Learning The Bus Routes In Bangkok

[phuturatica]

Is there a website or way of finding out which particular bus goes where? I want to start learning certain bus routes so I can get to a few places without having to get a taxi all the time.

There never seems to be much information at the bus stops and I have only managed to find out bus routes from what people have told me. However is there a way you can look it up and learn yourself?

[beano2274]

I got a great map with all the bus routes on it, but it is a few years old, and some new bus routes are not listed.

Most good bookshops will have the map.

[Sophon]

Take a look at the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) website.

Sophon

[dddave]

Two short phrases that have really helped me when exploring Bangkok by bus:

"Soot sai tee nai" "Where end of line?"

"Bai soot sai" "Go to end"

[phuturatica]

I got a great map with all the bus routes on it, but it is a few years old, and some new bus routes are not listed.

Most good bookshops will have the map.

I'll have a look for it, does the map have a particular name so I can specifically ask for it?

[Lakegeneve]

I got a great map with all the bus routes on it, but it is a few years old, and some new bus routes are not listed.

Most good bookshops will have the map.

I'll have a look for it, does the map have a particular name so I can specifically ask for it?

Either buy the 'Bus Routes & Map 5th Edition' by Bangkok Guide (50 baht). It is now 4 yrs old but has most routes and it lists all routes, good map and handy size. However, it doesnt have some of the new private bus routes and still has all the airport buses even though most have been suspended or had route changes. Or the Thinknet Bangkok Bus Guide (99 baht) which is newer, larger and has specific place maps but not so handy when out and about and doesnt list routes.

There a re a couple of others. Check them out at Kinokuniya bookshops and see which suits you.

[planr]

Google Maps also shows most of the bus stops in town (at least the central parts of BKK) with the route numbers that stop at those stations and timetables (which are worthless). I have noticed that Google's efforts while commendable are not entirely accurate in the sense that they sometimes do not contain all of the routes that stop in a certain place and sometimes have routes listed at a particular stop that don't actually stop there.

If you combine Google Maps stuff with the route maps available (for most routes) on the BMTA website, you can get a good sense of what routes are best to use depending on your origin and destination.

[rgs2001uk]

I know its not what you want to hear, however your best bet is to learn to read Thai.

A lot of these buses have the routes written on the side of the bus.

Also many of the mini buses and song taew also have the route and destination written on them.

There are so many differing forms of transport, the two above are just one example, plus the host of private operators, I notice the small green buses have now been painted orange but still have the same numbers and routes.

Doubt if you will find much information on the web.

The other problem is, these buses dont always take the most direct route, you may want to go 5 kms up the road, but the bus goes via a 10km detour.

[asanee]

indeed the very best advice is to learn read Thai -ALL buses have an extensive routelist on their sides. Many of the real BMTA (the only govmt bus in TH!) even have them in the phaasaa angkrit-mainly the orange AC. The problem next for BKk-newbies is, that most of the listed places will be very unfamliair to you.

Even though that BMTA website lists somehow all routes (at the time when it was last updated-like 2-3 yrs ago) it is very nasty to find details. A slightly better site-with some interactive routeplanner is transitbangkok.com. BUT know the caveats: it only works for the centre area AND it is based on a Japanese script from about 10-12 yrs ago, so it misses a lot of since then opened new lines ANd it shows routes that have been abandoned-as do most of the stopsigns too! It was begun by a swede with high hopes-up to facebook and the like, but appears to have been abandoned.

never trust those stopsigns-as they were placed at random and often show routes that indeed serve that road but NOT at that stop!

Lakegeneve-though I admire his patience and knowledge in transport matters, is also a bit out of date. NEW busguides do come out in THAI again ev 2 yrs and you find them obviously in THAi shops-like those See-Ed and B2S in about any BigC or shopcentre. They are 70 bt now. The one from PK-books or so is slightly better-mainly a far better and more clear map in 2 lingo's.

I mentioned the JPNese and they do good work: a guy I knew has made comprehensive map-sets and these are sold thus in JPNese in the Kinokuniya bookshops (upper level WTC-in the Isetan)- they cost a lot more, but if you are interested, may be handy-lay them beside a map you know and find out. A portion of this has been taken over by groovymaps and is sold in a likewise, but only partial, mapset- groovy bkk busmaps- if still in stock, look at Asiabooks etc.

