Pattaya bus from Bangkok

[darpra]

Hi,

This time during low season arrived at bangkok and reached mochit bus station and took a bus ticket to pattaya. Usually there is a bus every 30 minutes or so in my memory. But they only had a bus at 11AM and I had to wait for like 1-2 hours. Since none of them spoke english I could not ask them the details.

Is this because of low season? Would it be the same with ekamai bus station as well?

[Rambuttri village]

"Arrived at Bangkok"  What do you mean this is very vague?  Suvarnabhumi or DM airport?  By train Hualamphong? 

If you arrived at Suvarnabhumi then there are hourly 389 buses to Pattaya up to 10pm.  Ekamai bus station is more tourist friendly, English speaking ticket sellers and buses every half hour. I agree having caught the white van a couple of times from Mo Chit bus station its more a Thai people transport hub and English speaking staff are thin on the ground. I found a tourist info stand in the middle of Mo Chit bus station who spoke English and were very helpful

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DrBig]

I think there are less buses to Pattaya from Mo Chit than there are from the airport or Ekamai.  If you're finding there aren't enough buses from Mo Chit you should try heading to probably Ekamai, from where there is a bus I think every half hour from 5am until 10 or 12pm (not sure).  I've slept on the 5am from Ekamai to Pattaya many times after a long night around Bangkok.

I've found that quite often the buses direct from the airport to Pattaya are fully booked for the next hour or two, which is annoying, and partly because of that I usually spend the first night or two of my trips in Bangkok now, taking an Ekamai bus down to Pattaya at a quiet midday time a couple of days after landing.

[darpra]

22 hours ago, Roving Rover said:

"Arrived at Bangkok"  What do you mean this is very vague?  Suvarnabhumi or DM airport?  By train Hualamphong? 

If you arrived at Suvarnabhumi then there are hourly 389 buses to Pattaya up to 10pm.  Ekamai bus station is more tourist friendly, English speaking ticket sellers and buses every half hour. I agree having caught the white van a couple of times from Mo Chit bus station its more a Thai people transport hub and English speaking staff are thin on the ground. I found a tourist info stand in the middle of Mo Chit bus station who spoke English and were very helpful

 

 

 

 

 

 

DM airport. Sorry I thought it was obvious since if it was Suvarnabhumi you can get a direct bus from the airport.

I'm pretty sure that last time Mo chit had lots of buses but this time it was very less. Wanted to see if it was because of low season and they cut down the buses if the number of travelers are less. BTW I didn't know about the van from Mo chit I was using the regular bus service.

Otherwise its convenient because you can get to mo chit from DM airport with the A1 bus and have something to eat and then head to pattaya. For Ekamai you have to reach mo chit bts by bus and then use the sky train and then again get into another bus.

[Rambuttri village]

Yeah its awkward getting from Mo Chit bus station to Ekamai bus station as the BTS is nowhere near Mo Chit bus station. The buses to Pattaya used to be every half an hour from Mo Chit. Maybe they have cut down on the bus service to Pattaya because there's now lots of white vans going from Mo Chit since October 25th 2016 since they moved them from Victory Monument.

I don't think its because it's low season as lots of Thai people use the bus service from both Mo Chit and Ekamai. If you see the number of white van companies now at Mo Chit there's hundreds and its very confusing with little English being spoken. So my opinion for what it's worth more white van companies at Mo Chit = Less frequent bus service to Pattaya

 

[darpra]

That makes sense. Thanks.

[soi16]

Here is your guide. Buses departs every 30-40min.

http://pattayabus.com/V2/bangkok-to-pattaya-timetable/

[navidnavid]

Bussses from Ekkami run hourly all day until late at night and the costs is only 108 baht 

[usexpat46]

4 minutes ago, navidnavid said:

Bussses from Ekkami run hourly all day until late at night and the costs is only 108 baht 

I believe they are more frequent.  In august I went to the US Embassy and on my return (around noon) I couldn't get on the bus as it was full but I only waited about half an hour for the next one.

[soi23]

For  108bt ,I buy 2 seats .. makes for a very comfortable trip.

[geezerrb]

All power to those who are happy to use the bus service, since I got my "senior citizen" bus pass I did not use it for the first 5 years but now I have "retired" I am using it much more locally.

