Junta slammed as Pattaya "baht buses" taken off the street

[abab]

I never gad and respect for any army anywhere in the world but for this time they do something useful !

 

 

[Monkeyrobot]

How about a cable car  route around beach and second road? 

[CGW]

1 hour ago, jesimps said:

Leave our baht buses alone and do something useful like reducing the carnage on the roads.

But! the baht buses add to the carnage with their poor driving and lack of consideration for other road users!

[Jingthing]

Pattayas baht buses are truly wonderful transportation...
Pattaya is lucky to have them...They do a great job day in and
day out...

Or they used to...

[fforest1]

2 minutes ago, CGW said:

But! the baht buses add to the carnage with their poor driving and lack of consideration for other road users!

Like all the other inconsiderate Thai drivers...lol

[Cake Monster]

Why does Pattaya not have a safe and cheap public transport system of buses, as many, many Tourist destinations have ?. many of which are subsidised by local Authorities and Tourist Industries to accommodated the tourists and local population alike. thus trying to give an overall better experience for all.

The answer is really simple - Its because of years and years of corruption, and until a grip has been taken upon the cancer of corruption in Thailand, laws will be totally disregarded

[Chicken George]

No way can they be replaced. Taxis? No way as you would need so many of them and far more expensive.. Ok some turn off too soon for you but you just get on another one. Buses on set routes would not give the same service. 

Baht buses in Pattaya move thousands of people everyday. 

 

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, Chicken George said:

No way can they be replaced. Taxis? No way as you would need so many of them and far more expensive.. Ok some turn off too soon for you but you just get on another one. Buses on set routes would not give the same service. 

Baht buses in Pattaya move thousands of people everyday. 

 

Yes and no. They could be replaced with a larger bus system, with set routes, set stops, much wider geographical coverage, and a transfer system. But of course they won't be. 

[gdgbb]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Public transport helps everyone on the streets. This will just drive more residents (and even tourists) into private vehicles. 

I'm assuming you either don't live here and/or have your own transport already.

My POV is obviously of those that NEED public transport. 

It won't drive anyone anywhere, it's affected 32 buses out of hundreds which means no measurable impact on passengers and they will be back in 2 more days.

Best not to make any assumptions about other posters, you're almost always going to be wrong.

[Jingthing]

10 minutes ago, gdgbb said:

It won't drive anyone anywhere, it's affected 32 buses out of hundreds which means no measurable impact on passengers and they will be back in 2 more days.

Best not to make any assumptions about other posters, you're almost always going to be wrong.

What a silly response. I was talking about if the stop system is permanently enforced, not what you're talking about.

 

As I've stated if the stop system is permanent, there are going to be fights between passengers at the stops for limited seats and frail people will be forced to ride the back, which is not safe for them. 

 

Can't be bothered with hard core disingenuousness.

 

IGNORE LIST. 

[gdgbb]

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

How about these new micro busses 22 seaters then  run it by government hop on hop off fixed fees fixed stops every 15 minutes one will pass by...demolish all the poluting song teaws.

What's so much more polluting about them over other vehicles and your proposed buses? 

[gdgbb]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

What a silly response. I was talking about if the stop system is permanently enforced, not what you're talking about.

 

Can't be bothered with hard core disingenuousness.

 was i

IGNORE LIST. 

No, you were talking about the 32 impounded buses as was I and there was nothing disingenuous about my comments, hardcore or otherwise.

 

Ignore list?  How you hurt me!

[champers]

Baht busses have their faults but are mostly of great use if you are on or near a bus route. They are the best public transport in this city because there is no alternative. Pattaya needs to up its game if it wants to attract quality tourists and  its citizens deserve better.

[Pdaz]

Brilliant. Would love to see their number reduced by half.  Less Songtaews but more passengers in each vehicles. Less congestion and less diesel fumes. Higher earnings for the remaining drivers.

Funny, I see the same members who moan about the lack of rules, road safety and legislation all arguing for the rights of Songtaews and not wanting any oversight and rules.

 

[Destiny1990]

35 minutes ago, gdgbb said:

What's so much more polluting about them over other vehicles and your proposed buses? 

The song teaws are mostly very old and have  black smoke coming out the exhaust pipes.passengers sit in an open cabin inhaling diesel etc.new micro busses clearner engines and u sit enclosed.best would be a monotram system and ban all the song teaws.

[Jingthing]

Brilliant. Would love to see their number reduced by half.  Less Songtaews but more passengers in each vehicles. Less congestion and less diesel fumes. Higher earnings for the remaining drivers.
Funny, I see the same members who moan about the lack of rules, road safety and legislation all arguing for the rights of Songtaews and not wanting any oversight and rules.
 

Rules but good rules. Don't agree with this stop rule.

[wakeupplease]

7 hours ago, zorro1 said:

Enforcing the law? It's never popular for certain groups.

Thats a first then

[hobobo]

6 hours ago, thai3 said:

Never were 'buses' they should have buses but these metal crates keep the system to themselves, they are songtaews, buses are large, have proper seats and doors.

Yes, they are large, too large in fact! Have you ever watched a double-decker trying to turn from Soi Buakhao into Soi Honey? I did, and it took over 10 minutes!!!

