Where to get a taxi to Bangkok Immigration office?

[BadCash]

Last time I did a Visa extension at the immigration office in Bangkok I took the BTS to MoChit and thought I'd just get a taxi the rest of the way. But it turned out to be almost impossible to find an available taxi there at 8 in the morning! Spent probably 20-30 minutes trying to find one (while walking in the direction of the immigration office to at least avoid some of the traffic queues). It wasn't raining or anything, although it was a bit cloudy and seemed like it might rain, so that might have something to do with it. Saw quite a few occupied taxis though, so perhaps it would be better to walk in the opposite direction? Or even get off at another BTS station?

 

The next extension is coming up in a few days, so I am very interested in knowing if anyone has any solid tips on the best place in that area to quickly find a taxi at around 8 in the morning?

[Get Real]

What about the place you stay. It´s not especially expensive with a little bit longer taxi ride. Maybe more comfortable too.

[mikebike]

If you are firm on using BTS take it all the way to Don Muang then take 15 min taxi from there.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

OP.. I think you walked in the wrong direction on the road there, after getting off BTS.

 

I've been there many times. And every time I've been there, there's a very well organized and regulated taxi queue on the in-town direction from the BTS stairs. On the in-town side, the taxis all queue up curbside there in what usually is a very long queue and people coming off BTS just walk right up and get into the next taxi waiting in line there.

 

But if you came down the BTS stairs and then walked up the road in the going out of town direction, you'd be going away from the taxi queue and wouldn't necessarily see it at all. And on that section of the road, it's hard to catch a random taxi curbside because the buses usually are using that lane and the taxis usually are driving in the further in lanes.

 

[buick]

use exit 3 of the mochit BTS.  when you get across the road you use the stairs to get down to street level.  do a u-turn at the bottom of the stairs and walk straight for a about 50M (maybe less).  there are taxis lined up there.  the last two times i went (one was last week), they had concrete barriers in the road and the taxis were lined up against this barrier. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, mikebike said:

If you are firm on using BTS take it all the way to Don Muang then take 15 min taxi from there.

BTS doesn't go to DM. It last northern station is at Mochit.

 

[mikebike]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

BTS doesn't go to DM. It last northern station is at Mochit.

 

BTS Skytrain?

[buick]

tall john, you must be suggesting exit 2 or 4 ?  i believe my exit 3 is the out of town side. 

[buick]

BTS skytrain ends at mochit.  still a fair distance to DMK.  i use the BTS on my regular trips to buriram via plane from DMK.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, buick said:

tall john, you must be suggesting exit 2 or 4 ?  i believe my exit 3 is the out of town side. 

When you exit BTS Mochit, and if you want to travel north (?) toward Chaengwattana and Immigration, you need to exit the BTS station on the PARK side of the road (sorry, I don't keep track of exit numbers).

 

Once you exit on the park side of the road, the taxi queue is beyond the last BTS stairs heading back into town.  If you come down the stairs and walk going out of town (north?) toward CW and Immigration, you'd never see it.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, mikebike said:

BTS Skytrain?

Yes, ends at Mochit, doesn't go to DM at all right now. Though, there is a rail line under construction right now that eventually will connect to DM, some years in the future.

 

Right now, the only airport rail line in BKK is the Airport Rail Link line that connects to Suvarnabhumi.  Nothing to DM.

 

[buick]

i should also mention, depending on where you live, the MRT can be a better choice.  i get on at asoke so can choose either one.  the BTS is pretty crowded during the morning commute btwn askoke and siam, sometimes to victory monument.  the MRT is empty going towards bang sue in the morning.  just get off at chatuchak.  there is an exit right by where the mochit pedestrian walkway comes over (there are two walkways, you want to one furthest 'out of town').

 

use MRT exit 2 and walk in the same direction as traffic.  the BTS pedestrian bridges will be behind you.  taxi line not far.

Edited March 5, 2017 by buick

[buick]

7 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Once you exit on the park side of the road, the taxi queue is beyond the last BTS stairs heading back into town.  If you come down the stairs and walk going out of town (north?) toward CW and Immigration, you'd never see it.

 

 

yes, the park side is the right one (where exit 3 is).  the key is to make the u-turn at the bottom of the stairs so you are heading toward CW.  if you don't make the u-turn, you are walking back into town and will not see taxis (i think tall john is a little confused as walking out of town is the right direction, you don't want to walk back towards town). 

[lopburi3]

Can not answer for that specific location but free taxi are few and far between from 0730-0830 every morning in my experience.  I often leave before 0700 if I really need to be on time (hospital or such) and for getting to immigration at OOB 0830 I normally get taxi about 0700-0730 and take whole distance (as going out of town so traffic not as bad as going in - but still a long taxi ride - but taxi is so cheap not worth trying to take others).  

[cliffsi02]

From Mo Chit you can take the 55 bus for 8 baht right to the corner of immagration and then a free jitney to the building. Easy!


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[IMA_FARANG]

I don't understand what you are talking about.

I have been to CW at least 50 times and I take my taxis there from the nearby Fortune mall which if you need to use it is also a stop on the  MRT.

