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Newbie Guide to Baht Buses


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Posted (edited)

Odd thing about 'baht bus' name.

Thai's call them 'song thaew' (สองแถว) which means 2 rows of seats.  Reasonable name.

But falang have come up 'Baht bus'.  Maybe related to the price being 1 baht at some point or a low number of baht.

The odd thing is that falang pronounce this with a letter 'R' in it.  As in 'Bart' Simpson, or 'BART train' (Bay Area Rapid Transit, SF train system).

But falang pronounce the thai currency differently as in '10 bat'.    No letter 'R' in sight.

Everyday shops tell us 'nnn bat', and we hear it all the time.  Yet falang switch to 'bart' when talking about buses. I do it too.

Should be a 'bat bus'.  For batman and robin. 555.

See what I mean ? Odd ?

Edited by rog555
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 09/04/2019 at 11:48, dingbat22 said:

Why oh why those baht buses have not figured out a way to put route numbers in their windows so we know where the fuck they are going

Primarily, because they don't care.

And it helps there overall industry every time you want to go left and they turn right, so that you have to get out and find another one for another 10 baht.

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Posted

I remember not that many years ago when the local govt 'organised' the baht bus routes. They all had a large number above the front window, showing the route they took. Of course the routes were not well thought out and drivers just ignored them. TIT

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
Posted

This guide on the baht bus is required reading for newbies.  Great info for getting around the city. 

 

Trust me, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Posted (edited)
On 07/08/2022 at 09:09, dh842 said:

So after a night of drinking in Walking Street how do I get back to LK Metro by baht bus?

1) Get off at Kiss food and drink on the Second Road and walk 5 minutes. Else

2) Take a Bhat Bus to Soi Bhoakhaw along South Pattaya road, if the bus does not turn into Soi Bhoakhaw, get off and take another bus going into Soi Bhoakhaw right up to Soi LK Metro

Edited by ifriendyou
Posted (edited)

Does the standard Bhat bus ride cost 10B for falangs even to this day or has it gone up? Would appreciate this info... will land in LOS soon....

Edited by ifriendyou
Posted
1 minute ago, ifriendyou said:

Does the standard Bhat bus ride cost 10B for falangs even to this day or has it gone up? Would appreciate this info... will land in LOS soon....

It is still 10 baht

Posted

Yea, that is amazing! My first trip was in '06 and 16 years later it is the same price. If I was a Bhat Bus driver I would be pissed off.

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'Give me a little drink from your loving cup, just one drink and I'll fall down drunk.'  The Glimmer Twins

 

Posted
48 minutes ago, padfoot said:

Yea, that is amazing! My first trip was in '06 and 16 years later it is the same price. If I was a Bhat Bus driver I would be pissed off.

If you were a baht bus driver you might not have the intelligence to be pissed off.  555

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Posted
48 minutes ago, padfoot said:

Yea, that is amazing! My first trip was in '06 and 16 years later it is the same price. If I was a Bhat Bus driver I would be pissed off.

Bigger problem for drivers is that the City of Pattaya has dolled out over 550 baht bus licences.  The other day I counted 15 baht buses between Avenue mall and Royal Garden.... maybe 200 meters.  As usual out of 15 baht buses there were only one or 2 people in about half of them and the others were completely empty.   Queue system is needed and also a daytime and nightime drivers schedule should be set IMO.  

It is a free for all on second road and beach road, but if you want to go East on Pattaya Tai, Klang, or Naklua  you sit and wait until they have several passengers

May your heart always be joyful. May your song always be sung....and may you stay - Forever Young

I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours Bobby Dylan

Posted

You do not realize it when you are on the buses, but if you ever drive a motorbike around town you soon realize how bad of drivers these guys are.

They clog up Second Road and Beach Roads by driving so slow or going from one side of the road to the other suddenly without warning.

Of course this makes since since some one obviously rang the buzzer in the back but as a motorbike driver you have to be alert at all times.

I can live with this, it is mostly when they sit in a lane and driver back and forth from one side of the lane to the other side of the lane, blocking a line of motorbikes trying to safely pass.

