Bangkok Bus Route Maps

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The longer I've lived in Bangkok, the more I've wanted to get more familiar with Bangkok's public buses and their routes as a means of transport. But it's never been easy, and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier with time.

I'll post here some sources of info that I'm familiar with. But I'm also hoping that others will contribute any other sources and/or recommendations. There are a couple different published Bangkok bus route maps and guides out there, but none of them are very comprehensive or easy to use, IMHO, as detailed below.

The main operator of buses in Bangkok is the BMTA -- Bangkok Mass Transit Authority. They have some English language webpages, but it's hard to tell how up to date or comprehensive they are.

The main BMTA English page has pull down menus under a "Bus Search" title that allow you to select categories of destinations and names of particular destinations, though they're not very well organized or easy to use.

There's also a page that allows you to select bus routes by bus number, and get some basic information, including sometimes a PDF map and often the operating hours, and sometimes major streets or points of interest reached. But just as often, there's no map and no route information, so it seems.

And then there's what the BMTA calls a Travel Guide, a list of popular tourist-type destinations around Bangkok and lists of bus numbers that serve those destinations.

Beyond that, AFAIK, you're pretty much left to using Google Maps and any of the privately published bus maps/guides. Here are three of the most common that I've found:

This 5th edition Bus Routes & Map seems to be one of the most well-known and often recommended. It's priced at 50 baht, and appears to be at least several years out of date. It's also not especially easy to find. I checked major bookstores like Asia Books and others around Siam Paragon and Central World, and none of them had it. Finally, I was able to find one copy at the Asia Books store at the Landmark Hotel, and heard there were more copies at the Asia Books shop at Central Rama 9.

For me, the best and most useful feature of this colored, fold-out map is the reverse side, which is almost entirely taken up with individual text paragraphs, each one listing a bus route number in numerical order along with the two end points of each line, followed by a list of the major streets and destinations reached by the route.

Its main bus routes map on the front side covers a broad area of Bangkok from Nonthaburi to Suvarnabhumi Airport, and includes detailed outtake maps for Silom, Phayathai and Sanam Luang. It also includes a list of popular destinations and lists of bus route numbers that serve them. However, it also shows how out of date it is, including info and details on the AE (Airport Express) bus routes that no longer are in operation.

The main map has little pull-out text windows that list the different buses by number that travel along different street segments, and a little line and arrow pointing to the matching street segment. But because the map covers such a wide area, the street segments on the map are pretty small in size, often making it difficult to tell when a particular bus route has turned onto a new street or simply ended.

[jpinx]

I learned the interesting way -- get on a bus going in the direction you think you want to go and see where it goes.

It took a while, but I now know a lot more about the buses in my bit of Bkk than the locals. BTW - I do the same with Song Teaws and have ended up in some very odd places

[craigt3365]

Do you think this would be better off in the Bangkok sub forum? If so, I'd be happy to move it over there.

[jpinx]

Dunno Craig - I've done the same trick in several provincial cities -- albeit with mixed results

[lomatopo]

Is this site any good? http://www.transitbangkok.com/bangkok_buses.html

It appears to have a lot of maps.

There may be some Thai iPhone and Android apps? Timetable Asia is one I recall but haven't tried it in a while.

I guess the BMTA has integrated their routes/schedules into Google Maps with Directions, from/to, so not maps per se, but many complain about exact details and schedules being 'idealized'.

I saw a thread which indicated that the newest version of Google Maps (7.0.1 is what I've downloaded here in the U.S. - I return to Thailand next week) might now support turn by turn Navigation (without the need for hacking), but not sure if off-line caching has been re-integrated. I can look into this when I return.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

A more current bus routes map, and one that seemed much easier to find in bookstore, was the ThinkNet Bangkok Bus Guide, priced at 99 baht and published in 2013. Its heavy paper seems pretty durable, and it's easier to use for me, indicating the buses serving along different streets by lining the street with little colored boxes, each one with a different route number, and the little boxes colored to certain ranges of bus route numbers, and the type style different for air con vs. regular buses, which also have different fares.

The main map seems to covered a wider area of Bangkok than the one I listed above, reaching from Pathum Thani and Samut Sakhon to past Suvarnabhumi Airport and north to Lam Luk Ka. The reverse side of the map covers a more central area of BKK with a closer-up view, reaching from Mochit in the north to Klong Toey in the south, but using the same style and info as the opposite site. Unlike the map above, however, this map has no text information summarizing the start, finish or route details of each bus route.

