Buying Long Distance Bus Tickets

[healthcaretaker]

Especially the government 999(?) blue bus Company, anyone know how many days ahead can I buy the tickets ?

I tried to call them but being very helplessly helpful, they let me wait with a sweet "one moment please" for ages without any reply in English

[CharlieH]

I suspect that like many things in Thailand it will depend where and who you speak to on the day, but I have bought them upto a week in advance from the local Bus Station.

[afarang]

I have travelled on Thai buses,a hell of a lot. Never needed to book in advance. Just trotted up and bought my ticket. However ,New Year ,Chinese New Year and Songkran are nearly impossible to get on. All buses get frightfully overloaded.Not recommended to travel anywhere at those times.Travelling 1st. class and V.I.P., is generally pretty easy. My trick is to get to Morchit, an hour early, buy my ticket, and go have breakfast. Then jump aboard.When you buy your ticket at Morchit, it is an allocated seat number. By going early, I get to choose my seat.

[hullupullo]

Try this, they have callcenter.

http://www.thairoute.com/homepage/?viewcontent=bookandpay

This one is good company too, routemap below, only in thai

http://www.phetprasert.com/

[Mole]

You can book up to 60 days in advance according to the Transport Co., Ltd. official website

Sombat Tour also offers many destinations. Their fleet of buses are quite new and their VIP buses has personal video entertainment set with personal LCD tv for every passenger. Book up to 30 days in advance.

Another excellent company is Nakorn Chai Air. IMO they've got the highest quality buses in Thailand.

[Dancealot]

I concur with afarang, never book in advance. It's not the thai way. Good luck

[Thongkorn]

where abouts is the new bus station for South bound , i use to like the old one , a bit dirty but always some thing to look at while waitng for the over night VIP buses. The new one is all contained. But i have forgotten what district it is in and where.

[afarang]

You can book up to 60 days in advance according to the Transport Co., Ltd. official website

Sombat Tour also offers many destinations. Their fleet of buses are quite new and their VIP buses has personal video entertainment set with personal LCD tv for every passenger. Book up to 30 days in advance.

Another excellent company is Nakorn Chai Air. IMO they've got the highest quality buses in Thailand.

Sombat tours ONLY go to the North. The difficulty is there is no major private operator that covers all Thailand. There are literally well over 200 private operators. Each covering a limited geographical area. In the main, no need to book. Except for those 3 peak periods.Also, many operators DO NOT accept bookings.The Transport Company is Govt. owned, and offers very limited 1st. and V.I.P. services.These days they mainly provide limited nationwide 2nd class services. Those services, 1st class and V.I.P. are much more in the domain of the private operators. In 21 years of travelling, I have never pre-booked. Have to admit, on some rare occasions, I could not get on the next bus. Had to wait for the one after that. But as most major destinations have many 1st. class services every day,never was a real problem.

[raylo]

You can book up to 60 days in advance according to the Transport Co., Ltd. official website

Sombat Tour also offers many destinations. Their fleet of buses are quite new and their VIP buses has personal video entertainment set with personal LCD tv for every passenger. Book up to 30 days in advance.

Another excellent company is Nakorn Chai Air. IMO they've got the highest quality buses in Thailand.

Sombat tours ONLY go to the North. The difficulty is there is no major private operator that covers all Thailand. There are literally well over 200 private operators. Each covering a limited geographical area. In the main, no need to book. Except for those 3 peak periods.Also, many operators DO NOT accept bookings.The Transport Company is Govt. owned, and offers very limited 1st. and V.I.P. services.These days they mainly provide limited nationwide 2nd class services. Those services, 1st class and V.I.P. are much more in the domain of the private operators. In 21 years of travelling, I have never pre-booked. Have to admit, on some rare occasions, I could not get on the next bus. Had to wait for the one after that. But as most major destinations have many 1st. class services every day,never was a real problem.

Booking depends on your destination. I always book on the Bangkok - Chiang Kong route. Could not even get a VIP last week ( 4 days advance notice) and this has happened many times. Usually travel 1st class rather than VIP as we are cheapskates but use VIP as a secondary resort if VIP full. Also did not want to wait till the next day.

Not all routes have a contiguous bus service. The Call Centre is pretty good on Sombat.