I f you are not simply some khun ajarn son phaasaa ang- and have time the BMTA also does buspasses- ONLY valid on THEIR buses (mainly the red open-most are free anyway-and the newer orange AC- NOT the yellow AC!!=these are private) and cost 200 bt/7 days or 800/month. The 7day is named sabtaa and only can start on the 1st-8th-15th and 22nd ( a very good buy in jan- gives you 10 days!) or half that for just the reds. Buy therm from the ladies at the stops at Vict. Monument or at most main stops-in suburbia- at the day just before.

Riding all routes till the end is a very boring affair-most go for some 20-30 kms out of town and end into some nondescript (all of provincial TH looks the same anywhere) suburbia and go via all-the-same looking main roads. But once out of the jammed inner city, most go pretty fast and some routes are in fact a bit pretty to look out of the window-TH also has numerous unexpected weird and strange things.

[ricklev]

The orange bmta Eurobuses have really held up well over the years. The new yellow Chinese buses are total crap after just a few months. Sad that the Chinese junk is all they are buying these days.

The bus conducters range from the nicest people you will ever meet to complete <deleted>. What a pleasure it is to get on a competently driven and managed bus in Thailand! The 508, 79, and 511 lines are not bad. Those are the main ones I take between sukumvit and pinklao or so.

Edited January 9, 2012 by ricklev

[Lakegeneve]

There are so many differing forms of transport, the two above are just one example, plus the host of private operators, I notice the small green buses have now been painted orange but still have the same numbers and routes.

The small green buses WEREN"T painted orange! They were all retired and replaced with new gas powered buses by the same operator due to a MOT imposed deadline. You would notice that the this fleet of cheap, locally made Orange bus (not to be confused with the BMTA fleet of normal sized Orange Eurobus mentioned in the above post) is in fact larger than the green one. Reportedly, one of those green buses was over 40 yrs old!

Unfortunately, the crazy seemingly ya ba affected drivers have not been replaced. They still drive like crazy which is why I never catch one.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Lakegeneve

[Lakegeneve]

Lakegeneve-though I admire his patience and knowledge in transport matters, is also a bit out of date. NEW busguides do come out in THAI again ev 2 yrs and you find them obviously in THAi shops-like those See-Ed and B2S in about any BigC or shopcentre. They are 70 bt now. The one from PK-books or so is slightly better-mainly a far better and more clear map in 2 lingo's.

My ref regarding an old map was specific to the Bangkok Guide Technology series as I have been expecting a 6th edition for the last two years but have yet to spot it. I liked their clear maps, route summary and size.

I'll take your advice and check B2S. Cheers

[Lakegeneve]

Lakegeneve-though I admire his patience and knowledge in transport matters, is also a bit out of date. NEW busguides do come out in THAI again ev 2 yrs and you find them obviously in THAi shops-like those See-Ed and B2S in about any BigC or shopcentre. They are 70 bt now. The one from PK-books or so is slightly better-mainly a far better and more clear map in 2 lingo's.

My ref regarding an old map was specific to the Bangkok Guide Technology series as I have been expecting a 6th edition for the last two years but have yet to spot it. I liked their clear maps, route summary and size.

I'll take your advice and check B2S. Cheers

Still only the 5th Edition available so it is getting somewhat out of date!

[asanee]

1.The small green buses WEREN"T painted orange! They were all retired and replaced with new gas powered buses by the same operator due to a MOT imposed deadline.

2.You would notice that the this fleet of cheap, locally made Orange bus (not to be confused with the BMTA fleet of normal sized Orange Eurobus mentioned in the above post) is in fact larger than the green one.

3.Reportedly, one of those green buses was over 40 yrs old!

4.Unfortunately, the crazy seemingly ya ba affected drivers have not been replaced. They still drive like crazy which is why I never catch one.

@1. NOT true-when they banned the greens early 2010, first came a few all-chinjese small cutey minibuses-Heng Tong etc. Later SOME of the old greens came back-after a thorugh overhaul in the BanPong bodyworks-many show banpongbusbnody as their owner. So it is mixed-and in fact only the still usable parts of the old greens were not replaced. This is very common with all old BMTA citybuses

@2. NOT true-as the greens could also be replaced with the shiny-once new, all yellow Chinese Sunlong and WinWin short AC-buses, many lines have now these yellows in lieu of former greens-like nr 14 or 17.

#3.this is just licensing and says nothing. The greens -look at their old reg plates, from which one could easily count the year of building, came in around 85/86. As always tax fiddling is the norm in Thai bisnis-some of the now looking pink ''new'' buses are also revamped 3-4 times by now and still have plates in the 10-xxxx series: from when this new system started=late 1970ies. It only means that avery few parts are still somewhere in the bus.

