tourist buses in Pattaya are now beyond a joke

[Langsuan Man]

Call 1337 City Hall and report the issue.

My wife, at my insistence, reported a continual similar coach-blocking situation on Pratamak Rd.which was creating unbelievable traffic jams on a daily basis.

The coach drivers could not give a monkey what havoc they cause.

My wife reported this to City Hall around 10 AM.

And to my amazement, that same day police were there preventing the coaches blocking 2-way traffic flow.

This lasted 4-5 days. Police then moved on, and the blocking then restarted. My wife called City Hall again, and again the police moved in and prevented the blocking.

I also believe that matters can be reported on the City Hall website

Very good idea and glad to hear that it helped short term.

Long term solution, how about giving a 1000 baht fine to any Coach bus driver that is illegally parked or stopped to unload passengers. There are laws, why not just enforce them with fines. I am pretty sure a coach bus driver will think twice about parking in the road if he loses 2 days wages in doing so.

Never going to happen. No Thai policemen will deal with a bus, since they do not know what "protected" individual owns it. Motor cycles are a safer low hanging fruit, not many are owned by the amataya

Edited May 4, 2015 by Langsuan Man

[1BADDAT]

Call 1337 City Hall and report the issue.

My wife, at my insistence, reported a continual similar coach-blocking situation on Pratamak Rd.which was creating unbelievable traffic jams on a daily basis.

The coach drivers could not give a monkey what havoc they cause.

My wife reported this to City Hall around 10 AM.

And to my amazement, that same day police were there preventing the coaches blocking 2-way traffic flow.

This lasted 4-5 days. Police then moved on, and the blocking then restarted. My wife called City Hall again, and again the police moved in and prevented the blocking.

I also believe that matters can be reported on the City Hall website

Very good idea and glad to hear that it helped short term.

Long term solution, how about giving a 1000 baht fine to any Coach bus driver that is illegally parked or stopped to unload passengers. There are laws, why not just enforce them with fines. I am pretty sure a coach bus driver will think twice about parking in the road if he loses 2 days wages in doing so.

Never going to happen. No Thai policemen will deal with a bus, since they do not know what "protected" individual owns it. Motor cycles are a safer low hanging fruit, not many are owned by the amataya

Pattaya28 gave an example above where the police DID show up for several days to deal with the busses.

How is it that everyone in Thailand, farang included, is an expert on the Thai mafia and how the police deal with them?

[Langsuan Man]

Because we open our eyes and observe. The Thai "mafia" indicates some type of organization, we are talking about protected individuals based upon their "family" or political

I connections, not necessarily members of a "gang"

[1BADDAT]

Because we open our eyes and observe. The Thai "mafia" indicates some type of organization, we are talking about protected individuals based upon their "family" or political

I connections, not necessarily members of a "gang"

Well the ones referenced above didn't seem to have any protection since the police made them leave for several days. But you ignored that in your response.

[OnMyWay2]

its like the wild west, lawless for all practical purposes there are no police, no electoral process, no community input.

The official policy seems to be "get money at any cost no matter what".

[chakatee]

http://www.dailynews.co.th/economic/320788

Good news: 400 more coaches with a total of 12,700 visitors on their way in the next coming 2 weeks.

Bumper to bumper this will be a 5km. long queue.

[emilymat]

http://www.dailynews.co.th/economic/320788

Good news: 400 more coaches with a total of 12,700 visitors on their way in the next coming 2 weeks.

Bumper to bumper this will be a 5km. long queue.

I read that after reading a thread on the other forum that China had sent 6,400 to France. Mods closed thread and moved to this one.

I can only guess TAT complained bitterly to their buddies in China that they were No.1 and not France.! How dare the Chinese do such a thing.

We need to be careful and hope China doesn't send 20,000 to the USA or suchlike. A bidding war might ensue.

I remember the General, on a recent visit invited, everyone in Indonesia to come to Thailand.

[bartender100]

http://www.dailynews.co.th/economic/320788

Good news: 400 more coaches with a total of 12,700 visitors on their way in the next coming 2 weeks.

Bumper to bumper this will be a 5km. long queue.

I think they are all down on Jomtien beach opposite Pattaya Park today, hundreds of Chinese having some kind of beach Olympics, the racket can be heard all over Jomtien from massive loud speakers set up, wheres the bloody rain!!!!

