Bangkok Subway (MRT subway)
Almost everyone is familiar with the Skytrain Bangkok. The MRT (metro) is perhaps less well known, but still an excellent means of transport.
In July 2004, Bangkok's first subway line opened. The subway is a godsend for many Bangkokians, but tourists use it less. That's because the metro line is not close to major tourist attractions. The metro is nevertheless useful for tourists for three reasons:
- You have a connection with the metro to a number of stations of the BTS Skytrain.
- You can take the metro quickly and efficiently to the Central Railway Station of Bangkok: Hualamphong.
- The metro is excellent for visiting the famous Chatuchak weekend market.
Bangkok Subway Stations
The subway of Bangkok is called MRT (Mass Rapid Transit). The subway line runs from Hualamphong Central Station to the east towards Silom and Lumpini Park. The underground line then curves north towards the Sukhumvit area and Chatuchak Park. The terminus is Bang Sue.
The full list of metro stations:
- hualamphong
- Sam Yan
- Silom – here you can change to the Skytrain (Sala Deeng station)
- Lumpini
- Khlong Toei
- Queen Sirikit Convention Centre
- Sukhumvit – here you can change to the Skytrain (station Asoke)
- Phetchaburi
- Phra Ram 9
- Thailand Cultural Center
- Huai Kwang
- Sutthisan
- Ratchadaphisek
- Years Phrao
- Phayon Yothin
- Chatuchak Park – here you can change to the Skytrain (station Mo Chit)
- Kamphaeng Phet
- Scared Sue
The Bangkok subway operates daily from 06.00am to midnight. During peak hours (06.00:09.00 AM to 16.30:19.30 AM and 5:10 PM to XNUMX:XNUMX PM), more trains are used and the waiting time is less than XNUMX minutes. During off-peak hours, the waiting time is less than XNUMX minutes.
Pricing
The price of a single travel depends on the distance traveled. Adults pay between 15 and up to 40 Baht. For children and seniors it is between 8 and 20 Baht. Adults can buy a day ticket for 120 Baht, which gives you unlimited use of the metro.
You pay at a machine (the instruction is simple and in English). After payment you will receive a black plastic coin. With this you can open the entrance gates to the platform.
Click here for an overview: Route map Bangkok Metro
More information on the MRT website: www.bangkokmetro.co.th
I took the Skytrain for the first time in November. There was a ticket office in front of the platform with a very large “tickets” written above it. So I told the kind man where I wanted to go. That is then 20 baht was the announcement. So I hand him a 20 baht note. Do I get coins back with the message that the ticket machine is behind me. Humour!
@ haha, we've all made that mistake at one time or another. Me, too. They are exchange counters.
However, not all are exchange counters. You just have to look closely, because there is always a counter where you can buy a ticket. You can't even get a day ticket from the machine, you have to get it at the counter. We are still in Thailand now and a few weeks ago we spent a week in Bangkok. In that case, a day ticket is ideal. Please note that this is not valid on the line from SUV to the city, for this you always have to buy a separate coin that you hold in front of the scanner the first time (i.e. on departure) and throw it into the gates after arrival to get through . For the many of us who travel with 333 Travel and therefore get the free night at the Eastin, this is a necessary piece to not have to walk too far and to be able to transfer directly to the BTS. Ideal for us. In addition, if you combine the BTS with the MRT and the ferries on the Chao Praya, you have an ideal transport through the busy city without delay. And then getting on and off at the BTS. We can certainly learn something from that in the Netherlands. Nothing squeezes between slip-ons and drop-outs. The trains stop at a predetermined place, so the location of the doors is always known. To the left and right of the doors, neat rows are made by the loafers and at the location of the doors there is plenty of space to give the alighters the opportunity to get out first. Once this has been done, boarding from both sides will follow. Simple, but oh so effective.
So for us only a taxi if we have to go somewhere where no BTS, MRT or boat comes close and then only from the nearest station. And it will only get better in the future. In the course of this year, the BTS will add a few more stations and I don't think it will stop there.
You can not get the senior ticket ( coin ) from the machine , but you can buy it at the counter .
I think you only get that discount if you have a senior card with sufficient balance on it.
There are many more advantages of the subway. I name one. If you get off at Petchaburi station and walk a few minutes south you can take the boat across Klong Saen Saeb. Either towards bang Kapi and Hua Mak, or towards Ratchprarop, Central World Plaza. A saving of perhaps an hour, especially during rush hour.
If you use the mrt and bts a lot, a charging card is recommended.
You put a balance on it and you can go straight through the gates.
You check out in the same way and your ride is booked.
For the 65+ there is a discount on the ride and also the special card for this.
