Phuket Airport Bus Service Delayed by 'Rumors of Protests'
By Phuketwan Reporter Tuesday, March 19, 2013
PHUKET: ''Rumors of protests'' were among the issues blamed today for a surprise delay in starting a public bus service from Phuket International Airport to Phuket's west coast destinations.
A two-and-a-half hour meeting this afternoon failed to achieve the aim of giving Phuket the bus service it so badly needs.
In the absence of Phuket Governor Maitree Intusut, Vice Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada opted to hold another meeting on May 15.
He told the gathering at the Transport Department Office in Phuket City that he was concerned that proper bus stops for the service had yet to be organised in Kata-Karon and Patong. A public hearing might be necessary.
The opinions of just about everyone in the room were canvassed, including that of Phuketwan.
''It's a very, very good idea and it offers another choice for everybody,'' is what Phuketwan told the vice governor.
Phuket Land Transport Office Director Terayoot Prasertphol was disappointed with the delay. He had hoped buses could be rolling by the end of this week.
He said just a few days ago: ''There is no need to ask the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers for permission. This is for the long-term benefit of everyone on Phuket, and most people realise this.
''Let the media, let the residents, let the tourists make sure this innovation works. It will take a little time to develop, and improvements will come. This is a start.''
He has been working hard for more than a year to have the new service introduced. But then, so has Vice Governor Jamleran.
The question remains: if a small, vocal and selfish minority are granted the right to object to a Phuket public bus service, will they also be granted the right to stop it happening?
The answer has been delayed until May 15 because April tends to be disrupted by the Songkran New year festivities.
Phuket has been waiting decades for a service of this kind, so a few weeks hardly seem to matter. Clearly, any prospect of viollence has to be avoided.
Only one of several proposed new west coast bus services was discussed today.
Busses would run from the Phuket airport to Kata beach, making nine stops along the way, taking a route via Thalang and the Tesco Lotus before turning right to Patong then on to Kata and Karon via Rat-U-Tot 200 Pi Road and Jungceylon.
There were two other positive innovations for transport on Phuket.
The concept of having 28 green tuk-tuks operate around Phuket City with a basic fare of 30 baht hop-on, hop-off, met with approval. That idea now goes to Public Transport head office in Bangkok.
A service involving mini-vans running from the old bus terminal in Phuket City via Samkong and central Kathu to Patong was approved. The fare will be 50 baht from Phuket City to Patong or 30 baht from Samkong.
No date has been set yet for implementing the service, which is expected to have special appeal to resort workers. Minivans would run every 15 minutes.
Several services by traditional seung taew buses from Phuket City to southern Phuket were renewed today.
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Comments
Comments have been disabled for this article.
Surprised? Not really. If in doubt, postpone. 15 May - why so long?
Posted by
Logic
on
March 19, 2013 16:17
Editor Comment:
Songkran New Year makes April a difficult month to achieve much.
who is surprised?..certainly not me....My money says June at the "Earliest"...and I'm not even confident with that bet
Posted by
sky
on
March 19, 2013 16:43
Yawn .... what a big surprise. The powers that be decide to postpone the launch for almost 2 months.
Anyone willing to bet that the service will start in May?
Simon
Posted by
Simon Luttrell
on
March 19, 2013 16:48
Editor Comment:
Advocating the status quo,Simon? Not much future in that.
It never fails to amaze me the business planning mentality of those in power here and the obvious influence from the many who continue to drag Phuket back to the dark ages! All this over a bus service? What next, or maybe that's a stupid question! The only real surprise it's not delayed until May 15 next year!
Posted by
Anonymous
on
March 19, 2013 16:48
"The concept of having 28 green tuk-tuks operate around Phuket City with a basic fare of 30 baht hop-on, hop-off, met with approval. "
Another excellent development, and in the long term IMO much, much more important than the bus from the airport.
Posted by
stevenl
on
March 19, 2013 17:04
Er, the buses are going to run when? I think in May, er um ja... MAYBE. 555.
Posted by
Duncan B
on
March 19, 2013 17:08
A bit of a delay will not hurt anything but still disapointing. I am back in April and was looking forward to using the service. Why not put police on each bus. I am sure renting a off duty officer would be expensive at first but it would make more riders feel comfortable. I would pay into a fund for this. Similar to some of the banks and gold shops around that pay for protection.
Posted by
jiminkata
on
March 19, 2013 17:16
"surprise delay?" Who's surprised? And delayed for nearly 2 months, another joke, played on us ALL. OK ED, call me a "doomsayer, if you need, but we have seen too many times, this type of stupidness, another example is the change of traffic direction in Patong...mmm..why doesn't any media ever follow these things up?