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Posted
On 07/08/2022 at 10:39, dh842 said:

So after a night of drinking in Walking Street how do I get back to LK Metro by baht bus?

 

3 hours ago, ifriendyou said:

1) Get off at Kiss food and drink on the Second Road and walk 5 minutes. Else

2) Take a Bhat Bus to Soi Bhoakhaw along South Pattaya road, if the bus does not turn into Soi Bhoakhaw, get off and take another bus going into Soi Bhoakhaw right up to Soi LK Metro

i live in south pattaya.

option 1 would be my route

option 2 you are going to be able to walk to buakaow  before a baht bus fills for sukhumvit. so you might as well go with the first choice

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  • 5 months later...
Posted

After leaving pattaya in a hurry when the country closed due to covid 

I finally comming back after the summer 

So my question is what is the cost now still ten bath ore did it go up

Posted
3 hours ago, leyenburg said:

my question is what is the cost now still ten bath ore did it go up

Still 10. But 20 is appreciated. I'm a simp. 

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image.png.6eb5df3c4b99a4189996c2a21d8f14af.png

  • 8 months later...
Posted

A friend of mine is in Pattaya now and in one of his instalments in his trip report he mentioned that the fare has gone up 100 % coming from Jomtien to get down to 2nd Road from 10 to 20 baht was this somebody misleading him or the norm and does that pertain just to and from Jomtien, thanks in advance for the  confirmation.

Posted
13 minutes ago, enzoae said:

A friend of mine is in Pattaya now and in one of his instalments in his trip report he mentioned that the fare has gone up 100 % coming from Jomtien to get down to 2nd Road from 10 to 20 baht was this somebody misleading him or the norm and does that pertain just to and from Jomtien, thanks in advance for the  confirmation.

Sometimes they charge 20 on that route for a longer trip. Was happening pre-COVID too.

I think they decide based on how long you've been on the thing. That's how I always understood it, anyway.

Posted

Just a reminder, dont engage the drivers in a chat or ask questions just get on and when you’re done get off with the 10 baht in your hand and straight in the window.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

I wanted to check a map of the usual baht bus routes, (for ones I don't know about) so I foolishly thought this baht bus thread, pinned at the top of the Transportation sub-forum would be the best place to look for it  :)

How wrong was I

No doubt I'll find a baht bus map in some completely irrelevant sub-forum, such as the Restaurant Reviews, Phuket hotels or the Massage sub-forum, somewhere you would never think of looking for a baht bus map to be posted  :)

Posted

There's a recent map from Feb 2024, at start of this thread. (Thanks Patrickj for originally posting it)

I was interested in the East-West & West-East routes (the horizontal ones for those geographically-challenged),  :)

 

  • 5 months later...
Posted

Is there a Baht bus route from Pratumnak at the bottom of Soi 5 - Sands Cafe that runs to Cenral Pataya  and vice a versa ?

Part of my upcoming trip I've decided to stay out of town a little.   No worries if not Bolt is cheap enough.

Posted

There is a map of baht bus routes in the thread I've linked to, right above your post

 

Posted
12 hours ago, BigRichard said:

Is there a Baht bus route from Pratumnak at the bottom of Soi 5 - Sands Cafe that runs to Cenral Pataya  and vice a versa ?

Part of my upcoming trip I've decided to stay out of town a little.   No worries if not Bolt is cheap enough.

I don't recall buses on Pratumnak. I used to bike on Pratumnak hill. You might have to walk own to the beach to use Jomtien buses.

I don't know where'd they go because you have Jomtien buses using Thappraya already. And there isn't enough foot traffic to go up and down Pratumnak all day. 

 

Posted
On 07/09/2010 at 09:21, jonerich said:

Useful info thanks for posting. The Thai call them song thieaw=(two axles)

Almost,

It's two ROWs (refers to the bench seats)

Same with the ubiquitous sak yant tattoo 

 

image.png.8416f421341007c76129be9d9480e743.png

 

Which is a Ha Taew

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