It does, however, have a variety of smaller, more focused area maps, covering areas such as Victory Monument, Sanam Luang, Minburi, and very general lists of the different bus lines that connect with the various major public bus terminals, such as Ekamai, Mochit and Southern. The detail section on Victory Monument is one of the few I've ever seen that actually tries to make some sense of how to location any of the many different buses that stop there.

This map also includes some small, but very useful, sections on Bangkok's river taxis, listing the main route info, the hours of operation, and the fares. The maps also includes some very limited information about van stops. This is probably my favorite map thus far, but keeping track of the meaning of all the different colors and other designations gets to be pretty challenging. And the lack of summary information by bus route number is keenly felt.

This yellow-colored Roadway Bangkok Bus Map sells for 69 baht in the stores. I have the E5 edition at home, but I see there is now a newer E6 edition in the shops. This map uses thinner paper, so it's not quite so sturdy, and it's smaller in dimensional size. Unlike the others, this map's main side is divided into four almost duplicate maps each covering the central area of BKK, but divided up into each map covering a different range of bus route numbers, 1-37, 38-81, 82-133 and 134-207.

The reverse side has various smaller sectional maps, including a summary of the river taxis and stops along the Chao Phraya River, regional bus routes traversing Bangkok, and bus routes to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

There's also two long lists -- one with many common destinations by category, with each destination accompanied by a list of connecting bus route numbers, then the other with a numerically ordered list of bus route number and their starting and ending locations. But inexplicably, this latter list of bus routes by number only lists the starting and ending locations in Thai language characters, no English at all, at least on my E5 edition.

The groupings of bus route numbers correspond, as I understand it, to the sections of the city they serve and/or what kind of bus service it is. And yet, every time I wanted to try to find the buses service a particular area of the city, I found I had to check the same route across each of the four main BKK area submaps, because they often each had different bus routes covering the same major roads. I found the other maps that didn't divide the bus routes in that fashion easier to use.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Is this site any good? http://www.transitbangkok.com/bangkok_buses.html

It appears to have a lot of maps.

Thanks Much Loma!!! This certainly looks like a useful, helpful and info rich site... apparently entirely privately run.

Seems to be decently up-to-date. Allows you to check by bus route number, see the major streets/stops along the route, and even see Google Maps visual depiction of the bus' route. Vastly superior to anything I've found on the BMTA website.

Also includes comparable info for the BRT Bus Line, the various rail lines, the Airport-connection buses, etc etc...

For me, it's a definite add to my collection. I just hope whomever's maintaining the website keeps it up.

It's everything the BMTA should be doing...and isn't! It goes to the top of my "BKK buses" bookmarks list.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I learned the interesting way -- get on a bus going in the direction you think you want to go and see where it goes.

It took a while, but I now know a lot more about the buses in my bit of Bkk than the locals. BTW - I do the same with Song Teaws and have ended up in some very odd places

I've been thinking and meaning to try that approach. But this far, the time and inspiration have been escaping me...

But I'm still thinking to give that a try in the future, assuming life's demands settle down a bit.

[jpinx]

I learned the interesting way -- get on a bus going in the direction you think you want to go and see where it goes.

It took a while, but I now know a lot more about the buses in my bit of Bkk than the locals. BTW - I do the same with Song Teaws and have ended up in some very odd places

I've been thinking and meaning to try that approach. But this far, the time and inspiration have been escaping me...

But I'm still thinking to give that a try in the future, assuming life's demands settle down a bit.

I admit to having had time on my hands when I was doing that - but I still do it if I can. Many magical mystery tours and always a good chance to inflict my awful Thai on the other passengers when asking "Where are we?".

It has to be said that my experience of thai people has been heart-warming in this situation.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re Google Maps, I was playing around with the web version tonight on my Windows PC...

https://maps.google.co.th/?mid=1373552374

The web version does allow you to get suggested Bangkok bus routes, and their estimated trip duration times, for going from one location to another by choosing the "Get Directions" button in the upper left corner, then entering in some kind of info for your starting and ending points. Then choose the little "bus" icon for bus route suggestions (which include BTS and MRT segments if appropriate), or alternatively the driving or walking icons.

The result looks like this, for a hypothetical trip from the Asoke BTS Station to the Green Valley Country Club out near Suvarnabhumi Airport. The suggested route, shown in Google Maps by a thick purple line, includes an initial segment on the BTS Sukhumvit Line followed by a second segment on a BMTA bus.

The route Google Maps produced for that trip is, as far as I know, the best and correct one to take for that destination, so that was a good result.

But what Google Maps doesn't do, as far as I can see, is allow you to see the entirety of any particular bus route or search by bus route number.

