Electric baht buses coming to Pattaya

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Gaybutton
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Electric baht buses coming to Pattaya

Post by Gaybutton »

While this would certainly help, I don't believe Pattaya's baht buses are to blame for very much of the local air pollution problems. I believe the real cause is the vehicles that belch out the polluting fumes, while the owners don't bother with maintenance and there seems to be very little, if any, enforcement of the pollution laws.

Between electric baht buses and building the tram, I hope for Pattaya it won't be too little, too late.
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Pattaya to test electric baht buses in early ‘22

December 10, 2021

Pattaya will begin testing electric baht buses early next year as its plans to switch to “green” public transit moves into higher gear.

Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome met Dec. 8 with members of Eastern Economic Corridor management and Somchai Thaisanguanworakul, CEO of consultant SNC Group Co. to plot the next steps in the project to test electric-powered pickup trucks in Pattaya and electric motorbikes in Koh Larn.

Sonthaya said the pilot project involving 10-20 electric baht buses will begin early next year.

In August, Pattaya and Toyota Motor Thailand Co. agreed to have Toyota supply pickup trucks that can be used as baht buses, coaches to shuttle people to and from Bangkok airports, and small vehicles for hotel courtesy cars.

Recently, city officials visited a Rayong industrial estate to try out the vehicles, with Sonthaya saying they provided satisfactory performance.

The next step, the mayor said is to strike an agreement with the Pattaya Baht Bus Cooperative to have its drivers test the electric vehicles.

The test will determine whether the switch from diesel to electric vehicles will be financially viable, as drivers are unlikely to be able to afford buying the trucks. The government would have to pick up part or all of the cost.

Story and photos: https://www.pattayamail.com/news/pattay ... -22-382364
Jun

Re: Electric baht buses coming to Pattaya

Post by Jun »

It would make more sense to replace the Baht buses with larger buses and have a proper bus network, with more routes and a proper route map. Also introduce some bus lanes, with cameras to detect other vehicles improperly using those lanes and allow fines to be sent out. If done right, this would slow down road traffic and increase the speed of the buses, therefore encouraging bus use and reducing pollution.

All basic stuff that's proven to work elsewhere.

However, I suspect nothing could be further from the minds of the kleptocrats. The most noticeable construction project of 2021 appears to be a second large multi-storey car park at Terminal21 and that shows where the priorities lie.
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Re: Electric baht buses coming to Pattaya

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Jun wrote: Sat Dec 11, 2021 2:53 pm replace the Baht buses with larger buses and have a proper bus network, with more routes and a proper route map.
City buses were tried a few years ago. It was a total flop. Some of the designated bus stops are still there on some of the streets, but the buses have long since disappeared.

They also tried having designated stops for the baht buses. Also a total flop. Nobody ever paid any attention to it and as far as I know it was never enforced.

I hope this time their plans will actually happen and will work, but I can't help but think of the phrase "Everything changes, but nothing changes".
Jun

Re: Electric baht buses coming to Pattaya

Post by Jun »

Gaybutton wrote: Sat Dec 11, 2021 3:14 pm City buses were tried a few years ago. It was a total flop. Some of the designated bus stops are still there on some of the streets, but the buses have long since disappeared.
If they go for a half baked bus scheme, it will fail.
Buses work very well in many cities in the world. That includes Bangkok, where they are frequent and cheap, with a very extensive route network.

On the other hand, Chiang Mai (for example) has a bus scheme designed to fail. The frequency is about 40 minutes and they are priced at the same extortionate price as the Chiang Mai Baht buses, ie 30 Baht. A sad state of affairs for anyone on a low income there.

Since everything the local authorities in Pattaya do is half baked, ranging from drainage to pavements, I can't imagine they put much effort into designing a bus scheme to work.

Thankfully, when on holiday, I've got all day, so whatever transport scheme they have is OK.
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