Commuter chaos as technical fault hits BTS network

[Xonax]

German engineering.

Thai maintenance.

and Chinese Trains.

[merlen10002]

I was in this today at 8.00am, only one track working trains going and coming on the one track, was well handled and announcement on all stations to let passengers know what was going on, I go on at Ratchathewi going to Ekkamai , as I walked on to Ratchathawi a BTS worker came up to me and explained the problem, lots of people on Siam about a 20 minute waiting in line, loud speaker and announcements going all the time, did not see or hear anyone complain everyone took OK.

One big problem I had was being jammed up against two very attractive young Thai ladies it was really very tight with everyone jammed together but unfortunately it only lasted about ten minutes I was very disappointed.

Want to say Hi to the regular knockers of anything and everything would be very disappointed if did not show up on this one

BTS is a great system always travel on it, quick clean and efficient, have been using it for 8 years now,

[sanukjim]

Remember when the Germans were running this at the start.No problems.It ran like a well oiled machine.Then Ha,Ha, give it to the incompetent so they then hire their kenfoke to work there..Yes sir I can hear it now "I wonder whats this switch is for".WOW look at that!

[Bangkok Barry]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is track switching? The trains don't switch tracks, so what does? And while on the subject of chaos and overcrowding, why does the BTS (and MRT to some extent) persist in running Mickey Mouse trains of so few carriages when the stations are designed to cope with far more? New York and London have roughly similar populations, but NY often runs 12 carriages and London eight. Bangkok runs four, only quite recently up from three. The only explanation is that they don't care about the service they run so don't want to spend money on providing a more comfortable service with more seats. Of course, the VIPs who run the service probably never actually use their trains, so why should they care.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On a normal evening rush hour at Asoke Station on the Sukhumvit line, there are lines for tickets and waiting to get on the trains. And that's on a normal day.

Today, just passed thru there, and they had their staff blocking passengers from going upstairs from the ticket level to the train level -- until the crowds upstairs got onto their trains.

But, all in all, when you think about the horrible, and I mean HORRIBLE, operations that are the Thai inter-city buses, mini-vans, railways, ferries, speedboats and now even the Thai airlines like Nok, the BTS and MRT shine by comparison in terms of providing a consistent, safe, well-organized service.

[Karlo]

I have travelled in many countries and I thought the Sky Train service from the airport into the city was excellent. Too many negative people here who are very blinkered and probably little experience of travelling in many other countries.

[Happy Grumpy]

This is why the 3 different elevated rail systems in BKK will all be different and unconnected - the BTS, Airport Link, and the SRT.

So when one collapses the other 2 will be unaffected.

Genius really, the Thai.

[Bangkok Barry]

I have travelled in many countries and I thought the Sky Train service from the airport into the city was excellent. Too many negative people here who are very blinkered and probably little experience of travelling in many other countries.

The Skytrain (BTS) does not go to the airport. That is a different service which has also had problems. As for experience of other countries, seeing how services operate in capitals throughout Europe doesn't show Bangkok in a good light. Far, far too few lines, and very overcrowded.

[pookiki]

I boarded the sky train at Ari Station at 11:45 after a 15 minute wait to go to a meeting near the Chitlom Station. Only heard one announcement about service being 'inconvenient' and that announcement was in Thai. At each subsequent station there was a substantial wait but no announcement about what was happening. At the Ratchatewi station, the train changed tracks to the right hand side. Upon proceeding to Siam, there was finally an announcement in Thai and English that the train would stop at the Siam station and that all passengers would have to disembark from the train. For those passengers continuing on to 'Bering', they would have to change trains. I went downstairs to the 'Mo Chit' line as that was where continuing passengers were directed. However, the first train that arrived, actually went in the direction of Mo Chit! At that point, I decided that I would just return home and board the next train as it appeared it would go to Mo Chit. Boarded the train and it went towards Bering! No announcements the entire time. Made it to the meeting some 30 minutes late. On the return trip, it took a long time from Chitlom to Siam. However, the transfer at Siam went smooth and it was a quick trip back to Ari.

My main gripe is the lack of signage and announcements regarding problems such as these. It would not be all that difficult to have bill boards with messages in Thai and English regarding the nature of the current problem and how long trains are being delayed. God knows there is enough advertising! I can know the current status of the SET or the exchange rates of numerous currencies and the weather at each sky train station but there is absolutely no information or an attempt to impart information to the traveling public when there are problems such as these. It's all a matter of customer service!

Edited February 24, 2016 by pookiki

[Linzz]

The technical fault hit my computer too, I got this same TV email 4 times, which is a first

[MaxLee]

Screw the BTS a hundred times from behind today!!!!!!!!

