Bangkok has an excellent, efficient and economical public transport network. It is very cheap, but alas also very irregular due to many traffic congestions. It is not easy to get a clear view on the bus routes. For instance, air-conditioned and non air-conditioned buses have sometimes the same numbers while touring different routes. Numbers also change suddenly. ‘Air’ (airco-) bus ‘Boh Oh’ 4 became ‘Boh Oh’ 504 from one day to the other. If only you knew…!

‘Boh Oh’ are two letters of the Thai alphabet, meaning ‘number’ (Boh) and air-conditioned (Oh). Buses without airco are called ‘Sai’ (route) followed by a number.

Since the opening of two Skytrain (BTS) routes and the first underground (MRT) line, public transport has greatly improved. Many people, especially in the very congested Sukhumvit and Siam Square areas, now take the elevated or underground metro. Both also run to the Chatuchak or Week End market.

 
Buses

 
Tickets are purchased from the bus conductors. They are mostly women. There are no day tickets, return tickets or subscription-tickets. On regular buses, there is a unit fare. On air-conditioned buses the fare varies according to the distance. You just try to pronounce your destination, and the conductor will tell you how much you’ll have to pay.

The official BMTA (Bangkok Metropolitan Transport Authority) buses are painted in red and white and are not air-conditioned. Their fare is 8 1/2 baht. The same fare is used on the non-airco blue city buses. On the more comfortable and less noisy orange-coloured buses, which are all air-conditioned, the fare varies between 12 and 40 baht, according to the distance you travel. All buses have a conductor who sells the tickets. You never pay to the driver or at a kiosk.

Long-distance buses are plenty and very well organized. They start from special bus terminals in or outside Bangkok.

* Northern and Northeastern terminal: Mo Chit Station, just north of Chatuchak Park (can be reached by Skytrain and Metro)

* Eastern terminal: Ekkamai Station, Sukhumvit. (can be reached by Skytrain)

* Southern terminal:  No specific station name, in Thonburi (South Bangkok, other side of the river), far from city centre (can only be reached by regular city buses or taxi).

 
Long distance buses are cheap. To give an idea, the one-way fare to Pattaya is 120 baht, to Chiang Mai (686 km) 430 to 860 baht (depending on the class), to Krabi (817 km) 460-810 baht. They all have toilet on board. You will get some water or a soft drink, but don’t forget to take some snacks and drinks before departing. They are plentiful at the terminal kiosks.

 
Skytrain (BTS, Bangkok Mass Transit System)
 

This is, together with the tube, the most rapid, most efficient and most comfortable city transport system. Tickets cost between 10 and 40 baht, according to the distance travelled, and are purchased at automatic vending machines at the stations. If you don’t have the coins required, you have to queue at the boots first and change your banknotes.

There are 2 lines (extensions are under construction):

Line 1 is running from On Nut (Sukhumvit) to Mo Chit (Chatuchak Week End Market and Northern + Northeastern Bus Terminal).

Line 2 runs from National Stadium (MBK Shopping Mall, beyond Siam Square) to Saphan Taksin (Chaophraya River, near Shangri La Hotel). There is only one (overcrowded) interchange station – Siam (Siam Square).

Metro (MRT, Metropolitan Rapid Transit Authority)
 

The underground city train is the latest innovation and improvement of the Bangkok rapid transportation system. There is only 1 (long) line so far, running from Hualampong (Railway Station) up to Kamphaeng Phet road (Chatuchak Week End Market).

Tickets, in the form of plastic coins, are purchased at automatic vending machines or at the staffed boots. The fare varies between 15 and 39 baht, according to the distance. There are plans to extend the line towards Chinatown and Thonburi.

Taxis

Taxis, now all equipped with taxi-meters, are still used very extensively, both by expats and by the Thai middle class. The taxi-meters replaced the sometimes unpleasant task to discuss and agree on a fare. The meter-fare starts at 35 baht and goes up per kilometer or per minute when you are stuck in the traffic jams. Taxis are still a cheap and efficient transport mean (among the cheapest in the world!). You will see taxis in all possible colours. There are many different private companies, and every one has its own colour, but the fare is uniform. Some taxi drivers speak basic English, others don’t.

Motorbike-taxis

 
You will see men sporting numbered jackets and standing next to their motorbike at the corner of many ‘sois’ (side streets). These are bike-taxis. They are the fastest transport means to go from a main street to an address in a quarter or district soi, or even on the main arteries, as they sneak in zigzag through the congested traffic. The fare starts at 10 baht and depends on the distance. The use of a helmet is compulsory. If you take a motorbike-taxi for the first time, take good care to hold the grip or the driver carefully, because the drivers tend to start and drive quite wildly! They also use every one millimeter, so beware of legs and bags!

‘Songthaews’

In most city districts you will see ‘songthaews’. These are roofed pick ups with two (song) simple wooden benches (thaew) which tour fixed routes in a single district quarter. They are the cheapest transportation, costing a mere 6 or 12 baht, to be paid to the driver or conductor after

you rang the bell and jumped out of the vehicle. They stop at every possible passenger waving down the (red) pick up or ringing to get off. Songthaews are not numbered, and you’ll have to explore first which route they tour exactly.

‘Boat-or river-buses’

When you have to go to a spot near the Chaopraya River or near one of the big canals (khlongs), a pleasant and fast way to avoid the chaotic and time-consuming road travel is to take a boat-bus (or: river-bus). There is a network of fast-running boats which follow fixed routes on the canals and on the main river. They are faster than the wheeled buses, and not stuck in traffic jams! Boat-ushers roam the boat edges and take in the fare, which varies between 5 and 20 baht. The mooring is minimal in time – be quick to jump in or out, because they don’t wait!

On the Chaopraya river, the Chaopraya Express is a welcome and practical public transportation, for instance to go from the river-end of Silom or Sathorn to Wat Phra Keo or Wat Pho, the two most important city temples. A more comfortable version is designed for tourists, starts at fixed times, and cost more than the regular boats.

 
‘Tuk-tuks’

A typical Bangkok city transportation vehicle is the so-called . This is a roofed and motorized rickshaw puff-puffing everywhere through Bangkok streets. They have no meters, nor fixed fares, so every fare has to be agreed upon in advance (never neglect this because you could be negatively surprised upon arrival). Fair fares should lie around 50-100 baht for a distance between 1 and 3 kilometer. This open-air vehicle is not the most comfortable way to wheel about in the heavily polluted city traffic, but it is funny and fast, as it sneaks through clogged jams as handily as motorbikes. Its most negative aspect is the horrible noise it produces.