'Spider' card coming to Bangkok

[reader]

From Coconuts Bangkok

 

 

Mangmoom Card, the common ticket system of Bangkokians’ dreams that will allow us to swipe through between train systems with ease, will really launch next June, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith promised.

 

The Mangmoom Card, which translates to “Spider Card,” will be compatible with all public transportation systems in Thailand, including BTS, MRT, Airport Rail Link, and buses.

 

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/transport-minister-promises-launch-common-bts-mrt-card-next-year/

[Alexx]

That's about the 10th announcement in about as many years. We live in hope.

[faranglaw]

BTS will give farang the half price seniors' fare. MRT won't. Or maybe it's the other way round. I wonder about this spider card.

[reader]

My experience with MRT is that usually they will automatically give you senior discount if look old enough.....not that I'm all that delighted about it. lol.

 

You have to go to window to get it

 

BTS doesn't offer it.

[vinapu]

even without discount their fares are much lower than many of us  pay at home so I'm not that concerned about senior discount I don't quality yet anyways although for Asian eyes will all that remaining hair grey I may look ancient enough.

 

But card covering BTS,  MRT and ARL and perhpas  BRT, buses, Saen Saep boats  and Chao Praya express boats  would be nice

[Guest Promsak]

even without discount their fares are much lower than many of us  pay at home so I'm not that concerned about senior discount I don't quality yet anyways although for Asian eyes will all that remaining hair grey I may look ancient enough.

 

But card covering BTS,  MRT and ARL and perhpas  BRT, buses, Saen Saep boats  and Chao Praya express boats  would be nice

vinapu, I am at home -- here in Bangkok.

[vinapu]

vinapu, I am at home -- here in Bangkok.

I wish I could say the same

[pong]

BUSes from the BMTA get the new orange card-readers installed-piecemeal though. By now only used by those holding the govt-issued ''poor people'' ID cards, If they work at all. Conductors have I-fone style card readers too to help these people. Its remarkable though how few people actually have such cards. Much more common are the elder-ID's, that allow half fare.

[PeterRS]

Its the MRT that gives all over-65s the 50% discount card. The rechargeable ones mean you only have to go to the window once to show your passport. How this will work with the new Mangmoom card when the BTS charges full rates I have zero idea. 

[Guest]

Well it's stored value card.   If the card also contains information as to whether you are a full price or a discount price customer, then I believe the process goes like this:

1  Card reader checks your balance & if you are full price or half price fare.

2  System calculated fare from start & if appropriate, reduces to half price

3  Fare is deducted

 

This is all very simple.    There are also loads of these card systems around. 

The greater Tokyo area gives you the choice of Pasmo or Suica cards & they work on almost everything, from rural buses 50 miles out of town, to every private railway and the metro system.

London has the Oyster card for buses & underground.  Although your contactless ATM card works equally well.

 

1. All that has to happen is for the government to give the transport operators a boot up the butt & insist they put a contract out to tender & buy a proven system off the best bidder.
2. Once the system is installed, they put up cash fares on the buses by 50% & have temporary sales staff on the affected bus routes selling the new cards. Then abolish cash payment.
3. Then they start moving the fare collectors off the buses.  They can go and work on something more useful.   That's the kind of productivity improvement that increases living standards.  Do this whilst the economy is on the growth part of the cycle.
4. Then install some direct walkways from airport rail link to skytrain.

[vinapu]

 

1. Then they start moving the fare collectors off the buses.  They can go and work on something more useful.   That's the kind of productivity improvement that increases living standards. 

I have some doubts whether such move will increase fare collector living standards.

 

As world painfully learned in last 20 or so years gains of productivity improvement mostly went to upper lever of earning scale and it's why world is electing  Trumps and the like in many countries in hope that trend will be somewhat modified. 

[Guest]

As world painfully learned in last 20 or so 

 

Ah, but there have been a couple hundred years of productivity improvements in western society. 

 

The living standards of the poorest in most western countries exceed those of the middle classes from a century ago.   They poor usually have warm insulated houses, a choice of fresh foods all year round, refrigerators, TVs & all sorts of other luxuries. 

That's all paid for by productivity improvements and even the poorest have benefited.

