Pattaya Monorail

[Roadglide]

Looks like they have a firm plan, and will start construction soon.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easy/2597220/pattaya-to-construct-4-monorail-lines

Hard to tell from the map, but it looks like the green line will follow 2nd road, but second road seems like it is too narrow to allow for the construction without widening the road.

[petehoax]

i believe it when i see it...  

i can't imagine that they will cram a monorail into 2nd road. and the same goes for 3rd road. just not enough space available. 

i'm far from a public transport expert and i obviously lack a ton of facts & knowledge about the situation: but at least my first impression: why the fuck would you build a monorail? it seems very doubtful to me, that there's actually enough demand for that. build a fixed bus line instead and maybe give it a priority lane in traffic or so (altough i doubt that this would work in thai traffic). 

for it to make sense, you'd need at least something like 3000 users per day on average? assuming ~16 hours of operating time daily with a train going every 15 minutes; that's still less than 50 passengers per ride. is there actually demand for that?

is the high speed railway construction already underway? i thought it was just something that they "plan to do" one day. 

but hey: i'm a fan of public transport, so i don't have a problem with it and i'm looking forward to try it out one day in 2040 or so. 

and obligatory: 

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by petehoax

[mattmoore1965x]

28 minutes ago, petehoax said:

i'm far from a public transport expert and i obviously lack a ton of facts & knowledge about the situation

Pretty sure those are the qualifications required to be a consultant for any major city…..

[ZRHuser]

As a Monorail, it will be high up and not on street level. I do not see any problems with second road. 

[swede37]

Better than the cablecar they proposed a while ago atleast 🤣 

 

[jaynewcastle]

7 minutes ago, ZRHuser said:

As a Monorail, it will be high up and not on street level. I do not see any problems with second road. 

Exactly, similar to the BTS in Bangkok I'd have thought, rather than running on the ground

 

[petehoax]

1 hour ago, ZRHuser said:

As a Monorail, it will be high up and not on street level. I do not see any problems with second road. 

that's true. but it will still need a ton of infrastructure & space on the ground
you need to put large pillars in the middle of the road every 20 - 50 meters, you need to build escalators & elevators for access to all the stations etc.
2nd road is currently 3-4 lanes wide, normally with lots of ongoing construction along the way.
if you put the pillars in the middle of 2nd road, you end up with one lane on the left and one lane on the right with not many options to switch between. i can't imagine that working out. i also find it difficult to believe that many people living in pattaya will start using it, just to ride 3-4 stations instead of just hopping on a baht bus which is quicker and cheaper (or of course using their own motorbike). 

based on the article, it seems the main purpose is for transporting people from the high speed railway station to bali hai pier. maybe there's enough demand to give a solid base ridership just from one-day tourism coming directly from bangkok to koh larn. but that seems unlikely to me. 

but i'm happy to be proven wrong. 
i'm just saying that as a first impression, it seems like a strange concept to me. MRT is great in bangkok, but bkk is an 8m megalopolis (or 14m if you include the metropolitan area), which is around 75x - 120x more than pattaya. 

[jjaosn12]

I guess it’s time to buy some real estate in Pattaya.

[LoneCelt]

28 minutes ago, jjaosn12 said:

I guess it’s time to buy some real estate in Pattaya.

I am not sure. With the baht buses this is a classical case of an expensive solution looking for a problem.

I can see the logic with the rail route, high speed or not, a connection with both airports works.

 

These things take lots of time

[keepitfun]

This is gunna be great.  Can’t wait for a ride.
 

When should I book my tickets?  

[Luv2Phuket]

....all that's missing is the Thai version of Rebecca De Mornay....
 

[Roadglide]

I actually think it’s a good idea, traffic on beach and second roads can get bad at times, and it’s not just one line that they are going to build. 
just imagine how much worse traffic would be in Bangkok without the BTS and MRT, it looks like Pattaya wants to get ahead of the situation and have a regional tram/train system. 

[travelling_man]

7 hours ago, petehoax said:

build a fixed bus line instead and maybe give it a priority lane in traffic or so

We had a fixed route, Aircon bus in Pattaya.  Baht bus mafia was able to get it stopped.

[Petesie]

Never work, years of disruption which would bankrupt the city, wishful thinking with fuck all to back it up. Dog & Pony show which will never materialise.

They can't fix the roads, drainage system, traffic lights, surveillence cameras or pavements; I woudn't hold my breath. 🧐

[Roadglide]

This is the monorail in Bangkok 

if they build one where you can travel from Sattahip to Jomtien to nakula to a high speed train to Bangkok…it may be a good investment, but serious pain in the ass for locals during construction 

[Petesie]

4 hours ago, Roadglide said:

if they build one where you can travel from Sattahip to Jomtien to nakula to a high speed train to Bangkok…it may be a good investment, but serious pain in the ass for locals during construction 

it's all down to who will pay for it; BKK or Central Government will not fund anything for Pattaya. 🤨

[dontpanic]

9 hours ago, Petesie said:

Never work, years of disruption which would bankrupt the city, wishful thinking with fuck all to back it up. Dog & Pony show which will never materialise.

They can't fix the roads, drainage system, traffic lights, surveillence cameras or pavements; I woudn't hold my breath. 🧐

This. Walk up Pattaya klang, if you can't lay level footpaths or at least secure the paving stones to the ground what hope have they of major infrastructure like this. I am sure it will cost more than ten baht per journey so expensive too much.

[Thomaz73]

26 minutes ago, dontpanic said:

Walk up Pattaya klang, if you can't lay level footpaths or at least secure the paving stones to the ground what hope have they of major infrastructure like this

In fairness, Bangkok has just as shitty, or even shittier, footpaths etc. But the mrt/bts/etc are all done quite nicely. 

Still, of course, this project has gigantic shit show written all over it. 

[LovinBgood]

19 hours ago, Roadglide said:

Looks like they have a firm plan, and will start construction soon.

Pattaya mayor claimed same with Bali Hai pier reconstruction improvements 5 years ago...so far nothing

[stickyfingers]

The monorail story usually surfaces once a year for Pattaya…then gets forgotten about….same as beach road thorough improvements….what’s happened to that??

Give them some credit they’ve widened the beaches from the filthy polluted sea…so u might be safer on the beaches theses days.

Something desp needs to happen for the infrastructure as now some normality back to sin city so that means traffic come high season n weekends will be terrible.

Unless Bkk govt fund it and organise it…never happen. Too much corruption and inadequate slow planning in Pattaya has made it a mess it is today. 

[semi-retired member]

I'm slightly-obsessed with the new monorail  ...  people say I have a one-track mind ?  😊

[Kandinski]

12 minutes ago, semi-retired member said:

I'm slightly-obsessed with the new monorail  ...  people say I have a one-track mind ?  😊

Now, aren't this taking the thread of the rail😋

[Horndog85]

This Mono Rail will be like looking people fuckin in their hotels through the window?!?!