The rabbit card of the bts also gives various discounts at, for example, the MacDonald.
I do not understand how you get a rabbit card over 65 +, I am always refused it in a Thai woman, but she also says that it is not possible for farang, guess what?
@ Erik I have an MRT pass for Child and Elder (65+) and pay half the fare. Didn't even ask for ID when buying the card. The term rabbit card means nothing to me. I have no experience with the BTS.
60+ paid for a 30 day ticket 250 Baht for the MRT. I myself have to pay 1.250 Baht and am a year younger. With children it is about the length, next to the cash register there is a measuring rod that the children have to stand for. At least at Lumpini I always buy the tickets there.
I have a 60+ card for the MRT, fill out a form at the cashier and show your passport. It's not possible for the BTS, that's only for Thais (logical anyway).
@ Renévan The MRT card is valid from the age of 65 (see back). I did not have to fill out a form myself.
It is indeed on the back, I just checked the site of the MRT. There was a promotion from 03-07-2012 to 02-07-2014, also for 60 year olds and older. They should have told me that when I bought it, now I can buy another one after July 2nd. It wasn't mentioned anywhere that it was a promotion, at least that's what my wife says.
I have also visited some other Thailand forums, and everyone who has recently bought an elder card thinks that it is from the age of 60. I must have read somewhere that the card is from 60 years old, and that's why I bought it. But nowhere read anything about a promotion. So after July 2 you run the risk of a fine if you are not over 65 if you use it. The BTS is more clearly above 60 and only for Thais.
I always buy 2 30 day tickets for the MRT, my comrade is 62 years old and I am now 59 years old and I have been paying 2Baht for 250+ for 60 years for a 30 day ticket, the back also says 60+.
@ Jack I'm not familiar with the MRT 30 day ticket. I myself have a debit card with a credit that can be topped up. That card is for 65 plus.
Dick/Jack
30 day pass card. Cost 1400 Baht.
http://www.bangkokmetro.co.th/ticket.aspx?Menu=67&Lang=En
This next link concerns Child/Elder card.
There is also some interesting info at the bottom for those who are / will be 60 years old.
See Privileged point 2.
http://www.bangkokmetro.co.th/ticket.aspx?Menu=60&Lang=En
Last February I went to see the expansion of the metro. Beyond Bang Sue, construction of the extension is well underway. The first new station past Bang Sue is Tao Pun. There will be a crossing station here with the Purple Line, which is also under construction. A new bridge will be built over the Chao Praya River. Construction is also underway beyond Hualamphong. Entire blocks of houses have been demolished for the first new station there.
Is there also a kind of ticket (eg 3-day pass) for sale that gives you unlimited access to the metro and skytrain?
I clicked on the map. I conclude from this that you can get from the new airport to the old airport via a transfer at Phatchaburi and then you take the metro first south and then west to the train station, and then by train to the old airport. Is that right?
Can be correct, but better to use the free bus service that runs between Suvannaphum and Don Muang. Looks a bit like the yellow American school buses. Just look for the pick-up point because it seems to change quite often. I seem to remember there was a departure every half hour. Duration of the ride was about 1 hour (depending on traffic of course…). We weren't even asked about a plane ticket the last time... Already a year ago, so check again.
@ Willem van Doorn Correct. At Phetchaburi, transfer from the Airport Rail Link via a long pedestrian bridge onto the MRT, which will take you to Hua Lampong. You can go to Don Mueang by train. I don't know the frequency of that service, but you can probably look it up on the SRT site if it is up to date.
Guy and Dick thanks. If I have to go to Don Mueng and I need a plane ticket to take the shuttle bus, then that is of no use to me if, for example, I want to pick someone up on Don Mueng or want to spend the night in that hotel there that you can reach via a footbridge ( if that bridge and if that hotel is still there). I am someone who first checks the possibilities by rail (preferably by skytrain) and only then makes plans. I don't like a bus or any kind of transport that has to strangle itself through the bustle of Bangkok. That is why from Trat or Pattaya I prefer to travel by bus - not a minibus - to the international airport (with the difficult name) than to a Bangkok bus station in particular. The air there - the most depraved in all of Bangkok - guarantees that you lose a year of your life for every minute you stay there, although the air at an airport is of course not pure sea breeze. But it's not really that bad there and an air station - certainly also Suvannaphum - has allure (and in this case has 3 excellent restaurants on the 'floor'; a restaurant in that ambiance there, which you can visit at your transfer point, is one to be appreciated provision). There is also no need to search for where the shuttle bus departs from if you continue with the skytrain from 'phum'. Anyway, we have strayed from the subject (the subway) but that's what you have with transport options: they take you somewhere else than where you were.