Rod mea~!

I had forgotten about the LT^3BMD section of my blog for a couple posts, and as I was writing this, it ended up being REALLY long, so… I’m dedicating this entire post to….

LT^3BMD – IV

Commuting to and from work, though time-consuming, is pretty fun! I have to take the bus and metro, and while my commute-buddy (Mike) and I usually use the very pleasantly air-conditioned metro for flipping through our GRE Vocabulary Practice Cards (GAH!), the bus I think, is definitely a nice experience, as well.

Rod mea = bus!

One reason that I love buses is because I always love observing and meeting new people on the bus, and I could talk about that for forever, but.. let me just comment on the overall bus system in Thailand, which I'm still amazed by! :)

So far, we’ve encountered two types of buses: one being new, shiny plastic-y, with TV-monitors and air-conditioning. And the other being old, wooden-floored, windows open, a fan above only the driver, and a bit worn down.

The new bus’s fare is typically calculated by distance, so… in our case, it’s 14 Baht.

However, the old bus’s fare is at a constant… 7 Baht! How nice is that?

Being a cheap-o and fan of establishments that have gone through a bit o' wear and tear (as long as it doesn’t involve smelly-toilets!), I’m sure anyone can say which bus I like better…

The feeling of the air through my hair and the rustic character (spray-paint writing and cartoons on the wall!) of the bus… love it.

But that’s not the only thing I've enjoyed…

What’s really cool is that the way they actually give you your ticket on the Thai bus systems, here, is really interesting!

Basically, when you enter the bus (from either the front or side, it doesn’t matter), a bus-attendee walks up to you, and asks you where you are going (on the new buses). They then take your money and….

Put it in this SUPER AWESOME change collector, thing! Basically, it’s a cylindrical container that is partitioned into different values of change, as well as paper rolls of various ticket values. They hold the bills (folded quite nicely in an organized fashion) in the same hand that holds the cylindrical container.

With the paper roll of tickets, they then rip off a ticket for you, but then… tear the sides of it in a way the denotes where you’re actually going? I think that there’s numbers that denote the number of the bus-stop that you got on at… so the tears are made right where you got on?

Actually… THIS just IN! I just asked my assigned Thai-research-mentor, Top, about the bus systems, and here’s what she enlightened me on…

1. Although there are more stations than numbers on the sides of the tickets, the numbers basically say where around your station that you got on, was
2. Where the rip on the ticket is made based upon which direction you’re going in. Generally, in the corners of the ticket, there is also (in Thai) the name of the places that are at the start and end of the bus-line.
   The numbers on the ticket are divided in two (like, 1-7 and 8-14 or 1-6 and 7-12), and the rip is made on whatever number side that corresponds with the direction that you are going in. The direction of the rip matters, as well, as all the rips are made diagonally, and somewhat point in the direction that you are going in, too!

Let’s give an American example…

Say that life is grand, and there’s a bus from Los Angeles (Station 1) to Berkeley (Station 14). If I get on the bus at around Simi Valley (with one of my roomies!), then my ticket would probably be ripped at around number 3 on the paper ticket. If it’s Thanksgiving, I need to go home, so I get on the bus at Berkeley, my ticket would probably be ripped at 14.

3. There are so many types of buses! I was explaining to Top that this morning, I was worried when Mike and I didn’t pay for our bus, since no one came to us for our ticket-money, and we couldn’t locate a box for putting in money… but it turns out that we were fortunate enough to get a ride on one of the government-owned free buses!

Government-owned Buses:

Old ones:

Cream or red coloured – 7 Baht

Cream or red coloured with a blue sign on the front window – Free!

New Ones:

Orange coloured – Start at 12 Baht, and is increased, depending on your distance

Private buses:

Old ones:

Orange coloured – 6.5 Baht

Blue coloured– 8 Baht

New ones:

Any colour on the outside! – Starts at 11 Baht, and is increased depending on your distance!