Better idea. Avoid any physical contact with the driver. QUICKLY drop the coin in his hand, don't touch the hand, drop it in, and quickly move your arm away.

Very good advice from Jingthing.

it's not a flame but my personal view which i air and repeat whenever i please (unless i violate forum rules and moderators stop me from doing so). "trying to pay the correct fare in a fluid vague system"... my àss! some ignorants who bitch about the "mafia" seem to forget that fuel was 7.50 Baht a liter TWENTY years ago (how much is fuel now for the mafioso's car or a bowl of rice now for the mafioso's children?) whereas the asked and "fluid" fares have hardly changed.

I have heard this talk of fuel price increases on many a thread about baht buses. The fact is I have seen baht buses filling their tanks at LPG stations--the price of LPG and other alternative fuels is regulated and has not changed nearly as much as gasoline/petrol.

it's not a flame but my personal view which i air and repeat whenever i please (unless i violate forum rules and moderators stop me from doing so). "trying to pay the correct fare in a fluid vague system"... my àss! some ignorants who bitch about the "mafia" seem to forget that fuel was 7.50 Baht a liter TWENTY years ago (how much is fuel now for the mafioso's car or a bowl of rice now for the mafioso's children?) whereas the asked and "fluid" fares have hardly changed.

I have heard this talk of fuel price increases on many a thread about baht buses. The fact is I have seen baht buses filling their tanks at LPG stations--the price of LPG and other alternative fuels is regulated and has not changed nearly as much as gasoline/petrol.

Yep, not many baht buses run on regular fuel so the price of petrol or diesel is meaningless. Even the pretend taxis run on gas. So before we chart the price of fuel over the years, lets go find out the price per km and compare that. Obviously, compare new buses because if the driver does not want to invest in his own business, he should not get extra cash for poor fuel economy in his rusty old jalopy.

I crunched the numbers a few years ago and the result (I'll see if I can find the spreadsheet) was quite enlightening. For minimal investment (they can hire the bus to start or financing is cheap) an uneducated man who cannot speak the language of perhaps 50% of his customers can a earn far greater income, through rather menial employment, essentially driving a pick up truck, than he could by just about other job he could undertake. It may well be the best income proposition for him that he can ever achieve, far above a salaried position.

And then we have the whole economics theory, proven the world over, that if it was such a poorly paid and shitty job, then no-one would want to do it. The seemingly ever increasing number of baht bus numbers would seem to show that the exact opposite is te and all this is with current Bt5/10 fares. Thus, there is no need to increase any fares.

it's not a flame but my personal view which i air and repeat whenever i please (unless i violate forum rules and moderators stop me from doing so). "trying to pay the correct fare in a fluid vague system"... my àss! some ignorants who bitch about the "mafia" seem to forget that fuel was 7.50 Baht a liter TWENTY years ago (how much is fuel now for the mafioso's car or a bowl of rice now for the mafioso's children?) whereas the asked and "fluid" fares have hardly changed.

I have heard this talk of fuel price increases on many a thread about baht buses. The fact is I have seen baht buses filling their tanks at LPG stations--the price of LPG and other alternative fuels is regulated and has not changed nearly as much as gasoline/petrol.

let's forget the fuel. are there no other expenses a baht bus driver and his family has to pay for which are the same as they were 20 years ago. did anyone of you work for 20 years without getting a raise? is Thailand located in a parallel universe where inflation does not exist? the fact is that i am reading in this (and other baht bus threads) a load of <snip> presented by either obvious ignorants or disgruntled Farangs who's favourite pastime is to make derogatory comments and paint a negative picture of Thailand or anything thai.

Edited December 28, 200916 yr by raro
took some oil out of the fire

"Reason for edit: took some oil out of the fire"

accepted!