Posted by
Phuket_IOC
on
March 19, 2013 17:20
Editor Comment:
A two-month delay hardly requires following up, and the one-way change simply got put to one side because it really didn't alter much.
Makes one think as to WHY the buses haven't been painted, also, as for songkran, that's almost a month away, plenty of time to get the buses running, or are there "rumours" of a LOT more protests?
Posted by
Phuket_IOC
on
March 19, 2013 17:23
I would love a bus service with 100,000's of other people, tourists, Visa Runs etc but with too many "blanks" too close to the deadline this was always going to happen. Remember we live in an insland where the public take over the Police (last month in Karon) so I am 50/50 that this will ever happen.
Posted by
Happy Farang
on
March 19, 2013 17:40
Surprised ? No. Disappointed? Absolutely. Again. I'm back in phuket tomorrow after a stay in Penang. What a difference here. No plastic bags are given in any shop, unless you pay for it. I just took a taxi ( no tuk tuk ) and for a ride similar from patong to surin, I paid 15 ringgit ( 150 baht ), and for the same ride in a modern bus, I pay 1,40 ringgit ( 14 baht ).
Posted by
Charles
on
March 19, 2013 18:01
Given the local taxi,tuk tuk and minivans tight grip on transport on phuket , i imagined a troubled start to this endeavour. I dont think these groups will let this go ahead without some sort of protest.
Posted by
carvets
on
March 19, 2013 18:27
He postponed the next meeting until May 15. He didn't say what year. My guess is at the earliest May 15, 2020.
Posted by
Archibald Bartholomew Cholmondeley
on
March 19, 2013 18:42
@phuket_IOC..funny you should mention the reversal of traffic issue...I had heard today from a source..and of course, don't know how true it is...the reason why the traffic remains going in the one way direction that it does is because of Jungceylon...They are "supporting" keeping the way it is and Their reason is that when most tourist arrive in Patong, they come down Pramabee Rd and have to make a left onto 200 Pee rd...thus they want people driving past Jungceylon first rather than (if the traffic was reversed) go down the beach rd first and then up and around past Jungceylon....Just someones nonsense marketing strategy if in fact it is true....Does it really matter?
Posted by
sky
on
March 19, 2013 18:49
And "a public hearing may be necessary". Oh quelle surprise! So delay tactics as usual, until finally it all gets conveniently forgotten.
Posted by
jimbo34
on
March 19, 2013 18:57
No surprise whatsoever. The only way the buses will run is with heavily armed army protection.
Posted by
Swami K.
on
March 19, 2013 19:10
Vice Governor, what is the problem. Allmost every litle "banana republic" has a bus service from the airport, not depending on mafia style taxi operators. I really hoped to be able to use the bus service in the beginning of april, when me and my girlfriend will visit Phuket for the second time this year. A lot of talk about making Phuket more of an up-market destination will fail as long as infrastructure and environment is treated like in a developing country in central Africa...
Posted by
Swede from Malmo
on
March 19, 2013 19:29
I'm not surprised. There may however be some good in this delay. An introduction after peak season will mean fewer riders and less chaos so there is an opportunity to shake the bugs out of the system first. The downside is that fewer riders mean less revenue and a bigger deficit putting the service in the red for the first few months of operation. If the service cannot break-even or turn a profit it will be dropped.
Posted by
Ryan
on
March 19, 2013 19:48
Needless to say that careful planning is important, but the government is really loosing face here and openly admitting that they don't have the local mafia under control.
Posted by
Jakub
on
March 19, 2013 20:02
The only surprise here is that the local taxi and tuk-tuk mafia don't have to bother to even protest anymore.
All it takes for them to demonstrate who really controls Phuket is a simple RUMOR of a protest and the local administration is busy bending over backwards with creative excuses.
A public hearing for bus stops ? Was there one conducted for the pink bus service ? Are you not hearing what the public has been begging for for decades ?
Posted by
Mike
on
March 19, 2013 20:34
Phuket might be a little corrupt, ok maybe quite corrupt, ok very corrupt, go to Bali and then you will see greed and corruption. Yes when you arrive in paradise you have to pay to ENTER the country by plane and sure you have to pay to leave by plane. I hope no one from Thai Immigration is reading this they might get ideas. Personally having been to many coutries in Europe, The Middle East, US, Asia and Australia I have never seen a country where you have to pay both ways. Shame on Indonesia. Thailand is free to enter and leave as it should be most tourists spend more than they would in their normal life so it is enough. You might say that you pay for a Visa in the countries I mentioned but at least they do some checking for the Visa not just take your money. A guy at the airport in Bali when I was leaving missed his flight due to this fee.
