Baht Buses Lower Fares To Five Baht

[Kerryd]

I was joking with a Thai (female) friend in October, something to do with a 5 baht coin. I gave it to her and told her she could use it for taxi fare. She told me that taxi cost 10 baht (even when travelling alone).

I was a bit surprised to hear that, as I thought Thais, travelling alone or with other Thais, only paid 5 baht. She shook her head and said no, she has to pay 10.

I do agree it would be nice if they were to expand their routes a bit (quite a bit). I haven't done it too often, but a couple of times I've stood on #3 Road and had to wait for ages to flag down a bus. I hardly ever see them on South/Central/North Pattaya roads. A few on the Jomtien route, but primarily it seems most of them are clustered on the #2 Road/Beach Road circuit.

I would imagine it has to do primarily 2 things. A greater concentration of tourists in that area, and greater chances of picking up better (or higher paying) fares.

I'm sure that if the demand was there, baht buses would be there as well. There should be some going up and down Soi Bhukhao on a regular basis too (more often than I normally notice them at least, except on market days when they plug the road both ways on the Pattaya Tai end).

So it doesn't appear the the baht bus boycott is having too much effect on them (yet).

[ThaiBob]

Could someone please post the link to the OP's copy and paste post. I have not seen this "news" in any of Pattaya's on-line news sources.

[Jingthing]

Could someone please post the link to the OP's copy and paste post. I have not seen this "news" in any of Pattaya's on-line news sources.

It is clearly NOT REAL. I can't believe anyone (especially locals) fell for it!

[BarryM]

From The Pattaya Times Magazine

December 6, 2008

In a surprise move, Khun Somsak Kapraew, head of the Pattaya Baht Bus Consortium, announced that fares for one-way baht bus rides have been reduced to five baht instead of the usual ten baht. Said Khun Somsak:

"Because of both the economic and political situations in Thailand, our drivers voted overwhelmingly to reduce the fares at our last meeting."

When asked if the huge drop in oil prices was a factor in the decision, Khun Somsak said:

"It certainly helped, but the fact is that our drivers see themselves as public servants and they really want to do their part to try to help out those who are suffering in these trying times."

The drivers also voted to expand their service area to cover more of Pattaya, to adhere more strictly to the traffic laws and to charge the same price for all customers, regardless of age, gender or race.

The mayor of Pattaya, when asked for comment, said:

"I am very pleased with this announcement. I want to congratulate the Baht Bus Consortium for helping to make Pattaya even more attractive to all, both residents and visitors."

This is a wind up right?

[Jingthing]

What do you think?

[BarryM]

What do you think?

I gave up thinking when I moved here. Adapting to local culture and all that.

[Rinrada]

The baht bus system is one of the most interesting and efficient public transport systems I've encountered. 5 baht, 10 baht, dont care.

What I would like to see is a bit more padding on the benches, and possibly that the m*fia start converting the bus fleet into battery powered vehicles.

Maybe some enterprising driver could also fit a little bar in the back and sell beer and a packets of nuts on the RUN round the houses.

Also perchance a 32 in LCD with Video player and even a wee go go stage ...should keep the toorists happy and they might even forget to get off the thing ....5 bt-10bt-15bt-20 bt........255bt..............

[surayu]

And might this affect the cost of the ride from Jomtien to the Bus Station? How do people "negotiate" THIS ride? It always seems to ruin what has otherwise been a nice stay for me!

Well, this is my personal experience when i took one of these buses from Jomtien to Naklua a few weeks ago:

the driver stop and i asked if he was going toward Naklua, he said yes, i then joined other 4 people already on the bus, lots of stops in between and many other people jumping in and out, once arrived to my stop (the bus still had 2 more customers on it) i gave the driver 20baht (me + gf), the old driver replied to me very annoied, he wanted 100baht, i have been struggling there about 10 minutes and after many arguments i took a picture of him and his number plate (because the A4 driver ID they put at the back was just a piece of white paper with nothing written on it, just his picture....) and gave him 60baht, i then went to the local police station to report him in Beach Rd, my gf explained to an officer( he had at least 2 stars on his shoulders) what happened but he refused to speak with me a single word of english and called their interpreter, Josh, that basically say to me that it was a fair price and it's not 10 baht each because i "spoken to the driver" before to get in and "...do you think 100 baht is too much in Pattaya?" not happy with his explanation i went to a second police station at the beginning of Walking Street but nobody was there, just an open police small building with a pc inside, on my way home i try also the other police station at the beginning of Jomtien were the 2 officers still say that 100baht was ok, nevermind the thai law that mention the fare should not be more then 10 baht per person (unless you hire the whole bus, so no stops in between with other people joining in), they just didn't want to take into consideration this. The following day i went to the bus cooperative to get some more explanations, as this sticker i read on one of the bus about this law was mentioning to them in case of complaints, their boss told me that the correct fare should have been that 60baht and that law was referring to the previous year and was now out of date, promising to replace all the old stickers with an updated one this month(December), they then traked the number plate on one of their books and called in the old driver in, it doesn't seems they have taken any other action, i am just wondering if this department of land transportation which issued the law are aware on how the local police couldn't be bothered about it at all......(i don't think it was "expired" as i have been told), however if before i was quite happy to use the local service, from now on i don't think i will ever use them again, too many troubles and the problem is not in the fare itself (obviously), i was quite happy to pay much more then that if it was clear from the beginning, just that feeling to being ripped off while maybe everyone else is paying the agreed fare, why it should be so difficult for these people to stick to rules? i don't think anybody likes to purchase something not knowing how much it would cost, isn't?

[Jingthing]

surayu:

It is often a problem if you do speak to a driver. Sometimes you can quickly ask for example bpai Big C mai to confirm the bus won't be turning at Pattaya Klang (are you going to Big C) and be treated as a bus passenger and sometimes they will take you for a tourist ready to be fleeced if you say word one. The driver, if he was going to charge you as a charter SHOULD HAVE quoted you the price he was planning to charge. Obviously he didn't. But overall there was a misunderstanding of the unwritten rules of the system.

BTW, it would matter WHERE in Jomtien you picked up the bus and WHERE in Naklua you got off. Did you get off at Dolphin statue or go deep into Naklua? As a bus (not talking to driver) a farang traveling from inner Jomtien police box to the Dolphin will usually be expected to pay 20 baht though sometimes 10 baht would be accepted. Stopping at Pattaya Klang, 10 baht is standard. Now if you traveled from far out Jomtien to deep into Naklua AND talked to the driver, what happened to you (as a farang) is totally predictable. Sorry. You could have avoided it by just hopping buses without asking and you would have probably got as far as the Dolphins for 10 or 20 baht, and then from there catch another Naklua bus.

Simple rule of thumb though: if you look like a tourist AND talk to the driver, you just hired a charter taxi and it doesn't matter if they pick up other passengers.

Edited December 14, 2008 by Jingthing