Makkasan White Elephant - Jaw Droppingly Bad

[MW72]

What they didn't count on was the economics. It is cheaper and easier to get a taxi. Perhaps when the airport was being built and the promise there would only be AOT taxis at the airport terminal (remember that?!?) the justification for rail would have been a tad stronger (but not much), but now the taxis are there, the ARL is a joke.

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If you can get a taxi from the airport to Makkasan for less than 90 Baht then I'd love to know more.

Forgetting about the cost, I think the 15 minute journey time alone is enough to swing me towards the ARL and away from the taxis.

[NanLaew]

^ There's no denying that inbound from the airport on the Express or City line trumps ANY road transport at certain times of day for cost and time... as long as you have your own infallible plan for connecting onwards at the Makkasan end.

However, for the trip to the airport, it's a lot easier just to get a cab direct as it may be cheaper to get a cab to Makkasan but it would probably take the same length of time as the cab all the way to the airport.

It's not so much a white elephant to me as maybe a very large white cash cow as somebody is raking in money just from it's mere existence.

[samran]

What they didn't count on was the economics. It is cheaper and easier to get a taxi. Perhaps when the airport was being built and the promise there would only be AOT taxis at the airport terminal (remember that?!?) the justification for rail would have been a tad stronger (but not much), but now the taxis are there, the ARL is a joke.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

If you can get a taxi from the airport to Makkasan for less than 90 Baht then I'd love to know more.

Forgetting about the cost, I think the 15 minute journey time alone is enough to swing me towards the ARL and away from the taxis.

Who has their final destination as makkasan though? I live quite close to there but even then I still need an onward taxi and the hassle of lugging bags about. So 90 baht (it used to be 150) plus another 40 to 50 for an onward taxi. That compared with 220 baht door to door for me in a cab. That is 90 baht, 3 bucks for the extra convenience. I'll take the taxi.

And if there are two of us? Taxi all the way.

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[NanLaew]

^ My personal experiences:

From 9.30pm arrival on domestic flight (no checked bag) to entering my apartment on Ratchada Soi 5 using ARL Express to Makkasan and a taxi was 28 minutes and 130 baht.

From 8.30am arrival on domestic flight (no checked bag) to clients office on Sukhumvit@Asoke using taxi only was 75 minutes and 380 baht.

It's the only fast way into town during the rush hours but having a viable plan in place from Makkasan to your final destination is important.

Otherwise, I use either taxi or AoT limo outside of rush hours (the latter from the airport if it is a client reimbursable).

[bowerboy]

Article in the paper today saying only 5 people per day use the airline check in desks at Makkasan and they cost 15,000,000 baht per month to run!

[NanLaew]

Article in the paper today saying only 5 people per day use the airline check in desks at Makkasan and they cost 15,000,000 baht per month to run!

There's still check-in desks there? Where? The airlines pulled them out years ago didn't they? The last time I walked through the barn of a place, there was 2 whitening cosmetic or fashion photo-shoots going on... nice totty too!