]

I'll bet it does'nt happen (it better not because i advertise on 70 buses ) there will be an all mighty uproar from the baht buses.

The mayor has'nt got the power or influence to do it.

Do you mean you advertise on 70 buses, or that there are 70 adverts on baht buses?

I saw three of your adverts on one baht bus the other day - two next to each other. Fortunately there was a pretty girl sitting under them, so I didn't read all the text

[Zoltan]

Its very annoying when they stop and honk when you are just trying to cross the road but i think the system works very well in general. There is never any waiting for a ride and ten Baht isnt going to break anyone. I see they did mention some buses for the disabled which is nice.. but other than that they should leave the system alone in my view.

[Gleen_tea]

Pattaya songtaews are nothing but a pain in the neck. After 10 years in Thailand and numerous visits to Pattaya, I have yet to meet an honest songtaew in Pattaya. If I'm visiting Pattaya, most of the time I prefer walking.

30 baht a ride for this new service seems a little high. But is 5 baht really too low for a songtaew ride? When I take the songtaew from my place on Sathorn road (soi Suanplu), down to Lumpini Park, it's 3 baht (5 baht after 10 pm, if my memory serves me right), and no, they never try to ask me for more than 3...

[wokkawombat]

I am currently in Udon Thani. The Baht Bus system here works on routes. All the busses have a route number painted on the front and rear, they stick to the set route, the route numbers are shown on a map and the price within the city (inside the ring road) is 5 baht whether you are Thai or falang. The drivers smile and automatically give you the correct change every time.

Wokka