[NanLaew]

The new bus stops that others seem to have missed have a red-painted road surface with BUS STOP in large letters as well as the yellow/white kerb and a big sign. They are large enough to take a full size tour bus therefore can easily accommodate maybe 3 or 4 baht buses. I haven't seen many of the bus stops getting abused by bad parking (haven't seen many baht buses using them either!) but over the past couple of months, there has been a few wheel clamping's of those that do. The whole baht bus system is originally based on 'request stop' where flagging them down to get on or ringing the bell to get off results in them either stopping or pulling out suddenly. Once the passengers get more educated and used to the fact that they may have to walk maybe 100 meters to get to the nearest bus stance and  the baht bus will only drop them at the nearest bus stop after the bell ring, it will become a bit easier.

 

The baht buses worked great +20 years ago when most of Pattaya was 2-way streets and Third road didn't exist. However, the sheer volume of buses, bikes and cars these days mean they don't fit in with any form of traffic management. They undeniably slow things down, especially at rush hour and on the narrower streets like Buakhao. This is a start. Once the public become educated on how the baht buses work, then the cops can start nailing the wrong-way motorbikes. Once that's sorted out, they can start booking/towing the bad parking and double parking. 

 

The city really does need a proper bus service which would ideally be serviced by the same type of bus that the city bought for the schools. Use them on a circuit that covers Tai, Klang, Nua, Third as well as runs to Naklua and Jomtien where the roads are wider with maybe the 'quaint' baht buses limited to to the original Beach/Second circuit.

 

Anyway, early days yet but if this manages to free up the Pattaya gridlock, then well done the junta.

[thailien8]

Haven't seen mentioned on this thread the main problem with this crackdown IMO:

The baht buses are not allowed to run on soi Buakhao, as there are no official bus stops there.  This is a major Inconvenience for many, since the only way south would then be via Beach road.  Luckily the Buakhao ban only seemed enforced for one day, 1 Feb, tho not as many are now daring to pick up the many passengers on this convenient, tho non-official, route.

[NanLaew]

4 minutes ago, thailien8 said:

Haven't seen mentioned on this thread the main problem with this crackdown IMO:

The baht buses are not allowed to run on soi Buakhao, as there are no official bus stops there.  This is a major Inconvenience for many, since the only way south would then be via Beach road.  Luckily the Buakhao ban only seemed enforced for one day, 1 Feb, tho not as many are now daring to pick up the many passengers on this convenient, tho non-official, route.

Banning baht buses from Buakhao will be difficult to enforce on market days especially at the Pattaya Tai/Wat Chai end. They already block access into Buakhao from Tai from 9 AM on market days since there's a solid line of taxis already parked already up and facing north for when the shoppers want to head home.

 

As for baht bus access and egress from Buakhao to Second, there's really only Soi Diana with some turning down behind Avenue to come out on Second at Pattayaland. Soi Honey is truly dicey since it the narrowest 2-way street around. There's Lengkee, Chaiyapoom (rough as all buggery) and the Soi 13, 19 and 21 that are navigable 2-way between Buakhao and Third. Maybe that's where one may have to bite the bullet and get a motorbike taxi.

[wpcoe]

A few people have proposed a city-operated bus system rather than privately-run system and that might work, especially if the military ran it (in the beginning, at least.)  I know a large metropolis fairly nearby that has a sh*tload of controversial new buses up for grabs. Just kidding, folks.  I think those are too large for our fair city.  Too bad, though.

 

But back to the basic concept of a municipal bus system:  Why not?  It could easily supplement the cheaper baht bus, not necessarily replace it.  Yes, it might reduce the number of job opportunities for our philanthropic baht bus drivers -- and if it does, that would speak to the benefit to the populace of municipal buses -- but how about spreading the baht bus route map out to cover the entire "metropolitan" area?  That would keep some of the jobs.  Things like Third Road *and* Soi Buakow?  How about the Dark Side, Pratamnak Hill and maybe a loop around Jomtien Beach to include Jomtien Second Road and/or Soi Watboon?  There are probably other well-populated areas without baht bus service that I'm not aware -- give them baht bus service.  Maybe even subsidize any new routes in the beginning to incentivise drivers to cover them.

[gdgbb]

5 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

The song teaws are mostly very old and have  black smoke coming out the exhaust pipes

No they don't, the odd one or two may smoke but not the majority.

[Destiny1990]

4 hours ago, gdgbb said:

No they don't, the odd one or two may smoke but not the majority.

Think an mono tram and or enclosed mini buses with fixed stops will be more of this time

[manarak]

funny to read Thai people complaining about "all those regulations"... back in Europe, we almost can't poop without permission.

[fforest1]

Its funny how there never seemed to be much of a problem with the

baht buses until some one decided to fix them....

[morrobay]

11 hours ago, hobobo said:

Yes, they are large, too large in fact! Have you ever watched a double-decker trying to turn from Soi Buakhao into Soi Honey? I did, and it took over 10 minutes!!!

You are conflating the issue: City buses are much smaller than the tour buses

[gk10002000]

Where are the "designated areas"?  1 Km apart on second road?  100 meters apart. etc?

[Rimmer]

Off topic stuff removed

[birdy01]

I don't buy a car because the BB are so good we need more [emoji16][emoji106][emoji106][emoji41]

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