[BadCash]

The answers from buick and TallGuyJohninBKK seem to be perfect - except that they contradict one another.... 

 

6 hours ago, buick said:

 

yes, the park side is the right one (where exit 3 is).  the key is to make the u-turn at the bottom of the stairs so you are heading toward CW.  if you don't make the u-turn, you are walking back into town and will not see taxis (i think tall john is a little confused as walking out of town is the right direction, you don't want to walk back towards town). 

 

6 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

When you exit BTS Mochit, and if you want to travel north (?) toward Chaengwattana and Immigration, you need to exit the BTS station on the PARK side of the road (sorry, I don't keep track of exit numbers).

 

Once you exit on the park side of the road, the taxi queue is beyond the last BTS stairs heading back into town.  If you come down the stairs and walk going out of town (north?) toward CW and Immigration, you'd never see it.

 

 

Which one is it guys?

 

It sounds like TallGuyJohninBKK is right, since last time I did as buick suggests and walked out of town on the park side of the road - there was definitely not a taxi queue in that direction (and I walked past the intersection, turning left towards immigration!). The only queue'ish thing there were some minivans. However, I had a quick look from up on the bridge to see if I could spot any taxi queue, but I didn't see one towards the city center either...?

[BadCash]

3 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

I don't understand what you are talking about.

I have been to CW at least 50 times and I take my taxis there from the nearby Fortune mall which if you need to use it is also a stop on the  MRT.

Right back at you - I don't understand what you are talking about.

I'm talking about taking the BTS from On Nut to get as close to immigration as possible before having to deal with potential rush hour traffic jams - as you might know, the risk of the BTS getting stuck in traffic is about 0%... I don't know why you'd assume I'm staying anywhere near Fortune Town? Or are you suggesting that it would be a better choice to get off the MRT at Rama IX/Fortune Town and take a taxi from there than to keep going as close to immigration as possible without risk of traffic jams?

Edited March 5, 2017 by BadCash

[buick]

i've been going to CW for years and also use that mode of transport to get to DMK airport twice a month for a domestic flight to buriram.  i know tall john provides alot of good advice on the site but i think he got mixed up, we all do that at times. 

 

when you exit the park side (BTS exit 3 or MRT exit 2), the traffic is going out of town towards CW.   i went to CW on friday (two days ago).   i forgot (one of those mixed up moments !!!) to use MRT and was stuck in a jammed BTS train (got on at asoke).  i arrived to mochit at 8:15am, got a taxi no problem, there was a line of at least 10, maybe 20. i've always seen taxis there.  although this time the guy had no idea where i was going so i had to tell him where to turn to get into the govt complex and direct him to the back of the complex where the immigration area is.  there is still traffic to deal with on the road to CW as alot of people are going to work at that time.  it took me 30 minutes on friday.  arrived at 8:45.

 

OP you might consider BTS to asoke (from onnut) and switch to MRT.  not any quicker but far fewer people using MRT going that way in the AM. more comfortable ride.  but no windows to look out !!

 

 

 

 

 

[fishism]

This is just next to the MRT park exit. Sometimes no taxis and just wait on the pavement. I've never had a taxi driver understand immigration but all understand passport, but may take you to the wrong building.




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[buick]

that is the spot.  used to walk to where those pink taxis in the picture are (farther down the road against the curb).  but now this concrete barrier is there and that appears to be the new taxi line.

[BadCash]

23 minutes ago, buick said:

that is the spot.  used to walk to where those pink taxis in the picture are (farther down the road against the curb).  but now this concrete barrier is there and that appears to be the new taxi line.

That's very strange - I recognize the spot in the photo, walked right past it last time - absolutely zero taxis there! I hung around that area for a few minutes, no available taxis showed up, and after starting walking and looking back over my shoulder from time to time there were still none! Must've had extremely bad timing or something... Well, will be going on wednesday, so I'll give it another try... will try to remember to report back about how it went :D 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, BadCash said:

The answers from buick and TallGuyJohninBKK seem to be perfect - except that they contradict one another.... 

 

Which one is it guys?

 

It sounds like TallGuyJohninBKK is right, since last time I did as buick suggests and walked out of town on the park side of the road - there was definitely not a taxi queue in that direction (and I walked past the intersection, turning left towards immigration!). The only queue'ish thing there were some minivans. However, I had a quick look from up on the bridge to see if I could spot any taxi queue, but I didn't see one towards the city center either...?

 

Yes, to clarify some of what was posted above:

 

First, the BMTA bus line that runs from Mochit BTS to the CAT Building on CW Road, just a block or so prior to CW Soi 7 where Immigration is located, is the number 52 line, not 55. To catch the 52 headed north toward CW, you exit the BTS station on the side of the road there where there is the large public park (not the opposite side with the MRT parking and yards). I believe the stopping stop for the bus is in the middle area between the two opposite sets of BTS stairs there.

 

Second, to the best of my recollection, the taxi queue on the road to head out of town toward CW is definitely located on the in-town direction from the BTS stairs on the park side of the road. So, no matter what set of BTS stairs you come down on the park side of the road, you wanna be walking back in the direction opposite the vehicle traffic on that side of the road. The taxi queue begins just beyond the stairs that come down at the far in-town direction on the road.

