Baht bus madness

[LALes]

Screw the baht busses. Hot, sweaty, noisy affairs. One of the main reasons I moved out of Jomtien.

Completely a drag to contemplate a 30--45 minute ride into Pattaya on one of them. And then, you might

get a smelly Russian or Middle Easterner on. Or a smoker. I hope I never see one again.

As for the speed demon, I applaud him. He's trying to make the hell ride that much shorter.

[SOTIRIOS]

.......reminds me of a recent 'accident'....where someone lost her life.....and nobody to blame but the victim....

[zoza]

the baht bus's that tear up and down are mainly mad drivers and the constant speeding followed by heavy braking can make it feel like your arms

will be torn out of their sockets some drivers just do not know how to drive, and others will slam on at the mere sight of a farang, last week we had

a driver slam on when a tourist was taking a selfie and he thought he was signaling he wanted a ride? the accident rate seems very low considering

the the way people drive unless the suicide method of calculation is employed ?

Thailand is now in the top two for hubs for road deaths in the world and some think they might be number one as they calculate only people who die

at the scene ?

The more (if its possible) dangerous pastime is trying to cross that six lanes of road separated by the 3ft central reservation people farang and thai

scream down that road like they are in a race and there is no quarter asked or given the forgotten people of Thailand (pedestrians) some with toddlers

can be viewed trying to find a way through the hurtling mass of bus's/coach's/cars/and bikes.....it is madness

the powers that be have even planted bushes on the central res so as to make it more tricky.......at the lights where they have colored the road surface to

resemble a zebra crossing the lions shoot through without the slightest thought of zebra conservation. its all a bit crazy

[NickJ]

Get a bunch of those little or red circular stickers. The kind that peel of the yellow wax like paper. Sold in a lot of places. Put one in the lower right corner of the add board thats behind the driver. Tell me people what they mean. Soon if anyone see's one they just dont get in.......would work for awhile........

[ThaiWai]

555 Funny in southern Phuket we have songtaews that go slow I have literally overtaken them while I was WALKING. By the time you get to your destination you have probably had a birthday.

[Rimmer]

Troll post removed

[toenail]

If my memory is correct, the baht buses or songtaews or blue Toyota pick-up taxi trucks ... or whatever you want to call them, are rented out to the drivers for around 400baht a shift (the driver pays for the gas also). A driver shift is 10 hours I believe. So theses pick-ups are moving around the city about 20 hours a day. (In between sessions, they are cleaned.)

If this driver was driving like an idiot at 8am in the morning, he most likely is on yaba to stay awake. His night-time shift is almost over. Driving like this is a clear indicator that there is something wrong and yes, press the button-pay your 10 baht- and get on another baht bus that is more safe.

[NoshowJones]

Looking at this another way, you do not see many baht buses causing big accidents. The baht buses causes traffic and slows down other speeding vehicles. They are also very inexpensive. Therefore, I only see baht buses as an asset.

I would agree with you, they certainly are an asset,and cheap, but as has already been pointed out,

something has to be done about some of these drivers.

[NoshowJones]

What seems like 80kmh in a Baht Bus is probably only about 50....

Perhaps, but that is still too fast, and above the speed limit.

[NoshowJones]

Hit the buzzer HARD......get off pay 10 baht and wait for a saner driver to come along. I have had his happen several times when some nut case driver takes off like a F1 loony.

there are about 300 thousand million gazzilion baht busses I think ? At the last count.

Stay calm. Voting with your feet is the best and safest method.

Hit the buzzer HARD......Yes. Get off....YES, but pay the bastard..WHY? He tried to kill you!

Well don't pay him and see what happens.

[NoshowJones]

I have to say that has not been my experience that this is common practice with the Baht Busses. Rather the opposite, I can find them very frustrating if I am behind one in my car....they usually just crawl along touting for fares. The only time I see what you describe (as in most other countries) is when the driver is "handing over" the taxi to the next driver when his shift has finished is trying to squeeze in one more run before he does so.

