Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

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ilz
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Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by ilz »

Not a lot of information yet but it seems major changes are on the way regarding the baht bus system in Pattaya.

As of December 24th, the new regulations would be :
- baht bus will load passengers (and passengers will get off) only at designated places
- no more baht bus chartering
- baht bus queuing waiting for customers no more allowed (like the well-khown one near the school when going to Jomtien)
- and 4 new lines which should replace the existing ones with some bewildering novelties such as no more baht buses on Pattaya 2nd or on Soi Buakhao, and a rather weird routes on line 5.
and icing on the cake, a major fare hike has already been announced - probably to force the drivers to swallow the pill.

Of course whether these rules will be implemented or not remains to be seen. If they are, this could mean the end of the easy, cheap and convenient transport system that we had in Pattaya until now.

I could not find any detailed information except on http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/960 ... -signs-new where someone has posted pictures (thai text) seemingly from a Facebook account ; and also the City Hall website is currently down. So many questions remain unanswered such as : line numbers are 4, 5, 6, and 7, what about missing numbers ?

I guess we will know more once the local penpushers will have emerged from their Christmas partying. Some feedback from those who are now on the ground ?

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Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Gaybutton »

ilz wrote: - baht bus will load passengers (and passengers will get off) only at designated places
- no more baht bus chartering
I'll believe those parts when I see them.

I don't know anything about new rules and routes because I don't use the baht buses. The only change I'm aware of is the fare increase from 10 baht to 20 baht.

I can't imagine the baht buses being banned from Second Road and/or Soi Buakhao. Those are two of the most popular routes. What would they expect people to do, start walking?

As for designated stops, that's been tried before and it didn't work. If the motivation to establish designated stops is to help relieve traffic problems, I don't see how that would help anything. Whether the baht buses stop at designated spots or continue to stop just anywhere, the rest of the traffic would still be blocked.

Pattaya always seems to try to come up with strange ways to relieve traffic problems, and so far none have worked. Remember the city buses? How long did that last before the buses disappeared? About 3 months or so, as I recall. Then came the alternate day parking along Pattaya Tai. That relieved nothing. And when was the last time the alternate day parking was actually enforced? Then there was going to be the one-way traffic along Jomtien Beach Road and Jomtien Second Road. Thankfully that one died before it was ever tried.

I also remember how a brand new road that extends out over the bay was going to be built. Never happened. Anyone remember the people mover system that was going to be built? What happened to that?

My current favorite is the Sukhumvit tunnel. Once it opens I'm waiting to see how it is going to relieve traffic problems on Sukhumvit, especially since if anything, it should have been a bridge rather than a tunnel. And the guarantee that the tunnel can't possibly flood - please give me three and a half minutes to finish having my little laugh.


Here's a photo from 2015 of a new tunnel in Wuhan, China - also guaranteed never to flood:

Image

Pattaya certainly does need to do whatever it takes to solve the traffic problems. I have no idea what can be done that would actually work, but establishing these new baht bus routes and regulations? That ain't it . . .
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Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Undaunted »

ilz wrote:Of course whether these rules will be implemented or not remains to be seen. If they are, this could mean the end of the easy, cheap and convenient transport system that we had in Pattaya until now.
I hope they are implemented, not having to deal with the baht buses on second road and Soi Buakhao as a driver of a motorbike would be great. If these changes are not implemented the city should decrease the number of baht buses as they are a nightmare and often ride around empty looking for fares.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
Jun

Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Jun »

1 Removing baht buses from the most popular routes would be about as smart as banning chairs from the beach. So it could happen.

2 The supply of baht buses exceeds demand, so no fare increase is required. It's not even sensible to increase fares with an excess supply of them.
What they should have is some buses & dedicated bus lanes, with cameras for enforcement.

3 Since the Purple route had to be 1 way, it would seem possible to get from South Pattaya to Jomtien on a purple line, but would require 2 baht buses to return.
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Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by lvdkeyes »

Let's ban all motorbikes throughout Pattaya. They are dangerous which leads to thousands of deaths, not to mention injuries.
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Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Oldbear »

The good thing is that they can't wait and fill up the buses special at the school with Wat Chai and also Thepprasit road going to Sukhumvit and Night Market. If this is implemented so the buses have to move constantly maybe they utilize all buses.
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Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Gaybutton »

My guess is in the long run they'll do what they usually do around here to solve problems - nothing. Either that or whatever they come up with won't really solve any problems. They'll just create more problems.
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Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Gaybutton »

LKAsians wrote:probably nothing will change!!
Look at the bright side. At least no further traffic problems than already exist were caused.
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Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Up2u »

In chatting with a Thai reporter while looking at the maps it should be understood the maps reflect the new routes only and the existing routes remain unchanged. The emphasis is placed on using the bus stops, no flagging down of buses and restrict the queuing by buses. Good luck with all this and I hope it works.
Jun

Re: Major changes for Pattaya baht bus system ?

Post by Jun »

ADDITIONAL routes seem like a fine idea, as long as big numbers are displayed on the front, so the intended route is clear.
I've never noticed any numbers on baht buses, but perhaps I need to look more closely.
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