reader Posted January 1 Posted January 1 From Pattaya News On December 29th, 2023, Mr. Thotsapon Puanudom, the Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai Province, officially initiated a new bus line in Chiang Mai by Regional Transit Corporation (RTC) Co Ltd., to enhance the efficiency of Chiang Mai public transportation. The new bus line number 24 starts at Chiang Mai International Airport and has bus stops at well-known tourist destinations such as One Nimman, Chang Phueak Gate, Tha Phae Gate, Flower Market, Chiang Mai Gate, and Central Chiang Mai Airport. The bus services are available from 8 AM to 9 PM with transport fares of 30 baht for Thais and foreigners, and 20 baht for students throughout the line. vinapu, tm_nyc and Boy69 3 Quote
macaroni21 Posted January 1 Posted January 1 Wait.... who is this new bus service supposed to serve? If it is tourists arriving at Chiang Mai airport, then whoever planned or approved this is unfit for his or her job. Arriving tourists want to get to their hotels, not to trudge their luggage immediately to "well-known tourist destinations such as One Nimman, Chang Phueak Gate, Tha Phae Gate, Flower Market, Chiang Mai Gate". I magnified the map, and Chiangmai Boutique Lodge is the only stop with a name resembling that of lodgings. I don't see any other hotel listed amng the stops. Instead, we have totally irresistible places of interest 🤪 such as Suriwong Book Center, Mae Ping Post Office, Yupparaj School, Faculty of Pharmacy, and Computer City. To be fair, perhaps there are hotels near these bus stops, but if so, the least the map can do is to mark the hotels and indicate which stop is nearest which one. In the absence of such markings, hardly any arriving tourist is going to see any use for the service. It also seems to be a one-way route, going clockwise from the airport. Even if you're brave or impecunious enough to put your trust in this service, should your hotel be towards the end of the circular route, then you'd have to endure a very long ride - - and Chiang Mai's traffic can't have improved from "terrible" since I was last there 5 - 6 years ago) - - to your hotel. Look at how the Koreans do it. They have a number of express airport buses from Incheon airport to Seoul. Click their links and you see how they have a clear timetable, information about major hotels served and an app for real-time information. https://airportkobus.com/seoul-incheon-airport-bus/ https://airportkobus.com/the-incheon-airport-bus-6001-route-to-seoul/ Marc in Calif 1 Quote
reader Posted January 1 Author Posted January 1 Now if you could just get the Korean bus to take you to your Chiang Mai hotel it wolud be a win-win. 🙂 Quote
vinapu Posted January 1 Posted January 1 5 hours ago, macaroni21 said: Arriving tourists want to get to their hotels, and locals to their homes. As we know from ARL in BKK , a lot of passenger on airport train are just commuting locals, getting in and off on the way to and from airport tm_nyc and reader 2 Quote
thaiophilus Posted January 1 Posted January 1 38 minutes ago, vinapu said: and locals to their homes. As we know from ARL in BKK , a lot of passenger on airport train are just commuting locals, getting in and off on the way to and from airport If it really is one-way, most of the commuting locals are in for an unnecessarily long ride at the anticlockwise end of their day 😕 Quote
reader Posted January 1 Author Posted January 1 7 hours ago, macaroni21 said: To be fair, perhaps there are hotels near these bus stop Yes there are. Using the Tha Phae Gate stop (about middle of Route 24) as a search point, here's the map of hotels Booking.com returned: RTC #24 is not the only bus route from the airport, the B2 being among them. vinapu and Marc in Calif 1 1 Quote
Marc in Calif Posted January 1 Posted January 1 8 hours ago, macaroni21 said: Look at how the Koreans do it. They have a number of express airport buses from Incheon airport to Seoul. Seoul has long had a much more developed transport infrastructure than Chiang Mai. Seoul has had airport buses for many years. There are now 450 diesel-powered airport buses running on 14 routes between the airport and the city. They'll all be hydrogen-powered by 2030. Chiang Mai's airport bus started three days ago! Why don't you give your suggestions and recommendations to Thotsapon Puanudom, the Deputy Governor? I'm sure he'll welcome them. 😘 Quote
Members tm_nyc Posted January 2 Members Posted January 2 3 hours ago, Marc in Calif said: Chiang Mai's airport bus started three days ago! Chiang Mai had bus service with several routes for a few years prior to Covid, but I'm not sure exactly when it started. I agree the airport bus route is a compromise between the needs of the locals & the needs of the tourists so it doesn't fully satisfy anyone. The airport taxi is only 150 THB which I don't mind paying at all! reader, Marc in Calif and vinapu 3 Quote