I think what one poster has already said, they drive fast at certain points so that the bus behind cannot overtake him and pick up the passengers further ahead.

[Ulic]

I roll the dice the other way riding my scooter. By biggest fear is being hit by crazy baht bus

drivers who constantly pull out into the road from side streets without stopping or looking to

see if the way is clear, or maybe not caring because it is only scooters and there will only

be consequences for the scooter drivers in an accident, none for them. Changing lanes

without signaling, or just slam on the breaks in the middle of the road to pick up passengers.

Yes those baht bus drivers are a menace, so I just do my best to expect the unexpected

from them and be extra cautious around them.

BTW my 80 year old mother when visiting loves riding on the back of my scooter. It absolutely

terrifies her, but she finds it exhilarating. She wanted to go for a ride every day.

[Ulic]

I agree with JT. There hasn't been a fare increase in over (about) 12 years. Yes, its not a silver bullet, but it's a start down a path that's bound to come.

My 80 year old mother and her sisters from France were visiting for a couple of months. I explained

how the baht busses worked, there routes, and that the fare was 10 baht. Of course the old biddies

made the mistake of asking the drivers every ride. They were always told 20 baht. If you don't know

the price and ask you will be told 20 baht. (This was in Jomtien 2 years ago) They just could not

give the standard 10 baht correct change.

[fred Kubasa]

Well Fish, you just described the average Bus driver but, oddly, they have very,very few accidents

and unlike Phuket for example, no hills to navigate. Greedy ? A taxi ride the distance from Jontien to Central Pattaya in New York for example would cost you 600 not 10 B .

[Jingthing]

It's not that I want baht bus fares to go up but I'm kind of getting a feeling now that it could happen in the next few years.

[Awohalitsiktoli]

Well Fish, you just described the average Bus driver but, oddly, they have very,very few accidents

and unlike Phuket for example, no hills to navigate. Greedy ? A taxi ride the distance from Jontien to Central Pattaya in New York for example would cost you 600 not 10 B .

Not all of them, but surely those who have lived here for a long time know that they are greedy. Why do they not stop for every person who needs a ride? Because they are trolling for a sucker and hope they can rip him/her off. Do not for a minute think that they (again not all of them) are not greedy. Most of them will cheat you at the drop of a hat if given the opportunity. We need a real bus system with low fares and professional drivers.

[morrobay]

Thanks agree it's a great place. The biggest problem is the downhill run to Pattaya, they all do at least to 40-60 kmph with many getting over 80kmph especially when it's a full load so they can dump them on second Rd asap and empty up the tray. I often shake my head in disbelief when I see thai workers jammed into a pickup at speed , so what's the difference? I'm doing exactly the same lol

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Those drivers are the worst in the world. I take the "blue bhat bus" back and forth between Pattaya-Jomtien and often the driver is speeding like a maniac. The police needs to crack down on them, along with many other things. And, as an aside, this time of the year the drivers are horrible in terms of stopping for people. They seem to be trolling for a "sucker." That also needs to stop. The City needs an efficient, affordable bus line, similar to what is commonplace all over the world.

A full size city bus service with at least 60 buses not the dozen that was attempted about 5 years ago.

That service had long waits and was also sabotaged by the baht buses.

The City ? City hall has no control over anything around here. About all they do up there is turn the lights on everyday.

[Jingthing]

Well Fish, you just described the average Bus driver but, oddly, they have very,very few accidents

and unlike Phuket for example, no hills to navigate. Greedy ? A taxi ride the distance from Jontien to Central Pattaya in New York for example would cost you 600 not 10 B .

Not all of them, but surely those who have lived here for a long time know that they are greedy. Why do they not stop for every person who needs a ride? Because they are trolling for a sucker and hope they can rip him/her off. Do not for a minute think that they (again not all of them) are not greedy. Most of them will cheat you at the drop of a hat if given the opportunity. We need a real bus system with low fares and professional drivers.