Meanwhile, I gave Google Maps another test, some might call it the "acid test" for us here, and this time, it failed miserably... I noted a trip from BTS Asoke to Chaeng Wattana Soi 7, which is the Bangkok Immigration headquarters. And instead of mapping a route to CW Soi 7, it instead mapped a route to the address 7 Chaeng Wattana Road, which is an entirely different area and location. Note that it did this even when the destination was clearly entered as "Chaeng Wattana Soi 7".

Yikes, and when I revised the destination to Immigration Bureau Bangkok, it routed me a map to Soi Suan Phlu.... which no longer houses the main Bangkok Immigration Bureau. So much like Apple Maps, Google Maps isn't perfect, especially not for this foreign country and its street naming/numbering conventions.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Ahh... I see there is a way in the web version of Google Maps to combat its sometimes wrong-headed starting and ending point selection process.

Instead of typing in street names or locations in the fill-in type boxes, you can right-click with your mouse while in the Google Maps website, and that will bring up a context menu that will allow you to physically click on the web map in order to choose your "Directions from Here" and "Directions to Here" trip points.

When I took that approach to selecting the starting and ending points, at least Google Maps produced several routings that actually got me to or close to the correct destination. Unfortunately, none of the options showed what I think is the most direct and easiest route, and that's the BTS Sukhumvit Line to Mochit Station, followed by the BMTA #52 bus direct to Chaeng Wattana Soi 7. Hmmm..... mapping is not an easy business.

[bangkoklad1]

This is a good thread, but google maps covers all bus lanes fairly comprehensively and never had any incorrect info RE bus lanes/times from them yet

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If you read my post above about using Google Maps to plot a trip to Bangkok Immigration at Chaeng Wattana Road, you'll see that it failed to show the most direct and easiest trip both times... when I entered the starting and ending points using names, and even when I used the context menu to select those points on the the map.

Here's another example... I plotted a trip from the Emporium Department store at Suk Soi 24 to Suvarnabhumi Airport... Now, I would say the quickest and most direct route for that trip would be taking the BTS Suk Line one stop to Asoke Station, then MRT one stop up to Petchburi Road and then Airport RailLink to the Airport.

And yet, Google Maps didn't offer that route at all... Instead, it wanted to route me way far out of the way taking BTS all the way out in the opposite direction to Phayathai BTS Station, and then back across on ARL... or a bus route that replaced the BTS and MRT segments to getting to ARL at Makkasan, or a bus route far afield going out Suk Road to Phrakanong, and then up a different ARL Station.

Yes, Google Maps offers up routes. And perhaps it does better when only plotting bus travel instead of trying to combine bus travel with rail system travel. But clearly, it doesn't always offer the best, fastest or easiest routes.

While Google Maps is certainly a great resource, that's why I said above that having your own maps -- either online or on paper -- that show you all the available bus and rail routes is a great benefit... because then the traveler him/herself can see all the different options available and pick the best. Sometimes, the human mind with its knowledge will produce a better result than a computer. But I'll always take all the help I can find.

[BobTH]

Is this site any good? http://www.transitbangkok.com/bangkok_buses.html

It appears to have a lot of maps.

There may be some Thai iPhone and Android apps? Timetable Asia is one I recall but haven't tried it in a while.

I guess the BMTA has integrated their routes/schedules into Google Maps with Directions, from/to, so not maps per se, but many complain about exact details and schedules being 'idealized'.

I saw a thread which indicated that the newest version of Google Maps (7.0.1 is what I've downloaded here in the U.S. - I return to Thailand next week) might now support turn by turn Navigation (without the need for hacking), but not sure if off-line caching has been re-integrated. I can look into this when I return.

This is the link I have used and it was somewhat helpful, but I finally just made my own list of the places I go. I made a word document and asked my Thai friends what buses go to each place ( many locations have several buses from where you need to begin or near where you live non air con., air con., free, ect.). After I had it completely filled in I came back to the saved file in my computer and typed in the bus numbers of each route; then I went to printing services shop and had it reduced in size to fit in my wallet and laminated. I use it almost daily and it is the size of a credit card. I was amazed at the bus numbers the locals have memorized in their heads and it was so much easier for me than trying to figure out the online maps. Just a though, it sure works well for me, good luck.

[chrisbacke]

Google Maps has been great, though the biggest problem I've had with them is that it claims buses stop at given stops, which in fact they don't.

The app I'm currently using is called the Bangkok Bus Guide (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bangkok-bus-guide/id450485768?mt=8) - it's free, a little quirky, but a decent-enough way to show a bus route.

