Stay away from BTS

[Lakegeneve]

On 7/7/2017 at 2:53 PM, bkk6060 said:

Yes too many agencies I think it s a little stupid that I can use my Rabbit card for the BTS and even buy lunch at Mc'Donalds or Siam food court etc. with it. But, cannot use it for MRT.  

That's the fault of the government and the MOT ultimately in pursuing a private concessionaire model which didn't insist on having a common ticketing platform. Very stupid.

 

However, finally after an initially promised 2009 launch with many years of delay you'll have a common ticket (Mangmoom or Spider Card) very soon to use on the BTS, MRT, ARL, buses and ferries. From early October ...(we hope)

[Crossy]

14 minutes ago, Lakegeneve said:

From early October ...(we hope)

 

Don't hold your breath LG.

 

The Low Income variant of Mangmoom (may be) operating on (some) buses this year.

 

But as yet, none of the rail operators have had any instruction from OTP / MOT / PM to start work modifying the systems to accept the card. Since there is no advantage to the operators to accept the card, they will do nothing until forced to (an issue not unique to Thailand).

 

The upgrade is not a small job with significant software changes needed to the front-end kit, blame the government committees for that with their highly complex business rules. I estimate 1 year to implement from a notice to proceed (and no contractors are involved yet).