Crackdown On Pattaya Baht Bus Drivers?

[george]

Baht bus drivers violating traffic laws

PATTAYA: -- Over 300 of Pattaya’s finest met at the Day Night Hotel on June 15 for the Pattaya police department’s monthly meeting. Pol Col Somnuk Changate, Pattaya superintendent, addressed a number of issues during the proceedings.

“Officers must focus and carry out orders and polices of the National Police Bureau,” said Somnuk. “This means crime prevention in all its aspects. We fight the criminal element eye-to-eye and tooth-to-tooth, especially over the drugs menace. We must also assist residents and help ensure they are safe from crime.”

Pol Lt Col Chanwat Nuanluk, deputy police superintendent in charge of the criminal investigation department and Pol Col Somnuk Changate, Pattaya superintendent.

Somnuk said that each department must aim to serve the public and ensure that those who break the law are detained, especially concerning traffic violations among the baht bus drivers in Pattaya.

“They frequently break traffic laws and officers must act accordingly and fine them for violations,” said the Pattaya superintendent. “Those who commit more serious offences must face the court system. We cannot allow them to continue and action must be taken equally and without feeling any obligation of letting them off. There must be a line that cannot be crossed.”

Deputy superintendents also addressed officers on furthering ongoing criminal investigations. When officers arrive at a crime scene they must collect as much evidence as possible and request forensic officers to investigate where needed. As for current cases still in progress local senior police urged subordinates to hunt down criminals still at large. It is important to conclude as many cases as possible leading to the arrest and court appearances of the offenders.

The other main topic raised was that police are ordered not to moonlight for bars at any cost.

--Pattaya Mail 2005-06-24

[TizMe]

My pet hate with these buses is that they always stop in the middle of intersections to let passengers on and off. Just an ounce of courtesy and they would move 5 metres so that they don't block traffic.

C'mon Boys in Brown... Do your stuff.

[Humphrey Bear]

So soon the baht bus drivers will not be able to stop to pick up passengers because it is an offence to double=park, or an offence to stop on that side of the road on even days, or an offence to obstruct traffic, or ..........

And the BiB will be richer - everyone else walking.

[bartender100]

I noticed they are putting up large "bus stop" signs all over Pattaya and Jomtiem.Some of them very low out over the pavement,watch out you 6 footers.

[edh]

Pay 10 and walk home? Just a thought....

[Merlin]

[...snip]

Just an ounce of courtesy and they would move 5 metres so that they don't block traffic.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"an ounce of courtesy" and "baht bus driver" - - two mutually exclusive terms...

[snoophound]

Noticed the cops at bottom of walking street moving them from stopping,picking up on the corner.Good Idea.

Some things they need to do.

1.Provide strategic baht bus stops....get rid of those motorcycle rentals clogging the roads,for a start.

2.Disable all Bahtbus horns....we can see them!

3.Ban free flow exhausts on Diesel pwered vehicles.

4.Ensure they have to service regularly.

5.Enforce licensing and fares properly.

[...snip]

Just an ounce of courtesy and they would move 5 metres so that they don't block traffic.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"an ounce of courtesy" and "baht bus driver" - - two mutually exclusive terms...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Thaiquila]

Disabling the horns is a great idea!

However, it is not practical because of the problem of too many drivers and the need to hustle up riders.

[Jai Dee]

1.Provide strategic baht bus stops....

It's not only the provision of bus stops, but the enforcement of busses using them and the deterrent of other people using them.

For example, outside Carrefour on Pattaya Klang, there is a slipway completed with yellow and white banded kerb markings for busses to use.

Do they use them? No, beacuse the taxi motocyc mafia park in it, so the baht busses have to stop in the street and disrupt traffic.

I thinks it's great to hear that the BIB are going to have a crackdown on the traffic violations among the baht bus drivers... but I fear it is just lip service. The BIB efforts and presence in Pattaya, especially in the areas of traffic control and monitoring, is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle.

[WhiteShiva]

The other main topic raised was that police are ordered not to moonlight for bars at any cost.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"At any cost" - or should that be "price" ???

priceless!

[Kerryd]

The other main topic raised was that police are ordered not to moonlight for bars at any cost.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"At any cost" - or should that be "price" ???

priceless!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, there should be a set minimum wage in place, otherwise they will all be undercutting each other.

[edh]

I think just reducing them by half would work (where in the world are you asking for this ) Other half only to respond by telephone?

[Humphrey Bear]

You're all looking at this from a farang point-of-view.

The baht-buses basically serve the local community, which is (naturally) prediminantly Thai. And when a Thai housewife has been shopping she wants the bus to stop as near as possible to where she needs to get off. If she's paying a hard-earned five baht, she wants convenience.

It is the farang who wants things to work as if in his own country.

Leave the baht buses - and many other things that readers gripe about - alone. Let them work in the Thai way, for Thais, and be thankful that you are allowed to use them. It took the Southern states of America a hundred years after the emancipation of slaves to allow blacks to sit where they liked in a bus - and this in their own country. It took the South Africans just as long. Yes, I know apartheid was a post-WWII phenomenon, but it was built in to the culture and psyche for a hundred years before that.

[Jai Dee]

You're all looking at this from a farang point-of-view.

The baht-buses basically serve the local community, which is (naturally) prediminantly Thai. And when a Thai housewife has been shopping she wants the bus to stop as near as possible to where she needs to get off. If she's paying a hard-earned five baht, she wants convenience.

It is the farang who wants things to work as if in his own country.

Leave the baht buses - and many other things that readers gripe about - alone. Let them work in the Thai way, for Thais, and be thankful that you are allowed to use them.

