What is an acceptable time to wait for other passengers in a songthaew in Thailand?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 25 Jul, 2023
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Baht busses or Songthaews are not always on a strict schedule…
Especially outside of busy/tourist areas and off-season. In this case, it could be the last one out was waiting for boat passengers or possibly a few last stragglers to come along if he’s not in a hurry. Sometimes you’ll even see songthaews deliver packages or produce (usually the early morning ones). Makes sense to make a few extra bucks on a route you are travelling anyway. I’ve waited over an hour for a songthaew to depart; you just have to be patient sometimes to get that cheap rate.
Also, you can talk with the driver of songthaew and often hire them for an out of route project, which is usually quite favorable to the passenger…A small detour of 2-3km with heavy bags may be nothing to the driver but could really help out the passenger and for 10-30 baht more the convenience is worth it….especially if you hire them for a 1/2 day or something like that.
If it is any consolation, minivans and longtail boats often operate similarly. If full, it will leave immediately. Or it will leave on a schedule if not full. Or you can "buy out" some of the seats such that it makes it worthwhile to the driver to just leave immediately.
Paying up-front is usually done for more regular ticketed service like minibus/coach bus/train. But demanding upfront payment for immediacy varies. Usually if it is likely that confusion about the agreed price could arise after-the-fact, then you may be asked to pay up-front. As long as the other party fulfills their duty, then I don’t see any problems with it.
By keeping a cool head and making a choice to pay more for immediacy or just wait for the cheaper ride, I don’t think there was much else you could have done. You said it yourself, no other immediate option was available in the same price range. Wait until you go somewhere like Patong where the Tuk Tuk [mafia] charges 200 baht just to go <2km (could be more now).
Krabi…I imagine a tuk tuk taxi wanted like 700-800+ baht to go to your final destination.
Source: 6+ years travelling in Thailand, which includes my own experience + observing what happens to the typical tourist.
There is no “acceptable wait time”, it is entirely up to the driver. Most drivers who are parked will wait until they have enough folks to make it worth their while. And as it was getting towards the end of his shift he would want make the last profitable.
You didn’t mention your destination, but that figures into the load/wait time equation as well.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