Baht Buses

[surayu]

Spuey, i am glad you had just good experiences, however please allow me to remind you that you might not be immune by those random events, i mean drivers all of a sudden going to the wrong way, refusing to stop and only let you get off in places where people should not walk, asking you for 10 or 20 times what you expect to pay, grabbing your harm while you are giving him money to get more money from you, try to run you over, stopping only to quickly speed away while you try to get on the bus, believe me the list is very long but i guess that might be enough for the time being....hope you understand now, all the best

I go to Pattaya every few months and have NEVER had these things happen to me or anyone I know in many years. You are way over-exaggerating.

Yes, but you don't LIVE here and use them most every day:

i mean drivers all of a sudden going to the wrong way CHECK

refusing to stop and only let you get off in places where people should not walk CHECK (common)

asking you for 10 or 20 times what you expect to pay NO, but I have seen it happen to tourists

grabbing your harm while you are giving him money to get more money from you CHECK

try to run you over NO

stopping only to quickly speed away while you try to get on the bus CHECK

I can confirm the 20 times charge by first hand as i was the one being asked for it, however i didn't pay it, not my fault if i don't look exactly like a thai person, i went on front of the baht bus to take a good picture of the number plate and driver and he just pushed his foot on the gas pedal, i went to the bus baht cooperative to ask about all this and the sticker sign from a ministry showing official fares inside the bus, the boss told me it was no longer a valid sign, i went to the police and they could not be bothered, even the farang police translator dismissed the case because with " do you think that's expansive?" yes you right! it would be a great service if they were following the law, but they don't.....

[Ulysses G.]

What can i say? maybe have a "reality check" of some sort? i don't know.....but i would just repeat myself by saying that just because it never happen to you before, it doesn't mean it's never going to happen to you....you know what i mean? good luck my man

Yes, but if it did happen once or twice, there would be all the 1000's of times that I did not have a problem. I'm not saying that you should not get upset when it does happen, but don't tar all these guys with the bad brush.

[IanForbes]

It is like a predator prey equilibrium problem. There are not that many opportunities to make money in Thailand. Unfortunately, they over do it and everybody rushes to the same side of the boat. Just look at all the little travel agencies, travel booths, etc.. all marketing the same thing. If there were less, the tourists would still get what they needed. Same for the baht bus. A few hundred less would hardly make a difference in the level of service, but it won't happen. Same for the shopping malls. Can't see much more need in Pattaya after Big C and Mike's and Garden Mall, especially with Tesco, and Carre Four around. How about the little massage places? Have never seen a waiting line yet with so many around.

My thoughts exactly. One thing I've noticed in Thailand is a distinct lack of originality. If one business seems to be making a decent living then there will be a dozen imitators starting up right nearby a short time later. Why not choose another location and deal with different clientel rather than trying to compete with an established business?

In Thailand there seems to be an over abundance of massage parlours with few if any customers. Because there are so many parlours then nobody makes enough money to earn a decent living. There seems to be someone selling cel phones on every block, and yet the cel phones are exactly the same make and model. The hundreds of luggage and clothing stores sell EXACTLY THE SAME PRODUCTS! There are cafes and restaurants everywhere, but only a few that are full of customers. The ones that ALWAYS seem to be full usually have great food at prices that are much cheaper than elsewhere.

I see both sides to the baht bus issue, but a little regulation might be better for everyone. Why sit around waiting for customers when you could be doing something constructive elsewhere during the slack periods?

[Jingthing]

Another cultural reason there is so much duplication of businesses in Thailand is that there is a strong cultural bias to stay LOCAL. Remember, Thais mostly don't like to WALK anywhere. So each neighborhood has as much of everything as possible. That could be projected to the baht buses. Their greatest feature is that on the routes they do run there is a constant stream. Most times very little or no waiting. Compare that the western public transport and the contrast is dramatic.

Case in point to the LOCAL bias of at least poorer Thais. Many, many times casually talking to Thais in Pattaya and I tell them I live in Jomtien, their response is "That's so far!"

Edited April 4, 2009 by Jingthing

[thaiman]

there are 700 hundred baht buses in pattaya dont you all think this is way to much for such a small area,if they reduce to say 300 there would be still plenty and

Pattaya without the baht bus wouldn't be Pattaya! Shall they halve the number of girls too?