It's a nice pipe dream anyway

[scubascuba3]

A baht bus is far safer than a scooter, plus cheaper, less hassle etc. I've been lucky to not have been on a crazy fast one, most drive slowly.

[Tolley]

Thanks agree it's a great place. The biggest problem is the downhill run to Pattaya, they all do at least to 40-60 kmph with many getting over 80kmph especially when it's a full load so they can dump them on second Rd asap and empty up the tray. I often shake my head in disbelief when I see thai workers jammed into a pickup at speed , so what's the difference? I'm doing exactly the same lol

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

Those drivers are the worst in the world. I take the "blue bhat bus" back and forth between Pattaya-Jomtien and often the driver is speeding like a maniac. The police needs to crack down on them, along with many other things. And, as an aside, this time of the year the drivers are horrible in terms of stopping for people. They seem to be trolling for a "sucker." That also needs to stop. The City needs an efficient, affordable bus line, similar to what is commonplace all over the world.

A full size city bus service with at least 60 buses not the dozen that was attempted about 5 years ago.

That service had long waits and was also sabotaged by the baht buses.

The City ? City hall has no control over anything around here. About all they do up there is turn the lights on everyday.

Yes but the police own many of the songtaews and probably some of the municipal councillors do as well so I doubt very much they are in a hurry to lose on their investments by allowing any other form of transport.

[White Christmas13]

Hit the buzzer HARD......get off pay 10 baht and wait for a saner driver to come along. I have had his happen several times when some nut case driver takes off like a F1 loony.

there are about 300 thousand million gazzilion baht busses I think ? At the last count.

Stay calm. Voting with your feet is the best and safest method.

Just to add you can't vote with your feet if you get killed on your first ride

[Isitjustme]

Hit the buzzer HARD......get off pay 10 baht and wait for a saner driver to come along. I have had his happen several times when some nut case driver takes off like a F1 loony.

there are about 300 thousand million gazzilion baht busses I think ? At the last count.

Stay calm. Voting with your feet is the best and safest method.

Just to add you can't vote with your feet if you get killed on your first ride

Suggestion from a non-resident of Pattaya but one with vast experience of speeding psychos. What do you think would be the outcome?

How about pressing the buzzer when he gets his speed up but don't get off the bus. Do this continually every time his speed gets too fast.

Just slow the psycho down. He's gonna waste so much time and when he asks what the hell's going on, ask him politely to please drive safely.

Well it's just an idea. Amuses me. And just maybe gonna make him think.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Easy solution, buy your own transportation.

[fosseway]

Hit the buzzer HARD......get off pay 10 baht and wait for a saner driver to come along. I have had his happen several times when some nut case driver takes off like a F1 loony.

there are about 300 thousand million gazzilion baht busses I think ? At the last count.

Stay calm. Voting with your feet is the best and safest method.

Just to add you can't vote with your feet if you get killed on your first ride

Suggestion from a non-resident of Pattaya but one with vast experience of speeding psychos. What do you think would be the outcome?

How about pressing the buzzer when he gets his speed up but don't get off the bus. Do this continually every time his speed gets too fast.

Just slow the psycho down. He's gonna waste so much time and when he asks what the hell's going on, ask him politely to please drive safely.

Well it's just an idea. Amuses me. And just maybe gonna make him think.

Very dangerous tactic, it may amuse you, but not the driver, yes it would make him think, he would think to come out of his cab with that iron bar they all carry.

[tropo]

No but it happens all the time so I think I will film the trip like you say

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I'm not defending insane driving, but how many baht bus accidents have you seen or heard about over the years? I've never seen one or heard of one crash coming down the hill (I live near there). It seems that despite insane driving they manage to survive. Maybe I missed the news, but the last one I can remember was years ago near the Dolphin "dolphin".

[Brit_Doggie]

Wow for 10 baht you get a white knuckle ride and you complain, welcome to the thaiway or the highway.