Tour Soi Buakhao... Added Tues 1st March

[Barrief 250]

As previously mentioned, the "Tour of the Sois" and the Interactive Pattaya Map, are primarily designed for 'Newbies.' Although some of those who are experienced in the ways of Pattaya may benefit from a little nostalgia when viewing them.

 

BAHT BUSES

 

We (Mongers) refer to this mode of transport as Baht Buses. I have no idea where the term originated, it was being used when I first joined the Forum eleven years ago and we all use it. "A rose by any other name etc…." Call them what you will… they are an incredible mode of Transport around Pattaya. Like electricity or water, we take them for granted, rarely giving them a second thought, they are just there. But if they disappeared overnight, Pattaya wouldn't function prperly.

 

You are rarely more than 30seconds away from a Baht Bus. There are no designated 'Bus Stops.' You just stand on the side of the road, and stick your hand out when one comes along, and it'll stop for you. When you want to get off, press the bell (Buzzer) in the roof, Pay the driver, and you're on your way. It's that easy and convenient.

 

COST

 

Amazing! It's ten Baht for you, and five Baht for a Thai. No matter how long or short your journey. What's amazing, is that the cost has been the same for at least ten years. There are a few negatives. When you get to know Pattaya a little, you may have to change Buses several times to get where you want to go. Plus: give the Driver the correct money. You will rarely get 'change.'

 

There is no point in getting upset about the 'two tier' pricing system. That's how it is. Live with it. And the "No Change"thing? Same, same. You quickly learn to hang on to your 10baht coins and 20baht notes, to pay Baht Buses. (And for smaller, general, tips.) If you can't accept this, don't go to Thailand. It's not the same as your culture… it's theirs. Leave your preconceptions at home.

 

Just to complicate things a little… sometimes the Baht Buses become Taxis. For example: when you leave Walking Street in the evening, you'll find a great line of stationary Baht Buses in South Pattaya Road (Pattaya Thai) near the junction of Walking Street. If you want to use one of these, you have to negotiate the price. They are acting as Taxis. They are not Metered. There are other instances where Baht Buses can be used as Taxis. You'll soon get the hang of it.

 

In the following Video, "Soi Buakhao" you'll see many baht Buses with people getting on and off etc. There are many hundreds of these around Pattaya, there is never a shortage, as you'll see when you get there. And, like the rest of us, take them for granted.

 

As a slight digression, if you hire a motorbike (as I do) NEVER, NEVER, pass a Baht Bus on the left. Do this too often and you won't make it through your vacation. Good Luck. (Chok Dee)

 

Click the Video to tour Soi Buakhao...

 

 

If you have missed any of the previous Soi Tours, click here to go to the Interactive Map!

Edited March 1, 2011 by Barrief

[saints 0]

Good stuff

 

I thought it was 10bt for Thai as well

[Barrief 250]

Good stuff

 

I thought it was 10bt for Thai as well

 

My info is based on last year. Has the price increased for Thais? Perhaps someone who is there now can let us know.

[surry 30]

Great video , but loose the music !

[gaijin 146]

It's probably because of the baht buses existence that the motobike taxi guys can't gouge too much on the price of a ride. Personally I prefer to just rent a bike myself and take myself wherever I wish to go. No need to get off anywhere to transfer. As for passing the baht buses on a motobike, it's a give and go relationship. sometimes they're able to pin you in with another car's bumper and you just have to wait, and sometimes you have plenty of room to squeeze through.

[ballbag 2]

My info is based on last year. Has the price increased for Thais? Perhaps someone who is there now can let us know.

Still 5 baht for the thais but it is their country

[Grandpollo 364]

Still 5 baht for the thais but it is their country

According to Stickman they (the Pattaya department of face saving transportation planning) changed the price to not MORE than THB10 for anyone, thus justifiying falangs paying THB10, then the drivers merely discount THB5 of that to Thais.

 

http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/reader/reader427.html

 

Here are some tips for dealing with Pattaya's Songthaews (Baht Busses):

 

1) A few years ago, red and white stickers were placed in the back of all the baht busses by the Department of Land Transport informing Farang passengers (in English) that the fare for a trip along the regular route was 5 Baht per person and that this fare was ENFORCED BY LAW. It didn't take long for all the greedy baht bus drivers to scratch out, cover up, or otherwise deface these stickers to make the price illegible.

 

2) More recently, the Dept. of Land Transport has placed new stickers in the vehicles stating that the price shall NOT EXCEED 10 Baht per person. In other words, 10 Baht is the MAXIMUM you should ever be charged for travelling along the regular route. So, under what circumstances should you pay less than the maximum? The stickers do not say. These stickers are beginning to be defaced too, by the way.

