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Van service wins increasing acceptance from daily commuters Rawase, a middle-aged woman, is a regular commuter by public van. She has been using it to travel to the provinces for many years now because it more convenient. "Whenever I have free time, I take the van to Ratchaburi, Kanchanaburi or Phetchaburi," she said. In her opinion, out-bound van service is faster and more customised than public buses and that impressed her. "They can drop me at the point I ask. I have used the service since the fare to Kanchanaburi was 60 baht and now it is up to 100 baht," she said. However, public vans have yet to win the confidence of foreign visitors. Christopher who frequently travels to Sa Kaeo, a province bordering Cambodia, on his visa runs said he still preferred buses because the seats were more comfortable and that faster doesn't always mean it's safe. But among local commuters vans, that have been operating for 10 years now, have become an accepted mode of transport. Ton, a private, said he has been taking the van home to Sing Buri the past two years because it guarantees him a seat. "I used to travel by bus, but often I had to go standing all the way. If it's a long vacation, it got worse," he noted. The biggest concentration of public vans is around Victory Monument. You can find them in almost every corner (see graphic). They operate virtually every route, from provinces in central region to the east coast (see box for timetable and other details). Other popular points are the Pin Klao area along Pata, Merry King and Central department stores, Ratchadamnoen Road opposite the Government Lottery Office and near Rattanakosin Hotel, and lastly the Chatuchak weekend market. Vitoon Pinveha, a driver for Nong A queue opposite to the Government Lottery Office, said his company was among the first to introduce van service, that was back in 1991 to Kanchanaburi. During the first couple of years passengers were few. But word of mouth worked well for him with the result that these days all the 11 seats in his van are usually fully booked. "We try to satisfy our customers as much as we can. If they want us to send or pick them up at their resorts, we do it without extra charge," he said. Another driver, Toi, of a van queue that goes by the acronym SR, parks his van in front of Rattanakosin Hotel. Most of his passengers are local commuters. "They are students and office workers who commute daily between Bangkok, Ratchaburi and Nakhon Pathom," he said. The van service is very popular, especially during long vacations. "We now have 27 vans in our fleet and the maximum number of passengers we have carried on a single day is around 5,000," he noted. However, that doesn't happen very often. Sometimes, especially during mid-day, passengers are hard to find. "It's my turn now. I am driving to Suphan Buri. After waiting 30 minutes I still only have two passengers," said a driver parking his van near Merry King department store in Pin Klao. "I have 10 more minutes left. After that I must leave regardless of the number of passengers." He said public vans operate to a schedule and they come and go according to the timetable set for them, otherwise people would lose confidence in their service. "Say it is our committment to customer satisfaction," he said. Van operators have a timetable. Normally, vans leave every 30 minutes but in some cases longer up to an hour. Only a few of them wait until all the seats are occupied. Some van operators cope with additional expenses by offering tour bookings and hotel packages. "In addition, you can rent the whole van. A day's rental costs 1,500 baht and you pay extra for petrol," said Peun, a driver at Victory Monument. "Just give me a destination, I will be happy to serve you." |