Price For Bus/Van To Take Child To/From School In Chiang Mai?

[mobiryder]

I'm wondering what the approximate price for a van to take my daughter to/from school in Chiang Mai goes for roughly. 5-10km away.

Thanks!

Mobi

[mobiryder]

A ballpark idea would work for me. Thanks in advance

[sbk]

Moving to CM forum to get more specific CM local answers

[lazeeboy]

A ballpark idea would work for me. Thanks in advance

my daughter cost 950baht a month sansai -chiangmai downtown pickup and drop off at the house

[thailandcalling]

A ballpark idea would work for me. Thanks in advance

I pay about 1000 pick up and drop off 12km

Edited September 15, 2011 by thailandcalling

[thaimiller]

I got quoted 1500 a month from the far end of Mae-jo (Almost Mae Fak) to Watchirawit School near Carefour which is 16km, but after seeing the minibuses being drove at stupid speeds and very reckless I decided to take her every morning and pick her up in the afternoon in the car. Id be very careful as to who you let drive your Kid(s)

Edited September 15, 2011 by thaimiller

[uptheos]

I got quoted 1500 a month from the far end of Mae-jo (Almost Mae Fak) to Watchirawit School near Carefour which is 16km, but after seeing the minibuses being drove at stupid speeds and very reckless I decided to take her every morning and pick her up in the afternoon in the car. Id be very careful as to who you let drive your Kid(s)

I am absolutely amazed how fast and reckless those grey minivan's drive, considering their cargo.

[KayCee]

We're new and haven't started looking into it ourselves, but we notice many parents carpool (either in cars or songtaew or minibuses) to our kids' school. Maybe if you asked for other parents at your daughter's school who live in the same basic direction as you, you may find some arrangement already in place that may suit you?

[KRS1]

I got quoted 1500 a month from the far end of Mae-jo (Almost Mae Fak) to Watchirawit School near Carefour which is 16km, but after seeing the minibuses being drove at stupid speeds and very reckless I decided to take her every morning and pick her up in the afternoon in the car. Id be very careful as to who you let drive your Kid(s)

I am absolutely amazed how fast and reckless those grey minivan's drive, considering their cargo.

Why would you be amazed? The drivers know the kids won't be complaining.

[uptheos]

I got quoted 1500 a month from the far end of Mae-jo (Almost Mae Fak) to Watchirawit School near Carefour which is 16km, but after seeing the minibuses being drove at stupid speeds and very reckless I decided to take her every morning and pick her up in the afternoon in the car. Id be very careful as to who you let drive your Kid(s)

I am absolutely amazed how fast and reckless those grey minivan's drive, considering their cargo.

Why would you be amazed? The drivers know the kids won't be complaining.

Quite, the kids probably think it's fun zooming around corners on two wheel and driving in the invisible third lane........I just hope they graduate

[LJW]

I got quoted 1500 a month from the far end of Mae-jo (Almost Mae Fak) to Watchirawit School near Carefour which is 16km, but after seeing the minibuses being drove at stupid speeds and very reckless I decided to take her every morning and pick her up in the afternoon in the car. Id be very careful as to who you let drive your Kid(s)

I am absolutely amazed how fast and reckless those grey minivan's drive, considering their cargo.

Why would you be amazed? The drivers know the kids won't be complaining.

Quite, the kids probably think it's fun zooming around corners on two wheel and driving in the invisible third lane........I just hope they graduate

I'm sure they would- if it were true

[huli]

I've been paying 1200 baht a month to take my step daughter to school in a rot deng/songthew. From home to school is only about 4 kilometers. Now I'm starting to wonder, how come everybody else gets it cheaper?

[Loaded]

I got quoted 1500 a month from the far end of Mae-jo (Almost Mae Fak) to Watchirawit School near Carefour which is 16km, but after seeing the minibuses being drove at stupid speeds and very reckless I decided to take her every morning and pick her up in the afternoon in the car. Id be very careful as to who you let drive your Kid(s)

I am absolutely amazed how fast and reckless those grey minivan's drive, considering their cargo.

I would never put a child in one of those minibuses. The drivers are criminally negligent which doesn't mean much in Thailand unless your child is a passenger when one of their maneuvers doesn't come off.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I got quoted 1500 a month from the far end of Mae-jo (Almost Mae Fak) to Watchirawit School near Carefour which is 16km, but after seeing the minibuses being drove at stupid speeds and very reckless I decided to take her every morning and pick her up in the afternoon in the car. Id be very careful as to who you let drive your Kid(s)

Me too.