[guzzi850m2]

Don't worry chaps, when the underpass on Sukhumvit is done, all the traffic problems will be solved

[Flanno]

Yes definitely no anti Chinese sentiment here. At least the Russkies are being left alone for a while. It amuses me that a bunch of uninvited expats feel they have a right to criticise some other nationalities who choose to visit Thailand short term. Yes of course they may be annoying to some but let the Thais do the complaining. Most of you lot are considered second rate uninvited guests by the Pattaya locals so why not just be quiet and get on with your lives. Of course you can move elsewhere or even back to your own countries! So think about it.

[i claudius]

Yes definitely no anti Chinese sentiment here. At least the Russkies are being left alone for a while. It amuses me that a bunch of uninvited expats feel they have a right to criticise some other nationalities who choose to visit Thailand short term. Yes of course they may be annoying to some but let the Thais do the complaining. Most of you lot are considered second rate uninvited guests by the Pattaya locals so why not just be quiet and get on with your lives. Of course you can move elsewhere or even back to your own countries! So think about it.

I take it that you are s tourist to Pattaya,you know nothing of our lives here

[Bellacissa]

Yes definitely no anti Chinese sentiment here. At least the Russkies are being left alone for a while. It amuses me that a bunch of uninvited expats feel they have a right to criticise some other nationalities who choose to visit Thailand short term. Yes of course they may be annoying to some but let the Thais do the complaining. Most of you lot are considered second rate uninvited guests by the Pattaya locals so why not just be quiet and get on with your lives. Of course you can move elsewhere or even back to your own countries! So think about it.

I couldn't care less what nationality of people are on the buses. It's the buses themselves that are the problem for me. Traffic (which was already bad at the best of times) is nearly impossible to navigate when you have these monstrosities making u-turns on two lane roads and trying to squeeze down sois that were never meant for these things. Not to mention the damage that's being done to the roads.

I'm all for tourism, but there needs to be some kind of restriction on where these buses can go. Drop the people at a bus depot and let them use baht buses and motorcy taxis to get around. There are PLENTY of those just waiting for someone to use them. Then, park the buses outside of town somewhere until it's time to pick them up at the depot three days later. It's not a perfect solution, but it's something. And it adds to the economy when they use the local transportation options.

[1BADDAT]

Yes definitely no anti Chinese sentiment here. At least the Russkies are being left alone for a while. It amuses me that a bunch of uninvited expats feel they have a right to criticise some other nationalities who choose to visit Thailand short term. Yes of course they may be annoying to some but let the Thais do the complaining. Most of you lot are considered second rate uninvited guests by the Pattaya locals so why not just be quiet and get on with your lives. Of course you can move elsewhere or even back to your own countries! So think about it.

Are you part of the second rate uninvited guest category, or are you thai? According to your own argument unless your Thai, then your opinion doesn't matter and you should not even state it.

Who do you think is going to complain about it? Obviously it's going to be the expats. We are the ones who are observant enough to see the problem and have solutions that would actually work. We know none of them will be implemented, so we vent on a forum.

By the way, I'm an invited guest. My company asked me to come work here. I pay tax here and spend freely on entertainment. I easily contribute more to the thai economy in a year than a dozen of those busses full of tourists. So I think my opinion is valid.

[1BADDAT]

So now I think I've seen it all. There is a u turn on N pattaya maybe a hundred meters west of dolphin circle. It marked no u turn but cars and baht busses and motorcycles always use it. It is barely wide enough for a car to fit through easily.

I saw a tour bus take that u turn from the far left lane so he could barely squeeze through. Seriously! What is wrong with these people? Do they think they are driving a Porsche 911 or a 20 ton bus? They are oblivious to the rules of the road and think only for themselves. They generally drive faster than the other cars even though the stopping distance on those is twice as long. Something has got to give. I dread getting in the car to go into town because of them.

[onemorechang]

So now I think I've seen it all. There is a u turn on N pattaya maybe a hundred meters west of dolphin circle. It marked no u turn but cars and baht busses and motorcycles always use it. It is barely wide enough for a car to fit through easily.

I saw a tour bus take that u turn from the far left lane so he could barely squeeze through. Seriously! What is wrong with these people? Do they think they are driving a Porsche 911 or a 20 ton bus? They are oblivious to the rules of the road and think only for themselves. They generally drive faster than the other cars even though the stopping distance on those is twice as long. Something has got to give. I dread getting in the car to go into town because of them.

Its easy.

They don't care you.

They don't care passengers.

They don't care children

They don't care old people.

They don't care there friends

They don't care Family

They don't care motor bike riders

They are just selfish, dangerous drivers.

Me me me me me and more me, get out the way im coming through .

Amazing Thailand.

Edited May 16, 2015 by onemorechang

[champers]

http://www.dailynews.co.th/economic/320788

Good news: 400 more coaches with a total of 12,700 visitors on their way in the next coming 2 weeks.