[MiKT]

Remember when the Germans were running this at the start.No problems.It ran like a well oiled machine.Then Ha,Ha, give it to the incompetent so they then hire their kenfoke to work there..Yes sir I can hear it now "I wonder whats this switch is for".WOW look at that!

Try looking between your ears for the on switch. The BTS Thai staff are extremely competent and well trained and have been running the railway for 16 years very well. There were very few Farang operating staff even from the beginning.

[peteregion]

Well, for what it's worth, this is a pretty uncommon occurrence; the BTS is generally very reliable transportation. If you can remember back pre Dec 1999, a trip from Klongtoey to Childom (home and work) could take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Stuff breaks and it seems like the folks at BTS are on top of it,

Very fair comment, agreed. Dont send BKK back to the dark ages....I remember pre BTS. Unlivable.

Yup. People should try living in Jakarta, if "living" there is at all possible.

Or even the so called efficient Singapore MRT. It is over crowded, packed, missed-schedules and breaks down regularly.

[Remi080]

If they can not fix it tonight it will be a mess tomorrow.

Maybe its been set up becoz the government would like to get there hands on BTS. just like they have on MRT.

I have not see BMCL in this kind of trouble, its always BTS. Just a gues oke.

I don't know nothing.

Just feel sorry for all those people in line there. Good business for the taxi's thou...

Now the police need all they got to supervise the taxi bikes, car and buses not to over price their ride cause of BTS failure.

Oh.. they already did overprice it, just get a call from a friend, the ride on the bike what costs normal 80,-thb. was now 200,-thb.

so he made a cool selfie with driver and licence plate number for declaration ha ha. just a other day in Bangkok.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Damn! I will have to take Big Yellow to Nana....taxis will be 200 baht from nana to mbk...lol

Edited February 24, 2016 by Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

A lot of hitchhiking foreigners...Even Ronald McDonald had his hand up hailing a taxi..

[Bangkok Barry]

It's all a matter of customer service!

They are not interested in customer service. You are going to use the train anyway so they don't care. Nothing in it for them, and job satisfaction is pretty much non-existent in Thailand - hence shoddy workmanship, poor road construction, sour-faced waitresses etc.

[Nomyai]

The best thing about thailand are the BTS and bargirls, not necessarily in that order.............hahaha.

Using it for 10 years -never a problem.. Next 10 years who knows. As things age they do break down.

[samsensam]

I've been riding the BTS pretty much daily for more than 10 years and excepting the social disruptions in 2006 & 2010, can count on one hand the number of major disruptions I've had to cope with.

There isn't a major metro transit system on the planet that doesn't have "overcrowding" issues during peak hours. Urban transit systems are like highways in that the more capacity you add, the more users you attract. There seems no way around that fact.

The BTS does deserve criticism for it's poor platform and crowd handling policies and lack of handicap access. I've always feared that there will someday be a disaster on the always overcrowded Siam escalator going down from the trains.

I think it's actually pretty remarkable that I can arrive on the BTS platform just as a train pulls out and know that 99% of the time, the next train will be along in six minutes.

agree. the london underground is horrendous at rush hour and often has train and signal failures. the difference is the staff know how to communicate effectively with each other and with passengers, and manage the number of passengers allowed into the station or onto platforms to ensure safety.

the lack of access for the disabled on the BTS is criminal.

[elgordo38]

There are too many problems with these transportation services to the travelers and tourist using them. Big fines need to be handed out when service goes down. No excuses.

With a little jail time thrown in for good measure. Surprising what some old food and stinky bathroom facilities will do to return people to the straight and narrow. Maintenance was never a strong suit here.

[Lancashireman]

Just get on with it...

Every 'man-made' system will fail at some point.

Baht for baht...the BTS is good value.

[Nomyai]

Scuttlebutt- BTS problems because farrang smell and overweight.................lol.

[Remi080]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is track switching? The trains don't switch tracks, so what does? And while on the subject of chaos and overcrowding, why does the BTS (and MRT to some extent) persist in running Mickey Mouse trains of so few carriages when the stations are designed to cope with far more? New York and London have roughly similar populations, but NY often runs 12 carriages and London eight. Bangkok runs four, only quite recently up from three. The only explanation is that they don't care about the service they run so don't want to spend money on providing a more comfortable service with more seats. Of course, the VIPs who run the service probably never actually use their trains, so why should they care.

