Bhat Bus routes

[Up2U]

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Is that an answer? can you be more helpful, are there stopping zones/pickup locations.
if not when is the first?

Since the baht busses leave the school fully occupied there is no room for additional passengers, so the answer is no. They cannot pick up additional passengers until somebody gets off the bus, no telling when that might be.

[lonelywombat]

My last two trips I have been recovering from open heart surgery. When bhat buses arrive at that school they drive towards Jomtien, park and reverse in turn to be the first and closest to leave Second Rd and South Pattaya Rd. The distance from where those buses leave the school is 200 metres. Not a long walk for fit young men but a longish walk for somebody in recovery.
I have walked from there another 100/200 metres towards Jomtien in company of others wanting a baht bus to stop.

[pennyboy]

There are other baht buses plying the route to Jomtien that do not park at the school. There may be some baht bus rule that they do not pick up at the school but anywhere from soi 17 to Jomtien should be no problem.

[paborn]

My last two trips I have been recovering from open heart surgery. When bhat buses arrive at that school they drive towards Jomtien, park and reverse in turn to be the first and closest to leave Second Rd and South Pattaya Rd. The distance from where those buses leave the school is 200 metres. Not a long walk for fit young men but a longish walk for somebody in recovery.
I have walked from there another 100/200 metres towards Jomtien in company of others wanting a baht bus to stop.

I know how you feel. My own bouts of infirmity are what cause me to be so specific and data hungry in planning my next trip. With some knowledge, we can do things that without would be hard or impossible.

I must say, however that this sentence confuses me, "When bhat buses arrive at that school they drive towards Jomtien, park and reverse in turn to be the first and closest to leave Second Rd and South Pattaya Rd. " I'm not sure what you are saying here.

[bkkguy]

You are in the correct place, outside Poseidon, to catch the Baht Bus to Pattaya.

good luck - on my last two stays in Jomtien one could wait up to 30 minutes or more near there to get aboard a baht bus with a seat available mid-late afternoon or early evening while a steady stream of completely empty or completely full vehicles streamed by

To get a bus back to Jomtien turn right out of BT and walk back to the previously mentioned cross road with the traffic lights. The School is directly in front across the road and you will see the buses straight ahead.

according to the regulations introduced late last year the baht buses can no longer park and collect passengers at this location which by Thai logic makes it the most obvious place to wait for a baht bus to Jomtien

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can you be more helpful, are there stopping zones/pickup locations.
if not when is the first?

according to the regulations introduced late last year a baht bus can only stop to pick up or drop off passengers at marked zones, While there are a few of these in Beach Rd and Second Rd in Pattaya they are always full of parked food carts, motorcycles, etc and I have not seen any elsewhere so in practice it is usually not legal for a baht bus to stop anywhere between Nahklua and Na Jomtien

There are other baht buses plying the route to Jomtien that do not park at the school. There may be some baht bus rule that they do not pick up at the school but anywhere from soi 17 to Jomtien should be no problem.

indeed one of the new official baht bus routes (#5) introduced late last year runs along Beach Rd and turns right at the Second Rd intersection to Na Jomtien without stopping at the school, however on my last two trips the majority of buses on Beach Rd displaying this route either turned left back along Second Rd or dumped all their passengers at the school and took off looking for more rewarding passengers for the trip over the hill - and again good luck, wandering alone between the school and soi 17 you may not be perceived as attractive as a gullible group that will pay hundreds of baht to hire the vehicle exclusively so drivers would prefer to cross the hill empty - every time late evening I have flagged an empty baht bus near soi VC and attempted to climb into the back they have just driven off not interested in a standard 10 baht fare

I think there was talk of the authorities trying to regulate their stopping, but I haven't heard of changes going into effect.

one of the definitions of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result - far be it from me to comment on the sanity of the local/provincial/national authorities but over the last 10-15 years they have all made so may pronouncements of new regulations that will finally bring the baht bus system under control or to introduce a workable alternative and achieved nothing.

don't get me started on metered taxis who never use their meters, and even Grab started out with decent fares but soon realised the only way to stay alive was to conform to local practice!

I have no doubt that the baht bus system works fairly well for locals, and for expats gone native - even many tourists seem willing to put up with this bullshit but I couldn't be bothered and (again the definition of insanity) I am waiting for miracles from Grab now that have acquired Uber and opened in so many other cities in Thailand!

bkkguy

[paborn]

"good luck - on my last two stays in Jomtien one could wait up to 30 minutes or more near there to get aboard a baht bus with a seat available mid-late afternoon or early evening while a steady stream of completely empty or completely full vehicles streamed by"

I must be thick. If your waiting for a bus with an available seat why would a "completely empty " one stop?

[scottish-guy]

It's perfectly possible to hail or jump on an empty baht bus and tell the driver your destination "non-stop" - and use him as a private taxi. For an appropriate and agreed fare of course!

Done this several times to avoid waiting for a stinking hot bus filling up outside the school - which can be a considerable time if not busy

He won't stop to pick up other passengers but you do have to prevent them hopping on to your exclusive baht bus at traffic lights etc.

[paborn]

I'm going to give grab a try as well. My vacation is too short to waste time.

[lonelywombat]

The baht buses than complete the circuit coming down Beach rd turning into second road and turning right from second road at the school.
They unload passengers there.
The waiting list for buses to fill means buses drive to the Jomtien end of the school and park. Every time a bus leaves the corner of Second and South rd, all waiting buses beside the school,drive backwards or manually push their bus, towards the load point. Each time the bus is full they take off and all waiting buses push backwards to be next to load. This has been unchanged for the 30 years I have been coming here
Not all buses join the queue which is designed to give all buses a full load, if they want to wait. You only have to compare the buses in peak times returning FROM JOMTIEN TO APPRECIATE NOT ALL BUSES USE THE SCHOOL.
Yes you can see which buses are fully loaded and which are not.
The answer seems to be buses are not allowed to pick up, which I guessed.
So after all this , where can you stop a bus not fully loaded, after it leaves the second rd.

[scottish-guy]

Thanks LW - what could be clearer than that?