 

What annoys me is when expectations get out of alignment, so even when people have attained a good living standard, they are moaning when it has not improved in the last 10 years, when they have done very little themselves to improve it.

 

Anyhow, getting back on topic, collecting fares on buses in 2017 is an obsolete and utterly useless role.   Overall Thai living standards will rise if they move people out of this type of job into something that is of benefit.   The cost of running the buses will drop, so they can invest in better services or cut fares.   

 

To increase living standards across society, the economic strategy should be good.    Job creation projects have no place in a country that wants to increase living standards & certainly not in a country with fairly full employment.

[vinapu]

 

 

What annoys me is when expectations get out of alignment, so even when people have attained a good living standard, they are moaning when it has not improved in the last 10 years, when they have done very little themselves to improve it.

 

it would be nice to hear somebody telling this to Trump voters  face to face.

 

And no, I'm not bitter , counting  myself rather  big time beneficiary of progress of last 20 years and globalization  but now I guess tide is on the side of those who did not , so my comment was just a reminder that this other side exists and has a voice.

[ChristianPFC]

Some Bangkok buses have card readers installed at the doors, and all buses now have an LCD screen that shows, among others, use of cards and the card reader.

 

I'm optimistic that there will be a unified cashless payment system for all kinds of public transport on Bangkok within my lifetime.

 

(Sidenote: Now that I often go with a Farang friend by his car on the tollway, I noticed that there are two operators: one has a choice between cash and a cashless remote payment system with a device installed in the car, which my friend has (the cashless remote payment device), and the other operator is cash only.)

[Guest]

it would be nice to hear somebody telling this to Trump voters  face to face.

 

My comments were aimed at all the leftie layabouts who vote for Jeremy Corbyn & all the other parties with communist tendencies in the UK.   

The type who expect someone else to provide everything on a plate, rather than getting off their butts and improving their own living standards.

 

Given the choice, I would prefer to be led by an idiot who prefers low taxes, rather than an idiot who prefers high taxes & actually believes he can allocate our capital better than we can ourselves.

 

Moving back onto the topic, the only thing that improves average living standards is productivity improvements, so Thai society would benefit if fare collectors were slowly phased out and allowed to go & do something useful. 

 

The alternative is to behave like the Luddites & go around smashing weaving looms, because they put hand weavers out of work.   It's that very automation process & progress that has delivered increased living standards.

 

Also a swipe card is much quicker for passengers.   So another productivity improvement. 

[steveboy]

Given the choice, I would prefer to be led by an idiot who prefers low taxes, rather than an idiot who prefers high taxes & actually believes he can allocate our capital better than we can ourselves.

 

Moving back onto the topic, the only thing that improves average living standards is productivity improvements, so Thai society would benefit if fare collectors were slowly phased out and allowed to go & do something useful. 

 

I also think that this single card will be an improvement for us the users. I have always used the cards for BTS and MRT. 

 

But the increase in automation, robotics, is a threat for a segment of the population, and with increasing "artificial intelligence" even those of us whose professions are intellectual are increasingly threatened.  What to do when jobs disappear because machines do it all?  People NEED an income.  If not from personal work, it has to come from social programs.  And here is where the enterprises who use machines because they are cheaper than people MUST be taxed higher, to finance the social programs.

 

Society is in increasing need of revolutions. Maybe a couple more French revolutions? It will be interesting to see...

[Alexx]

An amazing aspect is that many Thais who use the BTS or MRT on a daily basis don't bother to get these cards; instead they stand in line twice a day to purchase single trip passes or tokens. Hopefully the unified ticket will tackle that as well, by providing stronger incentives.

 

Regarding the issue of productivity and buses, by far the biggest impediment is the time spent stuck in traffic. Whether there's a fare collector or how many seconds the payment process takes surely pales in comparison.

[steveboy]

Regarding the issue of productivity and buses, by far the biggest impediment is the time spent stuck in traffic. Whether there's a fare collector or how many seconds the payment process takes surely pales in comparison.

 

True.  And here is where automation can make a huge difference with the emergence of self-driving cars, buses, trucks. In some future vehicles may circulate without having to stop anymore, traffic lights may become obsolete. I am looking forwards to that for when I will be too old to drive, and my car can drive me.

