Pattaya will add more signage to bus stops on Second and Beach roads following complaints they weren’t being used.
Anuwat Thongkham, director of the Traffic Department, acknowledged the city has been bombarded by complaints that baht-bus stops the military ordered built are a waste of money and don’t correspond to how people actually use public transport.
In its efforts to bring order to the chaotic baht-bus system, the National Council for Peace and Order had Pattaya paint 168 stopping zones on streets across the area. The goal was to have the pickup truck taxis and tour buses stop only in designated areas, not wherever they wanted, as they normally do.
That hasn’t happened. Baht buses continue to stop, double-park, pick up and drop off people as they always have. Except for those in front of large shopping malls or office buildings, the stops are ignored.
The problem is especially acute near the beach, Anuwat admitted. But he blamed the non-use on poor signage and knowledge of their existence.
As a result, the city will install new signs at all 30 Beach and Second roads stops to make them more obvious.
Anuwat noted, however, that despite claims to the contrary, the stops were not expensive to paint, so even if some are not being used, it’s not the big waste of money that people alleged.
He added that there’s little the city can do, as the orders to create them came from above. Pattaya cannot remove them without permission from Chonburi or the NCPO.
He said the most the city can do is forward the complaints to relevant officials who can decide on the fate of the stops.