@4. quite logic-as these were the same teams that hired the greens before and know nothing else to do. Only minor advantage is that they now all run on NGV-gas and hence cannot acelerate that fast as before.

[asanee]

Quoting:

Still only the 5th Edition available so it is getting somewhat out of date.

Saw the 8th=EIGHT edition, from BKK-publishing (a little different as you spell it out in full) a day or 2 ago-sorry, forgot were, most likely Bangkapi, cost 85 bt.

The Japanese maps i refer to are also sold in that form-various maps with the routes in bundles on them in different colous-in an english version by ThinkNet-cost is 99 bt. However-as said before-only covers inner BKK and omits several quite useful routes. is also unupdated re airportbuses (many of which are abandoned lately).

Am only trying to get the reliable, useful latest info in this site and have some tendency to not post too much as there always seem to be people with nothing else to do who hack and parrot agesold info long since outofdate. Does not apply to you- but hence why.

[siam2007]

Quoting:

Still only the 5th Edition available so it is getting somewhat out of date.

Saw the 8th=EIGHT edition, from BKK-publishing (a little different as you spell it out in full) a day or 2 ago-sorry, forgot were, most likely Bangkapi, cost 85 bt.

The Japanese maps i refer to are also sold in that form-various maps with the routes in bundles on them in different colous-in an english version by ThinkNet-cost is 99 bt. However-as said before-only covers inner BKK and omits several quite useful routes. is also unupdated re airportbuses (many of which are abandoned lately).

Am only trying to get the reliable, useful latest info in this site and have some tendency to not post too much as there always seem to be people with nothing else to do who hack and parrot agesold info long since outofdate. Does not apply to you- but hence why.

what you are talking about is the THAI version of the said map.

sadly, the new English version (6th edition) is still not out yet. I emailed this company last year, and to my surprise I got a reply (believe that - a Thai company replying to a customer inquiry in English by email !) and was told there would be the 6th edition in September or so...... well, now it is February already and still no new map available.

but indeed even the 5th edtion is helpful, most information is still correct, though the new PREMIUM lines are of course not listed yet as they started to operate only after the 5th edition was released.

http://www.truemove-...ay-topping.aspx

scroll down to "BUS ROUTE & MAP" at 50 THB, that one is the curent (but a little outdated) English issue. If there isn't a new one soon, I will buy the Thai version, though my Thai reading skills are far from perfect......

ah, here is the Info for the Premier Buses, they are now called METROBUS. www.metrobusbkk.com click on the small rout map on the right, and a bigger routemap with some Info in English will Pop-up

.

Edited February 5, 2012 by siam2007

[BKKdreaming]

I like taking the bus , but I also know that I am waiting too long some times because I did not know that another bus drove the same route ,

Also how can you tell that I bus goes the complete route ?

Bus #2 sometimes goes down Rama 4 but sometimes stops next to Lumpini park....

but its always an adventure and most people look at you like you are nuts when you say you are taking the bus and not a taxi

BK

[Ijustwannateach]

^Usually there will be some kind of indicator on the bus when it goes one way as opposed to another way, but it will probably be written in Thai and if you don't know what you're looking for you don't get long to check. You could ask the driver or conductor when you get on, but frequently they're crowded (as you know) and you can't check before committing.

[bangkokburning]

511 arguably the most useful line in BKK.

Sai Tai Mai to Bang Na, winding thru central BKK on major throughfares, passing Ekamai as well.

Time was I knew a great many lines. Now I stick to the BTS/MRT and then walk or if I must, taxi. Barring that - taxi. Traffic sucks. Its not any worse than 20 years ago, I'm more based here now and can't be bothered.

Sitting in traffic on a red bus does not look sanuk.

Loads of hotties on th epublic transport above and below.

A trick I used to use is when you are at the location (gen area) you wish to revisit, look at the bus numbers and try to match them to buses in your area. No telling about the length and route...that's when one of those maps or Internets are handy.

Edited February 6, 2012 by bangkokburning

[Lakegeneve]

I like taking the bus , but I also know that I am waiting too long some times because I did not know that another bus drove the same route ,

Also how can you tell that I bus goes the complete route ?

Bus #2 sometimes goes down Rama 4 but sometimes stops next to Lumpini park....

Often, but not always, there will be a red sign in the front window indicating that the bus is not running the whole route.

Yellow signs indicate the bus runs express, which always means that it takes an expressway for most or some of the route.