 

3) Try and watch to see how much Thais pay. Good luck. The driver will notice you standing behind the Thai(s) and will quickly close his upturned palm to conceal the coins from view. I have been told by several Thai friends that the standard price Thais pay is 5 Baht. Sometimes, they say they will pay 10 Baht if it's very late at night or they travel a long distance, but generally, the price they pay is 5 Baht.

 

4) Unless you need to go to a specific destination not on the regular route (more about this later), there is no need to talk to the driver. In fact, you definitely should NOT talk to the driver, as this will result in him trying to negotiate a higher fare. Just flag down any MOVING taxi by waving your hand palm-DOWNWARDS (palm-upwards is rude in Asia) and climb in the back when he stops.

 

5) As soon as you are seated, locate the buzzer nearest you. Then, locate the next-nearest buzzer to you. Oftentimes a buzzer will be broken and you will want to ring another buzzer QUICKLY before you have travelled far beyond your destination.

 

6) If you anticipate any trouble from the driver, then have him drop you off slightly past your destination so that you walk BACKWARDS after dropping the fare into his hand. He will have considerable difficulty backing up in the heavy traffic. When might you anticipate trouble from the driver? When he feels you have not paid enough, generally. I used to insist on paying the Thai fare (5 Baht), but after being screamed at a few times, and once even having the driver grab my wrist tightly as I reached through the window to pay, then step on the accelerator with my arm still stuck in the crack of the partly-rolled down window (luckily his grip was not strong enough to actually drag me alongside the moving vehicle, but it hurt like hell as my forearm was leveraged against the window opening for an instant. I was left with a nice bruise.), I finally gave up and now pay 10 Baht. If I have a Thai girl with me, I pay 15 Baht (10 for me, 5 for her) and have never experienced trouble with this. If you are really concerned and have a Thai girlfriend with you, give HER the money and let her pay the driver. One time a friend of mine was drunk and forgot to pay. The driver parked the vehicle in the middle of the street (blocking traffic), jumped out and ran towards him brandishing his fists. Luckily my friend immediately realized what was going on, quickly dug the fare out of his pocket, paid and apologized. These guys are serious about getting paid (and I don't blame them, although I don't like the dual-pricing bullshit).

 

7) It's best not to get into a songthaew that is parked if you can help it. There are almost always plenty of songthaews driving along for you to flag down instead. The ones that are parked in strategic locations, e.g. outside shopping malls, big hotels and on street corners with the drivers yelling to you, "TAXI! TAXI!," will ask you where you are going and will charge you an inflated price. No matter how hard you bargain, you will always end up paying more than the 5 or 10 Baht it should cost. They also might try to persuade you to go someplace else where they'll get a commission (like a massage parlour, for example). The songthaews that are queued at say, the corner of 2nd Road and North Road, don't do this, but they will wait until the songthaew is full before taking off. Meanwhile, you will notice several other songthaews go whizzing past with a few smiling passengers seated inside while you wait and sweat wondering why you didn't flag a moving vehicle down instead.

 

8) If you want to go to a destination slightly off the regular route, you can usually do this without talking to the driver, by switching songthaews at a major intersection (if you insist on being driven down a small soi, you will probably have to speak to the driver.)

For example: If you are at Soi 8 and 2nd Rd. and want to go to the A/C bus station out on North Rd. you can ask a driver to take you there and he will probably quote you a price of about 60 Baht (I'm not making this up. That's what I've been charged.) Then you'll say "40" and he'll say "50" and you'll agree. Technically, you have now chartered the songthaew and he should take you directly there without stopping to pick up more passengers. But, he WILL stop to pick up more passengers. You have paid the premium price and you are getting shit service. Surprised?

 

Here's what you can do instead: You flag down any northbound songthaew on 2nd Rd. and (this is important) motion to the driver that you want to go straight. This is because some songthaews will turn left or right at Central Rd. and you want to continue straight all the way past Big C to the roundabout at the intersection of North Rd. If he nods affirmatively (that he's going straight), climb in. At the roundabout, ring the buzzer, get out and give the driver 10 (or 5 Baht, if you're brave). Cross the corner to the restaurant, then cross again to North Rd. and flag down any songthaew going north. This intersection is confusing, so if you are unsure, just ask anyone by pointing and saying, "bus station?" Now you are heading for the bus station where you will get out and again pay, maximum, 10 Baht. Total cost: 20 Baht max. (Not 50 or 60). If you think this is a tiny difference to be concerned about, you are missing the point. It's not about the money, it's about the principle. Songthaew drivers routinely over-charge Farangs. How does that make you feel?