 

Unless they've changed the setup drastically since the last time I was there, the taxi queue is at the in-town end of the BTS station there, the buses tend to stop in the area between the north and south sets of stairs on the park side of the road, and there's not much on the north/out of down direction there, except a solitary stop for the A1 bus that runs from there to DM Airport.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[BuckBee]

Chatachak mrt works well for taxi or mini van.

Best option can be train, I use scoot from sam yan to hua lampong on the mrt and get train to lak si which was like 10 or 15 baht, do a deal with a bike or tuk-tuk or walk out lak si and try luck with grabbing a meter cab, super close to changwattana .

About time the bts extension got up and running. Can't believe how long extension work on both bts and mrt has/is taking ...

[buick]

19 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Unless they've changed the setup drastically since the last time I was there

 

it is possible that they've changed the set up since your last visit.  as i noted, i used to just grab a taxi that was parked against the curb.  but more recently there has been this queue against the concrete barriers.  the bus stop structure itself blocks your view of the road and when buses are there it is worse.  i almost missed the queue myself last friday.   

[BadCash]

It turned out that the taxi queue was indeed where @buick stated - just north of the north west exit (i.e. just beyond the BTS station on the Chatuchak park side). Plenty of taxis there, no problems getting one (had to go out to the concrete barriers that separate the bus lane from the other lanes). 

 

I still have no idea why there weren't any taxis there last time though, must have been a freak coincidence and possibly some weather report warning about possible rain...

 

Off topic: Arrived at immigration 08.25, already perhaps 100 people in line :/ Once the doors opened, most proceeded to get tickets directly but I had to fill out the form first (got two copies so next time I'll have it ready beforehand). Filled out the application, proceeded to get at ticket and was super lucky because I got it from a counter that just opened up, and for some reason I got queue "K" instead of "J", and literally 0 minutes waiting time to hand over the paperwork and pay - didn't even have time to sit down! Waited perhaps 10 minutes for them to process the application, got my name called and was out of there at 09.10. Incredibly smooth operation (I think I was super lucky though with getting counter "K" on my ticket, as the queue for the "J" counters had like 10-15 people already waiting).

[buick]

i can't remember which is which, but the counter letter is related to what you are doing - extension of tourist visa or extension of visa exempt.  one does tourist visas, the other does visa exempt. 

 

i think this is also a relatively slow period at CW.  more people getting extensions in nov/dec/jan.  i remember going in july one year and i got queue number 5 (from J or K, can't recall which).  they were on 3 when i sat down so i was out of there quick.  other times, i've got number 50 and they are on 3.  i always show up btwn 8:30 and 9:15.

 

bad cash - how was the traffic to CW ?  i went to DMK yesterday and it looks like the road is cut down to one lane at the first intersection you hit after you enter a taxi by BTS/MRT.  i had my taxi take the tollway as a result. 

[BadCash]

6 minutes ago, buick said:

i can't remember which is which, but the counter letter is related to what you are doing - extension of tourist visa or extension of visa exempt.  one does tourist visas, the other does visa exempt. 

 

i think this is also a relatively slow period at CW.  more people getting extensions in nov/dec/jan.  i remember going in july one year and i got queue number 5 (from J or K, can't recall which).  they were on 3 when i sat down so i was out of there quick.  other times, i've got number 50 and they are on 3.  i always show up btwn 8:30 and 9:15.

 

bad cash - how was the traffic to CW ?  i went to DMK yesterday and it looks like the road is cut down to one lane at the first intersection you hit after you enter a taxi by BTS/MRT.  i had my taxi take the tollway as a result. 

The used both J and K for the same type of Visa yesterday, since my friend got a "J" ticket with a 12 person waiting time, so he went back to the counter I used and got a K ticket with 1 person waiting time instead :) I can see how they would use them differently depending on the load of people though.

 

My last extension was in january, was a total of 2 hours then (but arrived 08.50 due to not finding a taxi).

 

Traffic was no problem, didn't really pay too much attention but I don't recall any lane restrictions... had a quick look in Google Maps navigation before deciding not to use the tollway - it would have only saved 5 minutes according to Google, so not worth it in my case. Trip took about 20 minutes including a 5 minute sightseeing detour (the driver took a wrong turn, mistaking the Gov. complex for the similar looking but smaller building just north of it, I think it's some sort of court building).

 

 

[buick]

that is interesting about J and K doing both types, it is the same thing really so makes perfect sense that they'd share the load.  but 'sense' is sometimes lacking at government offices in any nation !!!

 

have you ever used what i'll call the 'backway' into CW ?  you take the first left once you are on CW rd.  then you take the third or fourth right turn and that road takes you right to the back of the govt complex.  check google maps, it is easy to spot.  many taxi drivers know it but i've had to show some.  last time my driver said too much traffic so i took the tollway and it drops you off just past this 'shortcut' so had to deal with the traffic on CW rd.  there are so many driveways that i have trouble picking out the one for govt complex, i guess i've used the back way too often !!