BTS Checking Passports

[Trongpai]

Someone told he he heard that the BTS (Sky Train) would be asking for your passport when you topped up your Rabbit value added on card and I dismissed the news as fake. Well, I was wrong. Last night I put some money on my Rabbit card and the lady at the counter asked for my Passport. I had it with me and passed it to her. She then went to the name page and began entering it into her computer. Then the Visa page and more typing. I could not see what she was typing but lingered on the visa page. It took several minutes. All my papers were in order!

I have no idea what would happen if I did not have my passport with me, could I top up the card? What if someone is on overstay, do they call the police? Why is a transportation network checking passports? Who came up with this dumb idea? Does the BTS computer communicate with the Immigration computer? Is this limited to BTS? What about bus stations when you buy a ticket? Will they accept a copy?

I guess you can still get a single ride card at the machine without showing your passport.

Interestingly the MRT (Subway) does not want to see your passport when you top up. Different transportation authority under different management. BTS is more military with jack booted military uniforms whereas the MTS have short sleeve shirts. More women and many of the guys set off my gaydar. The Nation Anthem is played at BTS stations but not at MRT stations. MRT will give a elder card to a farang BTS will not.

[Gaybutton]

Who came up with this dumb idea?

I'm beginning to think criteria for hiring includes who can come up with the stupidest, most useless idea. Whoever comes up with the stupidest gets the job.

Latest item for my "I Don't Get It" list.

[fountainhall]

This passport requirement was introduced about 4 months ago. Initially when there were long queues, the BTS staff seemed not to bother. What they do now at peak hour on a Friday, goodness only knows. But always take your passport if you plan to top up.

[Jun]

This makes NO sense at all.
As already pointed out, anyone with passport irregularities, such as illegal immigrants will simply go to the machines and pay cash.

The entire Thai public transport system seems to be managed by someone who is a moron AND gets chaufferred around in his government car and never actually uses the transport network.
Hence no common ticket system, no transfer gates & every interchange is stupidly designed so people have to walk about 3x as far as normal. Too little spending on carriages and frequent services, but too much spending on stupid over sized concrete structures.

As a comparison, in Tokyo, you can use the same payment card on every railway & metro line in the entire region.

London isn't quite as integrated, but you can pay for the entire bus & underground network using either your contactless bank card or an "Oyster" card. So no queuing at all.
Of course, London tries quite hard to promote public transport instead of cars as an anti-pollution measure.
So at the end of the day in the City of London financial district, there is still very little traffic on the road, whereas Silom has gridlock as cars are nose to tail belching out pollution and going nowhere.

If Thailand wants to trace who has a rabbit card on the BTS, all they need to do is check your passport & finger prints when you register for the card. Then for topping it up, all they need is a fingerprint reader on the top up machines. Also, of course, allow people to top up on line.

[thewayhelooks]

Wouldn't be surprised if the person who dreamed this up was recently elected to Parliament.

[Up2u]

Will they accept your Thai driver's license?

[Gaybutton]

This makes NO sense at all.

Since when does that matter around here?

The only times I'm surprised anymore are when the powers-that-be come up with things that do make sense. I'm very rarely surprised . . .

[fountainhall]

This makes NO sense at all.
As already pointed out, anyone with passport irregularities, such as illegal immigrants will simply go to the machines and pay cash.

I could not agree more!

As I understand it, the reason stated was to prevent money laundering!!! The Rabbit cards can be used for a variety of financial purposes including transport, shops and restaurants. Apparently the BTS told the public that the move was in accordance with anti-money-laundering legislation passed about 20 years ago. Rabbit Cards could be used for illicit financial activities and therefore must be registered!

This was derided on social media which pointed out that the maximum amount that can be credited to the card is Bt. 4,000. US$ 130 can be viewed as money laundering? That is absolutely nuts!

I remember one point that was made at the time. A Privacy Bill is passing through parliament. Once that becomes law, what the BTS is doing re passport info will be illegal! Go figure!

The entire Thai public transport system seems to be managed by someone who is a moron AND gets chaufferred around in his government car and never actually uses the transport network.
Hence no common ticket system, no transfer gates & every interchange is stupidly designed so people have to walk about 3x as far as normal. Too little spending on carriages and frequent services, but too much spending on stupid over sized concrete structures.

As a comparison, in Tokyo, you can use the same payment card on every railway & metro line in the entire region.

There is, of course, a reason. Corruption!

That is why the expressways running through Bangkok were constructed by several companies and have different operators requiring different tolls. When these were planned, certain politicians wanted pieces of the pie. Instead of making just one rich, the government decided to let several become rich!

As for integration of the BTS and MRT, this was trumpeted some time ago but nothing has been done. Will it ever? Who knows? I am sure the BTS operator does not want the concession half price over-65 tickets for foreigners on its system as some bright spark will have decided it will dilute revenues. Excuse me! What percentage of riders are over-65 foreign residents?

It's also perfectly obvious that, no matter how good the BTS system is, the operator loathes spending money. A few days ago I was on the Sukhumvit Line at around 2:30 pm. The cars were packed, not a few with oversize suitcases making their way to the Phayathai interchange - another stupidity in my view. Clearly no-one checked the congestion on the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow in London.

You expect cars to be packed at rush hour but not in the middle of the day. The reason? The operator is so penny pinching that despite extending their lines and adding lots more stations, it has not increased the number of cars on each train. Rush hour is horrible. Same with the MRT. Once at Lumphini station the queues on the platform were so long, I had to wait for three trains to go through before I could finally get on and then squashed like a sardine.

And on the subject of sardines, having been in Tokyo again three months ago I noted it remains sardine packing time at rush hour with people still paid to push as many passengers into the trains as possible. Also, to be fair to Bangkok - but only to a very limited extent - the integration of Tokyo's transport system did take decades to implement. It was all separate tickets when i worked there in the early 1990s. On the other hand - and this is so true of so much in this country - there is an inbred reluctance in Thailand to look at the experience in other countries and LEARN from it before embarking on major infrastructure projects. Governments here never learn. So I hold out little hope for full integration for several years - at best.

[Gaybutton]

Once that becomes law, what the BTS is doing re passport info will be illegal!

Since when does that matter around here?

[Trongpai]

So, was this a one time passport check to register my Rabbit card or are they doing to check my passport each time I top up?

I thought the Rabbit card as a cash card was a good idea at first. Not having to bother with cash and change, tap the card and go. Then I tried it, tap the card and then the cashier had to key in a bunch of numbers, tap again, more numbers, get a consultation with another cashier, more key taps, whoops, tap the card again and then after three times perhaps it worked. I returned to cash and coins. I don't see many using the Rabbit card for food and drinks nowadays. I do see people using bank cards.