This is not strictly correct Humf... the Thais I know who live and work in Pattaya (including my missus) complain all the time about the baht busses and their ripoffs. Many a time the songtheow will simply stop and tell their Thai customer(s) to get off in favour of picking up a group of falungs.

I saw it myself 2 nights ago... at the intersection of Second Road and Pattaya Klang... I was sitting in the right hand lane, waiting for the lights to change so I could turn right... a songtheow was in the lane next to me with 2 school kids in uniform sitting it the back, boys, probably about 10 years old... the driver had spotted a group of falungs waiting around the corner in Pattaya Klang, so he got out of the cabin and went around the back and gestured to the boys in the back that he was going to turn right and they were to get out. They did, but no money was handed over... the driver then cut across in front of all the vehicles in the right hand lane, jumped the lights, and pulled up to collect the falungs.

In my experience, the only baht busses the Thais want to use are the white government controlled ones that trundle up Sukhumvit between Sattahip, Pattaya, and Sri Ratcha. All the others are considered rip-offs. The Thais will use them if they must... and always choose a full one, that way they have safety in numbers and the driver cannot kick them off.

No offense, but instead of bleating about us all looking at this from a falung viewpoint, maybe you should find out more about the Thai point of view...

[Pattaya_Fox]

Come on this is Thailand...it`s not a perfect world is it.

I agree that some baht bus drivers will do these things on occasions...but not only to Thais but to farangs as well....if the driver feels he can make a few more baht by changing the route which people think that he/she is going to go down then the route changes.

The point is that overall the system works, as we see hundreds if not thousands of Thais using the system which gets them from A to B at a reasonable cost with the convenience of not having fixed bus stops and therefore reducing the physical effort of walking too far.

There will never be a perfect system but this one works for the majority of journeys.

So... if it aint broke....don`t fix it.

[Jai Dee]

Come on this is Thailand...it`s not a perfect world is it.

Fair enough... we all have to make some kind of adaptation.

But we've drifted off-topic... this was the issue that concerns me more:

Somnuk said that each department must aim to serve the public and ensure that those who break the law are detained, especially concerning traffic violations among the baht bus drivers in Pattaya.

I wonder when this crackdown is going to start?

There were plenty of baht bus traffic violations going on all over town last night... as usual...

[snoophound]

Well we nearly came to grief last night

The Missus had had a few Black and COKES.

About midnight we left lucifers,went to walking st to get song kiew to soi 13 .

quote ws 80 baht (vs 20)

The missus was mao ,chak chaked the driver in several unprintable dialects all the way up the road.

As you know you can walk faster in that area.

Driver stopped ,got out of his car and menacingly said what her problem.

I tried to be polite,but those of you who know a thai female with a skinful and in the right is something not to be reckoned with.

Anyway it nearly got ugly.

She maintains she is right,and is embarrassed for being thai.(shes and aussie now).

Me in dogbox for being nice to driver and diffusing.

Come on this is Thailand...it`s not a perfect world is it.

I agree that some baht bus drivers will do these things on occasions...but not only to Thais but to farangs as well....if the driver feels he can make a few more baht by changing the route which people think that he/she is going to go down then the route changes.

The point is that overall the system works, as we see hundreds if not thousands of Thais using the system which gets them from A to B at a reasonable cost with the convenience of not having fixed bus stops and therefore reducing the physical effort of walking too far.

There will never be a perfect system but this one works for the majority of journeys.

So... if it aint broke....don`t fix it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Pattaya_Fox]

Well we nearly came to grief last night

The Missus had had a few Black and COKES.

About midnight we left lucifers,went to walking st to get song kiew to soi 13 .

quote ws 80 baht (vs 20)

The missus was mao ,chak chaked the driver in several unprintable dialects all the way up the road.

As you know you can walk faster in that area.

Driver stopped ,got out of his car and menacingly said what her problem.

I tried to be polite,but those of you who know a thai female with a skinful and in the right is something not to be reckoned with.

Anyway it nearly got ugly.

She maintains she is right,and is embarrassed for being thai.(shes and aussie now).

Me in dogbox for being nice to driver and diffusing.

Come on this is Thailand...it`s not a perfect world is it.

I agree that some baht bus drivers will do these things on occasions...but not only to Thais but to farangs as well....if the driver feels he can make a few more baht by changing the route which people think that he/she is going to go down then the route changes.

The point is that overall the system works, as we see hundreds if not thousands of Thais using the system which gets them from A to B at a reasonable cost with the convenience of not having fixed bus stops and therefore reducing the physical effort of walking too far.

There will never be a perfect system but this one works for the majority of journeys.

So... if it aint broke....don`t fix it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you`d have walked 40 yards up to second road and hailed a passing baht bus you would have saved 65 0r 70 baht.

[WISteve]

"If you`d have walked 40 yards up to second road and hailed a passing baht bus you would have saved 65 0r 70 baht. "

Agreed. I NEVER get into a songthaew that is parked anywhere. Walking down Soi Lucky Star leads you out to Second Rd and the area around the VC Hotel is always a good spot to grab a moving one.

Late hours they always line-up along Pattaya Tai, Sai Song and elsewhere. I walk right past them and flag one that is moving. you get a bit of resistance sometimes from the TG's but it's a matter of principle IMO.

Now if someone has a good alternative suggestion to the sardine packing the mafia does out at the bus station, I'm all ears. Haven't figured out any response when arriving on the Bangkok bus, other than hire a taxi for eight times the price!

The blue and white buses are cheap and relatively efficient IMO but then the baht bus mafia makes you sit for 20-30 minutes to fill-up the bus and charge you 50% of what you paid to get all the way from Bangkok!

~WISteve