The 99 baht bus map has been a good solution as well (the second one pictured).

The old trick still works: keeping notes of which buses stop at your common destination and seeing which ones stop at home.

In short, there's no one perfect solution yet. Whoever figures it out - and puts it in English and Thai - will make a friend for life.

[ReneThai]

I am using Bangkok Bus Guide of Thinknet http://www.thinknet.co.th/

[ozyjon]

I once took a local bus number 15 from bang Na into BKK city just for fun,, why is it that i remember that bus trip so vividly yet many other things have been forgotten,, just the characters that got on and off the bus was worth the trip alone and the looks of the locals wondering what the heck was a falang doing on an old rickety bus that was falling apart, oh this falang must be really poor,, best trip of my life.

[asanee]

so I'll reapeat what Ive told many times before:

1. The transitbkk www is OUT OF DATE and based on info of at least 12 years ago. That does not mean all routes are wrong now, BUT; most annoying is that it shows many routes withdrawn since-having you wait for hours on never arriving buses, and also quite a few routes have been changed. Plus that many more routes have been added. the indeed private fools mainly live of their sell of mobile apps. Nasty thing is that their ''routefinder'' always sends you into BTS-even when there are direct busroutes A->B

2. the ROADway map is also partly OUT OF DATE-but less as [1]. and its INcomplete- the major AC-routes all numbered in 501-558, have been omiited.

3. the 99bt THINKNET is indeed the best current one easily available, as not out of stock (thats the explanation of OP nr1-as its so old-and was only sold at THAI magazine shops) and has very few faults-not really impeding the tipical farang pattern. of course no Thai could ever produce it-its on work by a Japanese, and there are ditto and even better japanese map-booklets at japanaese bookshops.

CHECK any map if it has the latest BTS-extensions: west of Wong Wien Yai toward Talad Plu and Bang Wa.

4.BMTA has withdrawn its google-transit as it was indeed full of faults-shame that they themselves do not even know where their buses run exactly. giving times is as anyone ever been to BKK would know-just pure fantasy, but thats what google wants them to put in. But why did they show routes they themselves quote as ''every 30/40 mins'' to run every 10 mins on google?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

This is the link I have used and it was somewhat helpful, but I finally just made my own list of the places I go. I made a word document and asked my Thai friends what buses go to each place ( many locations have several buses from where you need to begin or near where you live non air con., air con., free, ect.).

I've started to do the same thing by creating a MS Word document of what would be my most pertinent bus routes and details.

I've got a bunch of different bus lines that run along the nearest major street to me.. No way I can remember where all of them go.

The street routes of those buses are hardly simple. Rather than traverse end to end on one street, most bus routes here seem to follow routes that look like a plate of spaghetti noodles.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I am using Bangkok Bus Guide of Thinknet http://www.thinknet.co.th/

Yes... that's the second one I reviewed above, and seemed to me to be the best of the three foldout bus route maps I found.

Too bad they don't product an online or digital version of that map info, as best as I can see.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

so I'll reapeat what Ive told many times before:

Thanks for the comments and info...

Just curious, I searched around ThaiVisa and didn't find as much info as I would have expected on BKK bus routes...

Do you have any prior threads/posts on this topic that would be helpful here. If so, please link them.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I once took a local bus number 15 from bang Na into BKK city just for fun,, why is it that i remember that bus trip so vividly yet many other things have been forgotten,, just the characters that got on and off the bus was worth the trip alone and the looks of the locals wondering what the heck was a falang doing on an old rickety bus that was falling apart, oh this falang must be really poor,, best trip of my life.

My Thai wife recently took a new job and it's one that involves her commuting partly on a non-air con BMTA bus.

Out of the blue, she remarked to me the other day... the Thai people who she sees riding the BTS every day look VERY DIFFERENT from the folks who are riding on her BMTA bus every day. Not so many smartphones, not so many designer bags, not so many fancy dresses...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

so I'll reapeat what Ive told many times before:

1. The transitbkk www is OUT OF DATE and based on info of at least 12 years ago.

I think you may be overstating that some, at least as far as their overall website is concerned.

The BTS info, for example, includes reference to the Sukhumvit lines out to Bearing. The Silom line includes the extension out to Wong Wian Yai. And as far as I can see, the bus info on travel to Suvarnabhumi no longer shows the discontinued AE (Airport Express) bus lines. So all of those reflect updates currency from the past year or two.

