Pattaya Introduces Mass-transit Bus Service

[george]

Pattaya City introduces long-awaited mass-transit bus service

BANGKOK: -- For the convenience of tourists as well as locals, Pattaya City is introducing a city-wide bus service making scheduled stops along the way.

The service is expected to be popular as it will provide a comfortable alter-native to the so-called “baht buses”, which are only converted pickup trucks.

Pattaya Beach Bus Co Ltd, a private operator subsidised by the government, is operating the daily air-conditioned bus service.

The 13-kilometre Green Line route is already in operation, while the 30km Red Line and 19km Yellow Line routes will be running soon.

Each service will run from 6am-2am, with scheduled stops along the way. A Bt30 ticket can be used on any of the routes, a one-day ticket costs Bt90, a three-day ticket is Bt180 – and a monthly ticket is Bt900.

Some buses are equipped with facilities for the handicapped.

Apart from providing convenient transportation, the buses should alleviate traffic congestion by persuading people to leave their cars at home, thus reducing parking problems and pollution.

The Pattaya City administration sees the new service as a reliable and efficient mass-transit system to cope with the rapid growth of the city.

--The Nation 2005-09-26

[kurgen]

It would be interesting to know who the owner(s) of the government subsidised Pattaya Beach Bus Co is/are

[loong]

Does anyone know if this bus service stops at the North Pattaya bus terminal?

[Jai Dee]

Has anyone seen a route map?

It would be a good alternative to the baht bus conglomeration.

[mumbojumbo]

I think the baht buses will have something to say about this, since many are owned by the Police dept.

[ProfessorFart]

This is a good thing in my opinion. The Baht Buses were not only becoming a pain in the arse but were a big cause of traffic snarl ups in Pattaya.

[ProfessorFart]

Would be interesting to see a route map as well........

[Rinrada]

It would be interesting to know who the owner(s) of the government subsidised Pattaya Beach Bus Co is/are

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hopefully not the guy who owned Poo Air

apart from that its good to know that its finally up and running and hopefully will give the 5 bt mafi.....song tell enterpreneurs a run for their "ha roy" satangs.

Might even go some way to improving the image of Patti......mind your head...

[icecubes]

I think the baht buses will have something to say about this, since many are owned by the Police dept.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think your right, they will have something to say.

But hope no one listens, Baht buses, Nice people,

Have a nice day

[bartender100]

Heres a link to the map,maybe somebody could paste it on the thread.

http://www.pattayamail.com/631/news.shtml#hd1

[loong]

So it looks like line 2 (yellow) does go past the North Road Bus Terminal.

I wonder how often they are running. I would have thought 30 seats on that route would fill quickly and only 3 buses.

[COBBER]

[

attachmentid=2096]

Here it is. 30 baht fare. 3 differant routes.

Have seen many of these buses along Sukhumvit over the last few weeks and as yet have not seen 1 paying passenger aboard. Hardly a serious threat to the baht bus mafia.

Edited September 26, 2005 by COBBER

[ProfessorFart]

It will be interesting to see how it pans out. Its been a long time coming and 80B for a day ticket looks a good price.

[britmaveric]

Doomed for failure - baht bus dont have to wait. Choice is clear!

[monty]

The new busses run completely empty for about a month now...

Major reason, with only three buses running, you end up waiting anywhere between 5 and 45 minutes before a bus passes by...On average I would say a 30 minute wait...

Taking maybe 3 trips a day, I'd reckonn tourists don't want to lose one and half hours a day of holiday time just standing at the bus stop

They can do this at home as well

Plus 30 Baht is acceptible to tourists, but way to steep for the locals especially for the shorter trips which I guess make up the majority of trips made.

It's only worthwile for a trip from for example Chayapruk road/Jomtien into Pattaya as this would already cost 20 Baht by bahtbus...

Even though I'm not a great fan of the Bahtbus mafia, they are very convenient and cheap, and as long as they don't get removed alltogether, the new bus service is doomed for failure..

Edited September 27, 2005 by monty

[Jomtienwow]

The trouble it seems to me is not enough buses and too high a price for locals. By trying this as a limited half assessed experiment, it does not test the real thing, which would mean enough buses at popular prices, so that there is one every five minutes.

So people who say this will be a bust are probably correct. And thats a shame.

The predictability part of the routes is wonderful, especially when going to places like Naklua and Bangkok Pattaya hospital. Taking baht buses often involves lots of unwelcome surprises, and multiple transfers.

How about make the baht buses illegal, run as many big buses as needed, and run them full at popular Thai prices, and fill in the blanks with clean taxicabs. For clean taxicabs, the government could promote the clean golf cart style tuk tuks of Mazatlan Mexico called pulmenerias. In Pattaya, they could be called a go go carts.

Actually a totally fair two priced system could be used by selling monthly bus passes. Short timers wouldn't bother buying them and pay for retail rides, but residents could get a great discount.

Pattaya is supposedly looking for ways to class up the joint. The baht buses need to go.

Edited September 27, 2005 by Jomtienwow

[icecubes]

The new busses run completely empty for about a month now...

It's only worthwile for a trip from for example Chayapruk road/Jomtien into Pattaya as this would already cost 20 Baht by bahtbus...

Even though I'm not a great fan of the Bahtbus mafia, they are very convenient and cheap, and as long as they don't get removed alltogether, the new bus service is doomed for failure..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Top marks for paying double Monty.

To this nice bunch of people. the baht buses wins again.

Have a nice day.

[WISteve]

There were a few riders on the bus the day three weeks back when I took this picture of the Green Line. But not a lot.

Seems a good alternative if you are livng and working at opposite ends of town.

I have no fond memories of the song thaew crooks!

BTW, does Perfect Rich Co Ltd sound about right for the owner/operator?

~WISteve

[britmaveric]

5bht-10bht on bht bus can't be beat. Sorry no one wants to wait and thats the problem with huge coaches, not to mention streets not meant for smth this big. (accident waiting to happen)

I'll stick w/bht bus or motorcycle taxi!!

[Humphrey Bear]

And they are competing directly - why not fill in the blanks?

Soi 17 is ill-served by baht buses, Sai Sam is not well-served. Very few baht buses seem to stop on Sai Sam, all are probably coming from Kah-Foo on private charter.

To make money it would probably be better to fill in the areas not directly served by baht buses. And to price according to the perceived market, rather than set a price above most potential customers' budgets.