Posted by
Happy Farang
on
March 19, 2013 20:47
Stupid Editor, in my life I haven't seen a man like a piece of shet same you!
In my previous comments I said, " Don't hope to much, it isn't Friday yet!
But, as usual, you ignore the comments
and you haven't published it, of course because It doesn't agree with your opinion . This is the worste way to pretend to be a journalist, as you pretend to be. Go back to your country, if you think you're good as well as you're doing well your job!?! Many commententer don't think so!
Posted by
George Webb
on
March 19, 2013 21:35
Editor Comment:
This is your first and only comment from this email address, George. Your are pretending to be a reader, and pretending to be a caring person. Don't bother.
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/corruption-free-phuket-model-begins-roll-board-17746/
I can see george's comment displayed here, no?
Posted by
roll-on
on
March 20, 2013 01:57
Editor Comment:
Ah, George. He forgets which email he's using on which article.
'Corruption Free Phuket Begins to Roll'...Give me a break.
Also could you please explain why/how you celebrate record arrivals and at the same time complain vociferously about the effect of the arrivals. What gives?
Posted by
Yojimbo
on
March 20, 2013 01:59
Editor Comment:
We don't ''celebrate'' or ''complain vociferously.'' Yojimbo. Life is filled with paradoxes. One of these days, when the perfect number of tourists for sustainability with Nature is known, we can report: ''Two flights of tourists were forced to turn around today and leave Phuket because they would have taken the island beyond its annual carrying capacity for this year.''
happy farang
was not that long ago you had to pay to leave phuket as well, they just make the airlines and of course you pay it in ticket price and that was for internal flights as well
George Webb
what an ass you are
yes not a surprise being delayed will be lots of behind scenes to make it happen so no one loses face and no roadblocks to make Phuket seem like it is
Posted by
Michael
on
March 20, 2013 03:52
And once again the "men of influence" who control the tuk tuk show who really makes the decisions on Phuket...certainly not the majority.
Posted by
gary strike
on
March 20, 2013 04:29
Bangkok needs to step in here and get serious protection onboard buses, at the bus overnight parkup, and protect the drivers 24/7. This is going to be interesting ........
Posted by
geoff
on
March 20, 2013 10:47
With each passing year Phuket is falling further behind with their inaction. Soon the tourists will see better tropical options in SE Asia
Posted by
Damien
on
March 20, 2013 11:27
Maybe not to bad because unless the Government come up with a sustainable urban public transport plan which encourage people to reduce their driving and intend to implement it I personally cant see how more vechicles in the form of buses and town tukies should make Phuket more transport efficient,environment friendly or less polluted! Here they need to educate and encourage urban forms and patterns that do not reinforce automobile-based lifestyles, but make walking, cycling and public transport viable options for travelling.
Posted by
Harald
on
March 20, 2013 11:34
Michael, good point I checked my ticket and these charges were in addition to taxes and a fuel surcharge so were in fact a tax on a tax or an additional tax. It was not the amount but the principle, the total was around $35.
Posted by
Happy Farang
on
March 20, 2013 12:47
The drop on / drop off service in Phuket Town could be great if there are set routes. Hopefully they will keep up a reasonable speed and not slow down the traffic as can often happen in Patong when the Tuk Tuks are cruising, similarly in Samui. Access to all the great new cafes and restaurants will help improve business in Phuket Town as parking is still difficult in places
Have the authorities also set the fees from Patong to Phuket Town for the mini-vans service as I see only mention of the price from Phuket Town? I would hate to presume it was the same price and find out later it was notably more...
Posted by
richard
on
March 20, 2013 14:06
Very sad day again for everyone in Phuket, who wants the island to go ahead and evolve and save it for the future. And a good day for all them who see these initiatives as the usual nuisance one has to make go away every two years.
Posted by
Lena
on
March 20, 2013 17:00
So what let them get apermit and protest legally. If they are indeed actually threatening violence, well then they are actually terrorists and the govt should do whatever is necessary to prevent a mob rule, that means arrests and fines and jail.
Posted by
ChristyS
on
March 23, 2013 14:12
Well , May 15th has passed and no word about the proposed new bus routes getting up and running , any news regarding this meeting Phuketwan.
Posted by
Tom Woods
on
May 18, 2013 03:52
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Surprised? Not really. If in doubt, postpone. 15 May - why so long?
Posted by Logic on March 19, 2013 16:17
Editor Comment:
Songkran New Year makes April a difficult month to achieve much.