Pattaya Baht Bus Vehicle Passenger Safety

[junki3korean]

Better yet, build a light rail system and run it on the routes now used by the baht buses.

Hi,

Not a so bad idea,

and this idea is already in study by Pattaya City Hall as a Monorail.

See: http://www.pattayamail.com/794/news.shtml#hd1 (October 2008)

Hey! this was my idea! lol I would like to see a skytrain one day

[geriatrickid]

Right. A private company proposes a limited monorail system at 4 billion baht with 75% coming from bonds.

Unfortunately, no one is going to snap up the debt particularly when the city cannot finance other infrastructure projects. Where is the city supposed to come upp with 1 billion baht? From increased taxes?

Note the small paragraph in the article;

Mayor Itthipol said a world tourist destination such as Pattaya should have a mass transportation system of international standard. But in reality there are still many obstacles ahead, such as acquiring land, adjusting and moving buildings and businesses to accommodate the rail line.

As I wrote earlier, do you think people will give up land and buildings willingly? The expropriation process and the resulting protests would go on for 5 years. Look at the protests that happened over the buffer land taken for swampy, or when officials try to relocate markets.

[britmaveric]

I see all the power lines being a main problem - well suppose they could build over them. However think unless they level the place - baht bus will be the public transport til we see our end.

[Jingthing]

Some comments:

-- People who say always walk clearly do not live in Pattaya/Jomtien/Naklua. The distances are long and the sidewalks are quite often nonexistent or hazardous.

-- I am not so unrealistic as to advocate seat belts on baht buses. However, so many of you are HARD CORE FATALISTS. Do they put mai bpen rai powder in your Chang? It is not unreasonable to suggest that an organized public transport system have a basic minimum of safety standards enforced for all their buses. For example, overhead grab poles existing and not defective, rear barrier existing, backboard with grating intact, brakes in good repair, tires not bald, and probably some others (I am no mechanic). Yes, I am not so unrealistic as to expect this to happen anytime soon, or ever, but do raise the issue to put it out there.

-- I completely disagree that there are not enough potential passengers who would use a rapid mass transit option to replace most of the baht buses on the standard popular baht bus routes, if it was priced well. This is the most popular beach resort city in Asia and most tourists now use the baht buses. Of course, the logistics and cost factors are a major hurdle, perhaps making it impossible. As another poster pointed out, the current Pattaya mayor favors a skytrain. I prefer streetcars because they would have more potential stops and could probably be priced lower for riders. Cities all over the world are reaching for greener transport solutions. Europe is ahead of the curve, the US is well behind the curve, why shouldn't an emerging major city in Thailand also have efficient green transport solutions?

-- The personal attacks. Play amongst yourselves. :D I ignore you.

Edited May 23, 2009 by Jingthing

[Meg_2003]

Best thing to do, Jing, is note down the baht bus number when you have a bad experience so that you know not to use that particular bus again.

[Jingthing]

Best thing to do, Jing, is note down the baht bus number when you have a bad experience so that you know not to use that particular bus again.

Yeah, sure, okie dokie, roger ...

But the idea of this thread was to elevate the baht bus SAFETY ISSUE to a more macro level.

Here we have the baht buses organized by the Pattaya Baht Bus Collective, the same company that owns the bogus Pattaya No Meter Taxis, clearly sanctioned by Pattaya City Hall, clearly mixed up with some kind of nepotism/mafia/corruption what have you. And here is the transport system that the vast majority of INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS in the most popular beach resort city in Asia use to get around. And the buses are clearly UNSAFE and there are clearly NO SAFETY STANDARDS for the buses, not to mention standards for the drivers, many of whom are clearly psychopaths and/or ON DRUGS. Forget the expats like me. this is a scandal. Imagine if the Bangkok Skytrain or Bangkok subway didn't have basic safety standards for their equipment and operators. This is a TOTAL MONOPOLY, public transport system for an emerging big city, and there is something EXTREMELY ROTTEN going on here.