[Hedonist 0]

Thanks for that

[typhoon42 103]

Do the drivers charge more for a small hand carried suitcase or other types of luggage? How about a few grocerie bags?

[Feileacan 32]

Anytime I see a Thai paying the Baht Bus, they always pay 10 Bht. This is more noticeable when two are together and they hand in a 20 bht note without getting change. I've seen it on numerous occasions when Thais get off at the same stop as I do. It was 5 Bht a number of years ago.

[gaijin 146]

How does that make you feel?

 

 

Makes me feel like a chump. That's why I ride a motobike. I'd rather take motobike taxi than have to transfer 2 or 3 baht buses to get to where you're going.

[Barrief 250]

Still 5 baht for the thais but it is their country

 

Thanks for that Ballbag.

[timbon 6]

Baht bus drivers[do/i] give change. If I give one a 20bht note I leave my hand there so he knows I expect change.

 

I thought it was 10 bht falang and 5 baht Thai until having traveled with two thai ladies to walking st I gave the driver a 20 bht nte and walked off. He tooted at me and held up both hands - ten. The girls told me what I had done wrong and I went back and gave him another 20 baht note. Everyone saved face.

[DjMiami 18]

Funny how the map shows a nearly sraight sio. But the vidoe shows multiple bends in the soi. nice work

[danboy 151]

Nice video

 

Especially like the mini baht bus shooting across the bottom of screen, nice touch

[Barrief 250]

Nice video

 

Especially like the mini baht bus shooting across the bottom of screen, nice touch

 

Thank you.

 

=============================================

 

Thanks for your comments everyone. Much appreciated.

B.

[Trvlr 50]

Isn't the fare 20 baht if you are traveling from Jomtien to anywhere beyond South Pattaya Road?

Also, baht bus drivers are not always so predatory. Just yesterday I forgot to pay when I got off - I walked away and he didn't say anything or toot his horn. I felt bad about it when I realized my mistake, but there wasn't much I could do, short of contributing to a baht bus drivers' fund if there is one.

[pattayaman 8]

has anyone notice baht buses going from pattaya tai to pattaya clang

are less frequent than ones goin in the opposite way

i worked from the market to soi diana b4 a bus came my way

[tingtongtony 151]

has anyone notice baht buses going from pattaya tai to pattaya clang

are less frequent than ones goin in the opposite way

i worked from the market to soi diana b4 a bus came my way

 

Walk slower then

[Barrief 250]

Walk slower then

[radnyc 0]

I've seen most Thais paying 10 Baht. If I only have a 20 baht note, I've always received change--but i try to keep 10 baht coins in my pocket.

 

The fare within central Pattaya is 10 Baht. It is a separate segement to go to Jomtien--requiring an additional 10 Baht. Sometime the bus makes a right turn from Pattaya Tai Rd to Jomtien--requiring a 20 Baht fare upon arrival in jomtien. Sometime he will turn left and continue up 2nd Beach Rd. In which case you owe 10 Baht to the first driver. Than catch a baht Bus headed to Jomtien & pay him 10 Baht when you arrive.

[MM 6,562]

As I recall, this 5 baht/10 baht discrepancy was made obsolete a few years ago when the fare was made 7 baht. Everyone now pays 10 baht, rather than producing exact change, Thais and others.

 

When it was 5 baht, Thais used to be able to pay 5b, but farangs were "expected" to pay 10b.

 

So, for the purposes of travel within a zone, 10b is the price for each person.

 

Wow, it's a baht bus price thread!

[Barrief 250]

I've seen most Thais paying 10 Baht. If I only have a 20 baht note, I've always received change--but i try to keep 10 baht coins in my pocket.

 

The fare within central Pattaya is 10 Baht. It is a separate segement to go to Jomtien--requiring an additional 10 Baht. Sometime the bus makes a right turn from Pattaya Tai Rd to Jomtien--requiring a 20 Baht fare upon arrival in jomtien. Sometime he will turn left and continue up 2nd Beach Rd. In which case you owe 10 Baht to the first driver. Than catch a baht Bus headed to Jomtien & pay him 10 Baht when you arrive.

 

Very clear.. no confusion there then

[EnglishPaul 3]

Do the drivers charge more for a small hand carried suitcase or other types of luggage? How about a few grocerie bags?

 

 

Hi

 

No, they shouldn`t do.

A small case or a few bags of shopping is fine.

[Barrief 250]

A while back, I move a load of furniture for a Girl. Cost me two hundred baht, and the driver did most of the lifting.