Pattaya baht bus fares increase

[Jun]

Backwards as it seems at times, things like Songtaews in Pattaya, Tuk Tuks in Bangkok, and elephants in Chiang Rai are all part of the tapestry as I've been saying for years.

If I wanted more modern and efficient public transportation I could have stayed in Chicago.

You could also get modern and fairly efficient public transport in Bangkok. The ability to move around the city and in all directions significantly improves the experience. There is a good selection of buses, songthaew, skytrain, metro & monorail.
The skytrain is establishing itself as an iconic mode of transport, perhaps in the same way as the London Underground or the trams in San Francisco.

Had you been around 150 years ago, you might have described horse dung on the streets as part of the tapestry in many western cities.
Replacing horse drawn transport was still a good idea & the cities still retain plenty of character.

[Gaybutton]

I have 3 problems about the baht buses:

1. The air pollution. I wish proper maintenance was required and enforced. If it is required, I am not exactly impressed by the enforcement.
2. The traffic problems they all too often cause.
3. This one doesn't happen all that often, at least I don't think it does, but drivers cheating passengers, especially foreign passengers.

I agree with Jun, but unfortunately I don't foresee any of his ideas becoming reality any time soon, if ever. I think those baht buses are here to stay. The only possibility I can see within any kind of realistic future would be to require them to be replaced with electric baht buses. I understand, though, that possibility is quite remote.

[Montree]

What happened to electric Baht Busses? I only saw a few and then they disappeared.

[Gaybutton]

What happened to electric Baht Busses? I only saw a few and then they disappeared.

Jun confiscated them . . .

[Jun]

Electric baht buses are still there, although I've never actually been on one yet.
I presume they cost more, as electric vehicles usually do and they have less standing capacity. So I imagine the economics are no good.

Pattaya should have proper electric buses. Get something with seating capacity for at least 20 and standing room for at least the same number. Have a bus lanes with cameras to keep all the other vehicles out. Then expand the network. It would transform the experience.

[Dodger]

Had you been around 150 years ago, you might have described horse dung on the streets as part of the tapestry in many western cities.

Yes, and 150 years from now, the things we love the most about the tapestry in Thailand today will have been erased.

I imagine some will miss the joy of being catered to by adorable Asian working boys - as much as the old cowboys miss their horses.