[sms747]

I once took a local bus number 15 from bang Na into BKK city just for fun,, why is it that i remember that bus trip so vividly yet many other things have been forgotten,, just the characters that got on and off the bus was worth the trip alone and the looks of the locals wondering what the heck was a falang doing on an old rickety bus that was falling apart, oh this falang must be really poor,, best trip of my life.

Never seen a 15 in bangna

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I once took a local bus number 15 from bang Na into BKK city just for fun,, why is it that i remember that bus trip so vividly yet many other things have been forgotten,, just the characters that got on and off the bus was worth the trip alone and the looks of the locals wondering what the heck was a falang doing on an old rickety bus that was falling apart, oh this falang must be really poor,, best trip of my life.

Never seen a 15 in bangna

This gives a good opportunity to show what kind of info the transitbangkok.com website shows for BMTA bus stop and Google Maps routing info... According to that website, the 15 goes nowhere near Bangna... Perhaps it was a different number bus.

http://www.transitbangkok.com/lines/bangkok-bus-line/15

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I once took a local bus number 15 from bang Na into BKK city just for fun,, why is it that i remember that bus trip so vividly yet many other things have been forgotten,, just the characters that got on and off the bus was worth the trip alone and the looks of the locals wondering what the heck was a falang doing on an old rickety bus that was falling apart, oh this falang must be really poor,, best trip of my life.

Never seen a 15 in bangna

This gives a good opportunity to show what kind of info the transitbangkok.com website shows for BMTA bus stop and Google Maps routing info... According to that website, the 15 goes nowhere near Bangna... Perhaps it was a different number bus. Take a look at how the site displays routing info.

http://www.transitbangkok.com/lines/bangkok-bus-line/15

[khunken]

I use the Bus Routes & Map, 5th edition plus my own notes. I would say - from my area - it's around 80-85% accurate.

I agree with the poster who said that trial & error is as good a way as any to find out where the busses go. You do indeed need a lot of spare time as some of the routes can take 3 or more hours end-to-end.

The main problem I've had is with busses (e.g. No 25) that can go in completely different directions depending apparently on a Thai notice in the window next to the driver. Being able to read Thai would certainly help.

Apart from Michael Schumaker style drivers, I've had nothing but good experiences on the local busses, including help on getting a bus to get back to where I wanted to go after the one I initially got went the wrong way (no: 25 again).

Thanks for the posts - good thread.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The main problem I've had is with busses (e.g. No 25) that can go in completely different directions depending apparently on a Thai notice in the window next to the driver. Being able to read Thai would certainly help.

I can't help with the reading Thai part, as I suffer from the same shortcoming. But in other areas....

There are a number of different vagaries that bus passengers here have to deal with:

--Sometimes, the outbound and the inbound routes are not identical, and instead cover different streets.. The Transit Bangkok and other routing info will sometimes advise of/show that.

--There are particular bus route numbers, and some buses on that number take surface streets while other buses on that same number take expressways for a portion of the route. From what I've read, buses with a yellow colored sign in the window indicate an expressway segments, whereas those with regular white signs supposedly are regular surface street routes.

--There also are buses on a particular route/number where some buses break off at some point and go to one destination, whereas other buses on the same number/route go to a different end destination. They hopefully have signs in Thai indicating such. I think I've heard a blue color sign in the front window means the bus will either stop short or go to a different destination. But I'm less than certain about the blue color part.

One example that another member here reported recently was regarding the 166 line, which is an expressway route from Victory Monument to Impact Muang Thong Thani. According to this other member, some of those 166 buses go one way and others instead stop in front of the Bangkok Immigration offices at the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road. According to the Transit Bangkok route map, the 166 goes nowhere near the BKK Immigration Office location. Yet I saw a 166 bus stopping there last time I visited CW.

See the posts beginning in this thread below for more background on the 166 line.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/605236-buses-from-victory-monument-to-immigration-at-chaeng-wattana/#entry6557114

Here's a BMTA map showing the different routes for the 166 line, with a blue route line going to the Government Complex, and the red route line going to MTT.... I wonder if the window signs on the buses have that same color coding?

http://www.bmta.co.th/upload/bus_map_download/img049.pdf

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

This photo below shows an example of what the front window yellow signs on expressway buses (vs. surface street buses of the same route number) can look like.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The main problem I've had is with busses (e.g. No 25) that can go in completely different directions depending apparently on a Thai notice in the window next to the driver. Being able to read Thai would certainly help.

According to this map below... the 25 line has different routing at both ends of the route, and some minor divergence along the way, depending on which direction the bus is going.

http://www.transitbangkok.com/lines/bangkok-bus-line/25