Bumper to bumper this will be a 5km. long queue.

I think they are all down on Jomtien beach opposite Pattaya Park today, hundreds of Chinese having some kind of beach Olympics, the racket can be heard all over Jomtien from massive loud speakers set up, wheres the bloody rain!!!!

The last of these 12,700 is due to go home on 23rd May. The 12,700 are phased over the course of a week and one of the banquets for them at the Royal Cliif will feed almost 4000 at one sitting.

[Asiantravel]

Another aspect of all these buses around town is the inevitable minor accident. I have seen two within the last week. The first one was near the Dusit hotel just before the bend onto Beach Road where a bus pulled out exactly the same time as a car decided to pull in. The damage wasn’t extensive but there was a noticeable dent in the car.

Then this morning I was up Pratumnak Hill at that dreadful junction where there is even a police box.

A bus parked very near the road up to the temple had reversed bit at the same time as a car was exiting directly behind. Maybe you can just see the white car behind the bus in the first picture but then after the insurance assessors had finished the bus drove off and in the second picture you can see the damaged white car which had quite a big dent.

What I notice about both of these accidents is the bus was full of Chinese tourists who were simply expected to wait until the insurance assessors had arrived and finished the job and understandably they get upset when they are made to sit on a hot bus and they don’t know how long it’s all going to take.

The other thing I found quite amusing was the driver of the white car beckoned to a couple of police officers at the police box to come over and look at the damage but they weren't even interested.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Asiantravel

[1BADDAT]

Now the busses are double Parking on beach road to let the tourists shop at some crappy souvenir shop near hard rock. Never ceases to amaze me what the pattaya police will allow.

[Asiantravel]

have you noticed also that these bus drivers pay no attention whatsoever to the occasional orange coloured truck from Pattaya city council that is parked on the beach side lane if they are doing work and the bus drivers still park directly opposite the orange trucks thereby funnelling all traffic into the only remaining lane in the centre

Edited July 18, 2015 by Asiantravel

[1BADDAT]

Haven't noticed that. But I did notice the Bus driver that tried to force his way out into traffic on naklua road near dolphin circle. I didn't slow down at all for him and just swerved around him and honked at him. I don't care if his bus weighs 20 times my Honda Jazz, I'm not letting any of them in front of me. If more people did this maybe they would quit trying it. I know it's probably wishful thinking.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

The pain continues. I've had to follow filthy diesel-smoking bus up narrow Soi Yume the 2 km to North Road on 4 or 5 separate occasions in the last few weeks. (I use Yume instead of northbound Sukhumvit to get to the Darkside.) Every one holds well back of the smoke cloud. You just can't pass because of the oncoming traffic. Traffic slows to a crawl, you can't help but inhale some of the horrible black cloud and one of these days the tall buses are going haul down the wiring in a big way. I've watched them weave in and out to avoid some of the wiring. This never used to happen when I lived near Big C Extra in early 2014 and before. Now these huge buses are everywhere. Will anything be done? No, because the local leaders are just too blind and stupid to understand they need to care about this tourist and weekend getaway destination.

[tropo]

Another aspect of all these buses around town is the inevitable minor accident. I have seen two within the last week. The first one was near the Dusit hotel just before the bend onto Beach Road where a bus pulled out exactly the same time as a car decided to pull in. The damage wasn’t extensive but there was a noticeable dent in the car.

Then this morning I was up Pratumnak Hill at that dreadful junction where there is even a police box.

A bus parked very near the road up to the temple had reversed bit at the same time as a car was exiting directly behind. Maybe you can just see the white car behind the bus in the first picture but then after the insurance assessors had finished the bus drove off and in the second picture you can see the damaged white car which had quite a big dent.

What I notice about both of these accidents is the bus was full of Chinese tourists who were simply expected to wait until the insurance assessors had arrived and finished the job and understandably they get upset when they are made to sit on a hot bus and they don’t know how long it’s all going to take.

The other thing I found quite amusing was the driver of the white car beckoned to a couple of police officers at the police box to come over and look at the damage but they weren't even interested.

I don't think the Chinese tourists are sitting in a hot bus. Buses normally running air conditioning all the time they are parked.

The intersection you photographed leads down to Cosy Beach. In the afternoon they now turn this road (Soi Rajchawaroon) into a one lane street making access to and from Cosy Beach very difficult for cars. Fortunately I can sneak down the side on my scooter. The police don't mind at all as they are just sitting at their station watching it every day. If they don't mind, then all the complaining in the world won't help.