I don't think most (MOST != all) drivers drive all that reckless, however it's still a vehicle mostly without seatbelts or other protection. If I drive themselves they're in proper child safety seats.

[rakchaingmai]

I've been paying 1200 baht a month to take my step daughter to school in a rot deng/songthew. From home to school is only about 4 kilometers. Now I'm starting to wonder, how come everybody else gets it cheaper?

Everyone is on about a bus that picks up multiple people and multiple stops not a songthew that takes there kids directly to school thats why it is more expensive perhaps you could look into getting a school bus but i know one kid that wakes up at 5am and gets home at 5 30 pm everyday which is a very long day at school or lots of time sitting in a bus .

[cardinalblue]

These van drivers are no different than any other thai male drivers - poor judgment and lack of driver training....

Every morning when going to work, I witness these school vans make a right turn on busy MJ road going against traffic (wrong way like the motorcycles do) in an effort to avoid traveling down the right way and saving on a u-turn (total distance saved 11/2 - 2km)...

Just a matter of time when one of these vans ends up with handful of children fatalities with driver error as the cause. Then there will be a big uproar and a new triaining program for van dirvers which will amount to squat...the Thai way of dealing with potential problems..no anticipation whatsoever....called laziness and lack of caring/connecting the dots

CB

[Thakkar]

Out of curiosity, we checked out the price of regular songthaews for school pickup and drop off and it was 1200/month. We're about 10KM from the school. The Yellow and Blue taxi is another (and safer as well as air-conditioned) option, but more than double the price.

But here's the thing. Apart from the very important safety issue, driving the kids yourself is a great bonding opportunity not to be missed. I'm fortunate that I can make the time to do this. We chat, listen to each other's music choices, which bring up more things to chat about. I insist they edit out any bad language in their rap music which has led to an interest in audio software and music remixing. I prepare general knowledge quiz questions on home-made index cards. They make money on each correct answer and do research on questions they can't answer. Also reverse quizzes where they prepare the questions and make money on every question I can't answer. Sometimes we stop for ice cream or slurpies.

If your work schedule allows it, I highly recommend driving your kids to school yourselves, because before you know it, they'll have grown and gone.

Also, if you do it yourself, the departure times are more flexible. Consequently there is less screaming, harrying, hurrying and scurrying, leading to more placid beginnings to your days for all concerned.

T

[hedonist44]

I've been paying 1200 baht a month to take my step daughter to school in a rot deng/songthew. From home to school is only about 4 kilometers. Now I'm starting to wonder, how come everybody else gets it cheaper?

Everyone is on about a bus that picks up multiple people and multiple stops not a songthew that takes there kids directly to school thats why it is more expensive perhaps you could look into getting a school bus but i know one kid that wakes up at 5am and gets home at 5 30 pm everyday which is a very long day at school or lots of time sitting in a bus .

Exactly right. My son is picked up at 6:15 am and returns home at around 6:15 PM. It really does make for a long day for a 12 year old, but short of moving closer to school, there are no alternatives unfortunately. Because of the fact that he is the furthest out in terms of the kilometers from school, he of course is picked up first and brought back home last:( This cost me Baht 1,500 per month.

[Thakkar]

I've been paying 1200 baht a month to take my step daughter to school in a rot deng/songthew. From home to school is only about 4 kilometers. Now I'm starting to wonder, how come everybody else gets it cheaper?

Everyone is on about a bus that picks up multiple people and multiple stops not a songthew that takes there kids directly to school thats why it is more expensive perhaps you could look into getting a school bus but i know one kid that wakes up at 5am and gets home at 5 30 pm everyday which is a very long day at school or lots of time sitting in a bus .

Exactly right. My son is picked up at 6:15 am and returns home at around 6:15 PM. It really does make for a long day for a 12 year old, but short of moving closer to school, there are no alternatives unfortunately. Because of the fact that he is the furthest out in terms of the kilometers from school, he of course is picked up first and brought back home last:( This cost me Baht 1,500 per month.

I sympathize. This is why we settled on a school before settling on a residence. It's two trips a day, every weekday, 180 days a year, for ten years. We are under 15 minutes from the school. Kids get to sleep till seven. This extra morning sleep is all the more important as kids reach their teenage years because it's tough for them to be alert in the early mornings.

T