On arriving at any SEA airport I have always arranged taxi collection pre-booked, after long flights the last thing I can imagine is dealing with "local transport systems". I am not wealthy  but happily pay for a personal transit, I have never found it really expensive after research in any SEA location especially taking the cost of flights, accommodation and company but do admit that since I have retired I have cut my 4 trips PA to 2. Maybe my age is an influence, I was more adventurous in my youth.

[soi16]

7 minutes ago, geezerrb said:

last thing I can imagine is dealing with "local transport systems".

Kamikaze Taxi from Airport to Pattaya with pumping throttle/brake makes me choose the bus.

[geezerrb]

7 hours ago, soi16 said:

Kamikaze Taxi from Airport to Pattaya with pumping throttle/brake makes me choose the bus.

Not my experience in 23 trips so far.

[darpra]

On 11/7/2017 at 05:46, soi16 said:

Here is your guide. Buses departs every 30-40min.

http://pattayabus.com/V2/bangkok-to-pattaya-timetable/

I know all online sources say that but was not the case when I arrived.

 

[soi16]

Updates are not so common.

[Rambuttri village]

I used the 8pm 389 bus last night from Suvarnabhumi. Happy to save 880 Baht in  a safe quick bus that took 1 hour 35 minutes to reach Pattaya.

[soi16]

880b, now you have "free" 24 pack of beer.

39 minutes ago, Roving Rover said:

Happy to save 880 Baht

 

[typhoon42]

I just took the Ekamai to Pattaya bus @ 108 baht for a change instead of Bell Bus or private taxis.

Took freeway for a while then switch over to the frontage road.

Are they all like this or is there an express bus.

 I bought the ticket from the first counter on the right at the bus station.

[Rambuttri village]

57 minutes ago, typhoon42 said:

I just took the Ekamai to Pattaya bus @ 108 baht for a change instead of Bell Bus or private taxis.

Took freeway for a while then switch over to the frontage road.

Are they all like this or is there an express bus.

 I bought the ticket from the first counter on the right at the bus station.

Yes I have taken many a late night bus from Ekamai that uses the slower Frontage rd. Did the bus go through Chonburi and drop off people?  This bus can take nearly 3 hours as it picks up people at Bang Na , drops off in Chonburi, Sri Racha and Laem Chabang. I believe the last bus back to Pattaya is 11pm from Ekamai. Caught it one time and was full of Freelancers and ropey looking ladyboys. 

[buck011]

On 11/10/2017 at 01:19, Roving Rover said:

I used the 8pm 389 bus last night from Suvarnabhumi. Happy to save 880 Baht in  a safe quick bus that took 1 hour 35 minutes to reach Pattaya.

Actually you saved more like 1000 baht,since it is expected to give at least 100-200 baht tip 

[typhoon42]

4 hours ago, Roving Rover said:

Yes I have taken many a late night bus from Ekamai that uses the slower Frontage rd. Did the bus go through Chonburi and drop off people?  This bus can take nearly 3 hours as it picks up people at Bang Na , drops off in Chonburi, Sri Racha and Laem Chabang. I believe the last bus back to Pattaya is 11pm from Ekamai. Caught it one time and was full of Freelancers and ropey looking Ladyboys. 

Yes, it did drop off people along the way.

Most likely I won’t use this again and just use Bell if coming from hotel in BKK or Nam if from the airport.

It took almost 3 hours.

[soi23]

5 hours ago, typhoon42 said:

I just took the Ekamai to Pattaya bus @ 108 baht for a change instead of Bell Bus or private taxis.

Took freeway for a while then switch over to the frontage road.

Are they all like this or is there an express bus.

 I bought the ticket from the first counter on the right at the bus station.

There have been a couple of times when taking the bus bus ,that it stopped for fuel just about 5 minutes

before its arrival in Pattaya . It was on the same road as Regents Inter. school.

The bus pulls in to a regular petrol station ,unloads all passengers ,fuels , reloads ,then off 5 minute to the station. The second time they lost two passengers , took another 30 minutes to find

All and all a true Thailand experience.

Other times straight into Pattaya no stops 90 minutes.

 

 

[Rambuttri village]

1 hour ago, buck011 said:

Actually you saved more like 1000 baht,since it is expected to give at least 100-200 baht tip 

Did you hear that Soi 16 ? That's saved me a good standard FL rather than the "24 pack of beer" 

[buck011]

So true

[J1066]

There is a free and frequent shuttle bus from DMK to BKK (and vice versa). So if you are concerned about infrequent buses from Mor Chit bus station, then avoid it and transfer straight to BKK.