[ChristianPFC]

On the bus, buying a ticket is not a waste of time because the bus is already running when the cashier comes along. Whereas queuing at MRT or BTS ticket automats is a waste of time.

 

But the increase in automation, robotics, is a threat for a segment of the population, and with increasing "artificial intelligence" even those of us whose professions are intellectual are increasingly threatened.  What to do when jobs disappear because machines do it all?  People NEED an income.  If not from personal work, it has to come from social programs.  And here is where the enterprises who use machines because they are cheaper than people MUST be taxed higher, to finance the social programs.

 

Society is in increasing need of revolutions. Maybe a couple more French revolutions? It will be interesting to see...

A question nobody has an answer to, most people don't even see the problem: there is much more unskilled labor than is needed, in every country of the world, and increasing.

[vinapu]

 

A question nobody has an answer to, most people don't even see the problem: there is much more unskilled labor than is needed, in every country of the world, and increasing.

that is scary part when we consider that there were  nasty systems in not so distant history providing full employment and managing to suck unproductive excess of farming population  to the cities where more productive work could be found. All this quest for fast progress  did not end well for all involved.

[Guest]

Over the long term, progress has been good for almost all.    We have living standards & health vastly in excess of what was enjoyed a century ago. 

A few people being pushed out of obsolete jobs is all part of the market forces that has led to higher living standards.

 

Also, I'm not at all sure that there is a shortage of obs for unskilled labour in every country.   

 

In my country, the problem seems to be more that the unskilled labour sits on it's fat ass collecting dole money, since work is too hard for them and our governments are dumb enough to pay them for doing nothing.    So farmers have extreme difficulty getting people in to do the work on farms (for example).   Or some retailers have difficulty getting the staff to provide good service.

 

Also, when I need to spend 4~5 hours cutting the hedge, where are the people offering gardening services ? 

 

Finally, with all the free education on offer in most countries (school & in most countries, beyond, at some level or other), there is no excuse for been unskilled.   

[vinapu]

Over the long term, progress has been good for almost all.    We have living standards & health vastly in excess of what was enjoyed a century ago. 

A few people being pushed out of obsolete jobs is all part of the market forces that has led to higher living standards.

 

 

Also, when I need to spend 4~5 hours cutting the hedge, where are the people offering gardening services ? 

 

 

perhaps that the part  of  progress you mentioned above , people are no longer forced to take any job , just in order to survive

 

 

 

Finally, with all the free education on offer in most countries (school & in most countries, beyond, at some level or other), there is no excuse for been unskilled.   

that's correct but opens another can of worms and source of frustration to many - what if job can't be found in field people are trained at ? 

If we took stock of degrees of all those who are pouring coffees  in Starbucks of New York, London or Montreal we'd be surprised how educated our servers are.

 

 

To stay on the subject I recall at least two Thai men who entertained me intimately who claimed to get their degrees already. Can 't confirm if it was true but certainly their English was of educated person variety.

 

This not to argue to no end but to show that those issues are very complex and receipts from the past -get educated so you will get well paying job which will last for life,  are no longer working as they did.

 

As for fat bums collecting dole money , again you are correct but in many cases it's preferable to an alternative - them looking for their spending money in our pockets on a darkened streets.

[steveboy]

As for fat bums collecting dole money , again you are correct but in many cases it's preferable to an alternative - them looking for their spending money in our pockets on a darkened streets.

 

Well said.  After all I sit on my (slim) butt collecting retirement money without moving one finger. 

Progress should ideally lead to machines becoming our slaves (they already replace live slaves) doing all the work for us, so that we can enjoy total leisure. Ideally,  ALL people should enjoy this leisure, including the fat bums.  But now automation benefits mostly the owners of the machines producing goods and services.  Maybe society should own the slave machines, that is,... a government?  It seems that the solution may be more socialist than what some people like! 

[vinapu]

After all I sit on my (slim) butt collecting retirement money 

retired American and slim butted ? white elephant indeed

[steveboy]

retired American and slim butted ? white elephant indeed

 

Don't say that!  White could be racist.