Pattaya Swaps Old ‘two Rows’ For Minibuses

[haha]

are you sure the proposed fares with the new buses are going to be 30 bht per trip? I think this bit of info needs to be confirmed.

according to the bangkok post, the average daily salary of a thai person is about 180 baht for someone living in bangkok, and about 140 for someone outside of bangkok.

..so, how is a thai person going to be able to afford this expense? ...how are they going to have enough money to eat?

that 30 baht fee per trip sounds incorrect. it must be a misprint.

..if for some reason, the 30 baht fee is true, I think I would just buy a bicycle to get around. pattaya from one end to the other end is only about 2 miles. piece of cake with a bicycle.

hey! that's an idea for a local thai person. ...open up a bicycle shop along beach road, and rent bicycles for like 30 baht a day. then, everybody will be happy. no gasoline bills to worry about, less pollution, people making money, people saving money. no traffic.

the only people who might be upset with this idea is the bus drivers. some sort of job retraining will need to be implemented to help them.

..just trying to be constructive.

my 2 cents.

[Donno]

If they want to improve the traffic flow and provide a tourist spectacle at the same time they should create a monorail there.

[Liverish]

great to see the back of them , they are so many jockeying for position on beach road near the pier , nothing else can get thru the jams. the entire area is snarled up .

they pick 1 or 2 pax and then go .

anything else has to be an improvment on those old jeepneys .

they have had their day . they pollute the whole area withfumes ..

i always rent a bike anyways so it means less traffic jams /.

minis buses make more sense .

maybe they will even be electric powered .

[CM451]

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.

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

We do? Where are these? Who refers to them as electric trams?

I've never seen one and I ride the fantastic city bus everyday..... is it Aprils fools day?

[george]

Pattaya to receive a new air-conditioned mini bus service

Mayor says project slated for the New Year

PATTAYA: -- In a recent interview, Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn spoke of a new project on the drawing board which would introduce a new air-conditioned mini bus for the city’s residents.

The mayor said, “Pattaya City made requests for central transportation and received 3 lines of transportation monopolies. There were announcements to the investment companies to invest in the minibus transport lines, and what came out of it was the Pattaya Beach Bus Co. Ltd. (PBB). Currently Pattaya has 3 traffic lines; the first line goes from Krathinglai Station – Sukhumvit – Jomtien – Thappraya Road –Chaiyamongkhol Temple crossroad – Pattaya Second Road – Dolphin roundabout – Pattaya – Naklua Road – Banglamung District Office – ending the cycle at Krathinglai Station.”

“The second line goes from Krathinglai Station – Sukhumvit Road – Thepprasit Road – Thappraya Road – Chaiyamongkhol Temple crossroad and continues this cycle. The third line goes from Krathinglai Station – Soi Phothisarn - Pattaya Naklua Road – Pattaya Beach Road, turns at Walking Street to Sukhumvit Road and continues this cycle. All three lines already have a monopoly on tourist travel. They use 24 buses; 18 buses with roofs and 6 others without roofs for tourists who love to see nature and partake in it. In the beginning the new line will have 2 buses for service available for handicapped people as well,” said Mayor Niran.

“Bus stops will have visible signs, unlit during the day and illuminated at night. We plan to introduce this as a New Year gift for the Pattaya City public. The service is expected to start around the end of December or at the beginning of January. The timetable planed is 6 a.m. – 1 a.m., but the company is still studying the fare. They have suggested issuing a one-day ticket, 15 day pass, 1 month pass, student pass, and officials’ pass. The company will discuss fixing the fare with Pattaya City when they have enough data,” the mayor said.

Further explaining the system, the mayor said the minibuses will have three colors; yellow, red and green, corresponding with each line. The company already has some idea of different attractive styles for Pattaya City. The Pattaya City Roads Department will be responsible for traffic flow before the minibuses start their service, such as providing shoulders on the roadside for bus stops to prevent traffic jams.

When reporters asked about the baht bus cooperative, Mayor Niran said that they had discussed the minibus service many times. In previous meetings they talked about traffic solutions. The president of the cooperative and its committee members acknowledged the lines will not interfere with their present routes and agreed that the minibus fare is higher as is the quality of service.

Niran said, “The increasing number of cars with limited space on roads will bring some problems. But the minibus has a fixed service time and won’t stop too long. The baht buses can continue to pass in the opposite direction, the same as before because the public still needs that kind of service. Right now we are studying one-way and two-way lines, but the results still need to be evaluated. For this service Pattaya City didn’t make any investments, we only applied the said monopoly, while a private company will take over that monopoly including all of its investments. If the company can manage to make a profit, they can continue running this service. Pattaya City must agree with the company on any income. Advertising will be a factor and the company and the city is consulting on this matter.”

The mayor reiterated that he hopes this minibus line could be in service by December 5 because it would be a good day to begin. However, if the company cannot meet this date they will try to implement the service in January which would be a great New Year gift for Pattaya’s public.

--Pattaya Mail 2004-10-08

[Coffee Dude]

Man!!! Compared to Samui those fares are almost free. The flag drop on a Taxi meter is 50 Baht and about 10 baht per Km after the first 2 Km. IF you can get them to turn it on. More typically they hit you with a number from the air for a trip for example 300 baht for what would be 100 Baht on the meter and you have to try and bargain down EVERY TIME!!! Last time I used one I had to stop 5 of them to get one that would turn his meter on, and that was because he had never done that particular trip with the meter and was curious as to how much it really cost. He asked for 200 then dropped to 150 before agreeing to use the meter which clicked to 102 Baht.

Song Theuw have no posted rates and most often over charge by 3-400%. Because they can get the unsuspecting tousrists to pay this it is difficult for the local people to get them to stop for them!!! And even if the regulated fairs were used they only apply until sunset.

900 Baht per month!!! That's about 9 short one way trips here.

We could use a bit of that... Graft or no Graft.

Coffee!!!

[Phil Conners]

Samui is obviously a rip off

[astral]

are you sure the proposed fares with the new buses are going to be 30 bht per trip? I think this bit of info needs to be confirmed.

That is way to high for a trip within Pattaya.

The blue bus on Sukhumvit that runs from Sattahip to Chonburi town,

costs 15-20 baht, Sri Racha - Pattaya (25km)

or 30 baht Sri Racha - Sattahip (40+km)

Note these buses are now aircon, but the fares have only gone up 3-5 baht as a consequence.

[bendejo]

The two-tier pricing system on the baht bus is quite demoralizing. Just when you begin to feel comfortable, nothing like being charged double to keep things in perspective.

I would think the idea of the new buses is for the middle-class tourist who shudders at the thought of riding in a pickup truck with a bench, and for who 30 baht is nothing.

[eyebee]

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.

The original poster didn't mean the red and white fare tables (which are in English), but the new fawn coloured ones (that are all in Thai - so farangs can't read them) that have been put up in the last couple of months. The fares on these go from about 4 baht up to 12 baht. As I can't read Thai I don't know what the routes they are referring to are. I'll have to take a photo of one and get a friend to translate...

[luvpump]

This will go the same way as the free bus service, the baht buses will not go out of business I am sure.

The mayors cousin or other relative will get the contract, the mayor will get his cut and then it will fizzle out when no one uses it.

The Mayor of pattaya is no different from toxin, look good line your pockets, its all popularist politics.

just my 5 bahts worth..