Its not a Dumb question by the way. but they do switch tracks because not all trains will return trough the day. Lets say that in the morning 4 go out and 4 come back in rush time. After rush hours 2 go out and 6 come back, this can change by how many travelers there are. BTS can only store trains at Mo chit at the moment, so some trains have to switch... to keep it simple.

so some need to switch track and second reason is cause of emergency . To keep a long explanation short. Standard procedure, They cut the whole power Off at midnight with no errors shown, until 05:00 they switch it back on, and at 06:00 they have to drive. This morning They discovered the error in the control room, but they where able to drive the trains. They called in the maintenance team at 05:10, and discovered the problem at 05:30, no time to fix it. so decided to let the trains go but with delay, oh and it was not 6 minutes delay witch they say on the news, but control room viewed 12 minutes.

glad I work for BMCL Btw.

[doode]

Ah the BTS. Incompetent and innefficient

Thats an unprofessional comment

BTS is very reliable

[Nomyai]

Ah the BTS. Incompetent and innefficient

Thats an unprofessional comment

BTS is very reliable

Many here dont like anything thai-its a wonder why they live here.

[Remi080]

Ah the BTS. Incompetent and innefficient

Thats an unprofessional comment

BTS is very reliable

Many here dont like anything thai-its a wonder why they live here.

Amen! All these negative people, Thailand is never good enough. But still live here and sit here wining about anything as a bunch of baby's.

[MiKT]

Well, for what it's worth, this is a pretty uncommon occurrence; the BTS is generally very reliable transportation. If you can remember back pre Dec 1999, a trip from Klongtoey to Childom (home and work) could take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Stuff breaks and it seems like the folks at BTS are on top of it,

That’s right; people here don't remember the terrible chaos pre Dec 1999. Yes, it was far worse than today (I once spent 8 hrs driving from Silom to Don Muang) and how lucky they are to have had the Skytrain built in the first place. There was terrible opposition from those who did not want the great unwashed looking into their posh schools, or even worse stopping and letting their little darlings mingle with the hoi pollie.

Nor do they remember the small numbers of passengers for quite a few years that never made the BTS a viable commercial proposition. Successive Governments did not want to put money into railways and only You Know Who made the Underground possible.

The BTS may not be anywhere near as good as it could have been, but it has not done to badly for 16 years and more lines being added will help the overall situation in Bangkok.

However, the ticketing situation has been a travesty. BTS started off with gates and TVM's using magnetic tickets that were exactly as used in Singapore in the 80’s but has failed to keep up with the times and although it has smart cards now, it has not made any real effort to do what needs to be done to provide real through ticketing to the underground. This situation will persist with the Green/Purple Lines, etc. until the Government actually makes it worthwhile for the BTS to change. It’s a concession and needs to make money like any commercial enterprise.

The Government should have sorted this out long ago and the new proposed Central Clearing House will not help with the single ticket situation. Given the 20 Million visitors a year to KT it is ridiculous not to put a very small amount of money into through ticketing.

As for reliability, both the BTS and the Underground have been very reliable on a train kilometerage basis (both the Siemens and the Chinese stock) and the staff (99.999% Thai) have been very professional and have done a fantastic job.

Certainly they need to get more 4 car trains, but unless the government show willing it takes time.

Look at the fantastic job that has been done in Seoul or Shanghai with numerous lines built at Government expense and what a difference they have made to the economies. We are cursed with a Government that wants to spend money on tanks and submarines and the like when they don’t have a real justification any more. Now they want to spend on an extensive HS train network that is not required yet, just to look good and get their mitts on Chinese money. Let’s have some reasonable speed trains that don’t fall off the crumbling lines every day, let’s have dual tracks, not expensive HS trains that will not be able to run at full capacity for another 50 years.

If you want to know about breakdowns, try standing in the snow waiting for a BR train that will not come until tomorrow, or next week if the wrong snow is on the line; or for the TFL drivers to come off strike. Breakdowns are an everyday occurrence on every railway network, even in Japan.

Fortunately for Bangkokians extended breakdowns have been very rare on the BTS and accidents very, very few.

Count your blessings whilst sweating in the queues.

[Nomyai]

bus 511 goes up and down sukhumvit. but please if u smell or are fat take a taxi......hahaha

[bangon04]

"The temporary routes using today will see the service in Sukhumvit line separated into two sections; Mo Chit-Siam-Mo Chit and Siam-Bearing-Siam."

So you have to get out at Siam and get back in again......??? In other words you have to change trains at Siam??

[dotpoom]

There are too many problems with these transportation services to the travelers and tourist using them. Big fines need to be handed out when service goes down. No excuses.

At least not as bad as the same services being closed down completely due to " official strikes" called by Unions....as it the case at the moment back in my own country.