Get on the bus in Bangkok
Iryna Rasko / Shutterstock.com
Once in a while public transportr made in Bangkok? Especially during rush hour it is a rich experience to experience a ride in a bulging bus without air conditioning.
To take advantage of this unique opportunity Thailand's capital over 3.500 buses ready for you. Think only very few farangs need it. About half of the buses have an air-conditioning system and the others have natural cooling, because doors and windows are always wide open. The exhaust fumes of the immense traffic are therefore largely leading the way. The body that holds sway over all this is the BMTA, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority.
The buses carry half a million passengers every day and, if that were not enough, an equal number of buses operated by other companies run under the flag of BMTA to the neighboring provinces. Three and a half thousand minivans complete the fleet, together transporting about three and a half million passengers a day on 116 routes. How many inhabitants Bangkok has remains an unsolved mystery. According to official statistics, more than 9 million and if we include greater Bangkok, another three million registered residents will be added.
Safety
A large number of minibuses operated by private companies may be added to this number. Some of them have a concession from the official body, the BMTA, but the vast majority are not registered. High speeds, poorly maintained vehicles and inexperienced drivers are the cause of many accidents. MOT? Never heard of it. Add to that the huge number of taxis and it will be clear why Bangkok is struggling with a major traffic and exhaust gas problem.
Between Mochit 2 bus terminal and BTS Mochit I usually use such buses. It is just as fast as a taxi and much cheaper than a taxi. 8 to 14 baht per ride (depending on with or without air conditioning).
Occasionally it happened to me that nothing had to pay. I do not know why.
From Mochit (2) you can also be brought to the city center very cheaply.
Of course it is not as comfortable as a taxi. It's what you choose.
Yes, sometimes we took the bus, once we couldn't get a taxi (rush hour) and we decided to get on the bus and just get off at a quieter place and then we'll see there again. i was standing on the steps where you exit the bus my husband was standing in the middle with many others when the bus had to brake very hard. And then everyone fell to the ground except me because I could hold myself up on those steps. It was so funny and dangerous at the same time but I still had to laugh when I saw everyone lying there including my husband. But then the conductor came and he grabbed my upper arm so hard and you too in the middle .bruise on my arm . but we have often laughed about this incident .
I like to do it when I'm in Bangkok > take the bus and where it seems to me to get off again and look around in a strange environment. No fast transport, but costs almost nothing and I take the natural air conditioning for granted. In the larger cities in the Netherlands you also breathe in enough rubbish.
On my first visit to Thailand and BKK I bought a bus ticket plan with which I drove around and switched to other lines to where I needed to be. I remember a boy of maybe 15 looking up at me with wide eyes and probably thinking "how the hell does he know his way around here!?"
Those guys who work there in BKK and always take the same bus lines and have probably never heard of such a bus card let alone that he could afford it! They have friends who work there and ride together and that's how they learn from each other.
That proves once again that we have received a good education so that we can draw our plan…
Education is everything!
The Skytrain and the Metro are easy in Bangkok.
The buses seemed much more chaotic and difficult to me.
Until I just looked at Google Maps.
If you choose the route there by public transport and you tick the option 'bus', you will get all the options.
Learned something again. 😉
The Viabus app is very useful
Is also a new site with details.
BUT: there are 2 major negative points for bus driving: and also google etc:
1. Even if you know the line, you still need to be able to read Thai well what is written in front of it - most lines are very long and the buses on them often don't run to the last terminus but turn around before that. That is usually also called by the conductors at the stops - if you speak Thai and know a little what those terms actually mean.
2. even if you know the line, it doesn't mean that bus will come soon. Some lines only run during rush hours, or very little, partly due to a huge lack of staff.
Furthermore, especially with private operators, there are very often completely unannounced changes or even a day without driving or lines are permanently shortened.
The picture also shows history again: that line 15, on the corner of Silom, comes from. Khao Sarn/Banglamphu and still has the stickers from FREE. That is long gone. recently prices have also increased again.
In normal buses there is a unit price, in AC buses you pay most per distance, so you must be able to indicate where you want to get off.
The bus is easy to do, when I'm in Bangkok I travel a lot by bus (outside the rush hour). Cheap and reasonably fast or you just have the bad luck that you have to wait 15-30 minutes for a bus. To be planned via Googlemaps or via https://transitbangkok.com/ (top right of the route planner tool for bus, skytrain, metro, etc.)