During my Bangkok trip, I extensively used
BTS Skytrain to commute. While there were options of using a taxi, car or bus, I chose Skytrain. Because the stations were nearer to both my starting and end points and I heard that Bangkok traffic can be awful in peak hours. I never regretted my choice because my commuting was fast and efficient.
There are 23 stations in total. Average waiting time for a train is 3 minutes; It is estimated that more than half a million people use Skytrain everyday for commuting.
Tickets for each trip are available from a machine near the station, but you have to remit the exact change. While there are people sitting at the station to give you change, you have to usually wait in a long queue to get change. I got a 30 days pass so I don't have to do this everyday.
(I heard that Skytrain will soon introduce a contactless ticketing system wherein the passengers can use their RFID powered smart cards to buy the tickets. This kind of contactless payment is emerging in a big way in Asian nations. An extension of the smart card technology is to
use one's mobile phones to buy tickets and other things. Whereas smart cards require an intelligent card reader somewhere near the location, say train station, mobile phones will not require any extra infrastructure. And that makes things much more convenient)
This is an elevated train. The first level is a concourse (where tickets can be obtained and you use the tickets in one of the automatic access control gates to enter). Then you go to the second level to take the train.
Some nice pictures are found here.The trains are unusually small (only 3 cars) but look neat. (We in India, have trains that easily span about a kilometer. Our cargo trains are even longer). The design of the trains is in such a way that you can't easily see inside but one can see outside from inside the train. It has sliding doors which open only for a minute in a station.
Where the doors will actually arrive for each car is clearly marked on the floor. So when Thai people gather to get a train, they quickly form two queues at each door (This is something I wish that the people from my country learned). The people who get out of the train do so at the center.
Inside of the train is similar to the subway systems I found in the US. An extra thing was LCD TV Panels on the side walls, almost always playing Thai pop videos. (Pop music, that I happened to listen/watch in the Far East is surprisingly similar to the western ones. Often I can't make out if I'm listening to a Thai or English words, unless I observed carefully). Another unique thing that I found was, a security personnel on duty on each platform at all times.
As in the past, I initially got confused with the routes on the first day and once started to go in the opposite direction. But soon things were fine.
Saladaeng, the station where I board the Skytrain everyday, is also the interchange point for
Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit System, which is a subway. There is a thoroughfare which connects the Skytrain station to MRTS. Now, you exit out of Skytrain station in the 1st Floor level. MRTS, being a subway system, is in the 1st Basement level.
Note: If you are reading this from the US, 1st Floor in India = 2nd Floor in the US. There is Street level in between. There is an elevator connecting these three levels.
On the 1st floor, the elevator door opens from the station side. But when I get out in the street level and wait for the same door to open, another door at the opposite side opens unexpectedly! It was funny and I have never seen anything like this!!
