Improving The Infrastructure

[alanferdi]

The Airport is a fantastic complex well thought through and has been built with expert advice to move thousands of people with all the logistics and have thought of practically everything from hospital, police, telecommunication, food, toilets, flood gates,....you name it its there. Then came the airport train a great investment and a great supplement to tourist who are in transit and those expats who live in the heart of the city. There is however, there are a few suggestions.

- Tourists have baggages. Going to the platforms are not a problem...but getting off the train and dragging them down 3 sets of staircases is not a very practical thing to do. I have checked the LIFTs. They can only take a couple with bags. This is time consuming. Why dont the service provide larger lifts, or an elevator for both embarkation and disembarkation.

- There is no waiting room at Phaya Thai station..... I am aware that it is just intervals of 30min. But they should plan one, because if more tourists and locals are to use the service. They will have people loitering around. Besides this when it rains the rain water beats into the seating area... does not look professional or well thought out as the Airport.

- Phaya Thai and Makkasan are two good connecting points. May I suggest a card for the day that Tourist could purchase at the airport and use with Metro. BTS and Skytrain.

Wishing your service team all the best.

[lomatopo]

All great ideas and suggestions.

Originally it was envisioned that most tourists with luggage would utilize the Makkasan-SBIA Express Rail link, perhaps even checking in at Makkasan when departing BKK.

The Phaya Thai station was designed as the terminus for the City Line trains, operating primarily to support commuters.

For a variety of reasons, Express Trains were removed from the Makkasan terminus and directed to Phaya Thai. Not sure if some of these reasons might be addressed in the future, or if Phaya Thai can be modified to make it more acceptable for Express Train customers.

Express headways are 30 min. to Phaya Thai while on the City Line they vary 12 min or 20 min. so it may be faster for you to take the City Line?

Everyone would like to see universal ticketing options but for now it seems like the different operators: BMTA/Buses; BTSC/BTS (Skytrain); BMRT/MRT (subway); SRT/SARL (airport rail links: City and Express) haven't identified this as a problem they care to address.

[Crossy]

Everyone would like to see universal ticketing options but for now it seems like the different operators: BMTA/Buses; BTSC/BTS (Skytrain); BMRT/MRT (subway); SRT/SARL (airport rail links: City and Express) haven't identified this as a problem they care to address.

Actually BTSC and BMCL (operators of the MRT) are implementing a common ticket for BTS/MRT travellers. It's under initial trials as we speak.

Meanwhile BMA also have visions of an integrated system throughout Bangkok and have USD10 million of ADB funding for initial design and specification, a contract will be let later this year to get things under way.

[tw25rw]

All great ideas and suggestions.

Originally it was envisioned that most tourists with luggage would utilize the Makkasan-SBIA Express Rail link, perhaps even checking in at Makkasan when departing BKK.

The Phaya Thai station was designed as the terminus for the City Line trains, operating primarily to support commuters.

For a variety of reasons, Express Trains were removed from the Makkasan terminus and directed to Phaya Thai. Not sure if some of these reasons might be addressed in the future, or if Phaya Thai can be modified to make it more acceptable for Express Train customers.

If they were trying to encourage those with luggage to take taxis from Makkasan rather than take them onto the BTS, I think that showed some foresight.. Maybe in the future the Makkasan area will develop as a tourist area with hotels etc and the station and line will achieve what it was built to do, but at the moment, the whole project feels half baked.

[JAG]

Surely Makkasan will become a hub, for........I'm not quite sure what yet!

[lomatopo]

Everyone would like to see universal ticketing options but for now it seems like the different operators: BMTA/Buses; BTSC/BTS (Skytrain); BMRT/MRT (subway); SRT/SARL (airport rail links: City and Express) haven't identified this as a problem they care to address.

Actually BTSC and BMCL (operators of the MRT) are implementing a common ticket for BTS/MRT travellers. It's under initial trials as we speak.

Meanwhile BMA also have visions of an integrated system throughout Bangkok and have USD10 million of ADB funding for initial design and specification, a contract will be let later this year to get things under way.

This is good news, and many will welcome an integrated BTS/MRT card, however this thread was more about transport options to /from SBIA and a desire to incorporate the SARL into an integrated ticketing scheme, especially Makkkasan/SARL<->Petchaburi/MRT and Phaya Thai SARL <-> BTS.