BKK airport link - anyone tried this?

[SQtraveller]

An old guide to using the Airport Rail Link from airport to central Bangkok

post deleted

[Kyo]

Yes, indeed!

[HUGE AL]

...I was just showing it off to zander two weekends ago...

zander is alive and well?!?

[Kyo]

Thanks, I like to do a street jump when I'm staying closer to the Asoke side to get past the one-way restriction...

[sqdazz]

Thanks for the update. Do they still stop at Makkasan too? Last I bothered to ask, someone did say it would start soon - but that was awhile ago..

yes it stops at makkasan then on to phaya thai

[Kyo]

Thanks for the update. Do they still stop at Makkasan too? Last I bothered to ask, someone did say it would start soon - but that was awhile ago..

[sqdazz]

i thought the express line goes to Phaya Thai now

[Kyo]

I give up...

[cscs1956]

Actually from Chit Lom to Hyatt, it may be shorter distance compare to the point where you start to walk from departure hall to train station? Different may be one without the aircond!

[Kyo]

If you think the Hyatt is the same distance from Chit Lom and Siam BTS then it would appear all those cheap taxi rides are turning your brain to mush.

I never said it was the same distance. Chit Lom is nearer, but there's still a walk to be had. Especially by the time you manoeuvre with luggage through the Erawan Mall to the front desk...

You may not be aware of this but there is an elevated walkway all the way from Chit Lom to the Hyatt, which goes straight into the Erawan Boutique Mall at the Hyatt where the Erawan Tea Rooms are, a la Asok BTS to SGS style..

Of course I'm aware, in fact I was just showing it off to zander two weekends ago...

Makkasan ?!. I know of nobody who would recommend using the White Elephant that is Makkasan Terminal. Not only is there a distinct lack of taxis a lot of the time but getting off there completely defeats the object of using the train, which is to avoid the traffic.

This, I agree with - having said that, on the three occasions I've been forced (once was just to give it a try), I've been lucky enough to get someone being dropped off once whereupon I took over their taxi at the main entrance, and twice more there have been taxis that do come eventually.

The bad part of the traffic from BKK is not the first bit, ie the freeway, but the last/inner city bit. Using Makkasan just avoids the freeway - the easy bit!

Many thanks for your oversimplification and generalisation of traffic conditions at all times, and on all days in BKK. It's incorrect, of course, to assume this all the time and I can also point out numerous instances (the most likely being a Friday or Saturday evening, and especially on Sunday evenings after a long weekend/public holiday when everyone returns back to the city) where the jam stretches from the airport into town. The astute among us will instead look out over how bad the traffic is upon approach into Suvarnabhumi. A long line of red dots means it's smarter to take the train into town (whether it's your Phaya Thai slow train or the Makkasan express). I've been overwhelmingly lucky to sit on the side of the aircraft that turns to show Rama IX. The even more advanced approach calls for the downloading of an app for the iPhone called 'BKKWatch' which enables traffic camera-viewing BKK-wide from the screen of your phone. And yes, I direct the taxi drivers accordingly if I have to based on the info from the traffic cameras. Oftentimes, I don't need to.

You still then have to fight your way through the inner Bangkok traffic. I believe they are currently constructing a better way of transferring between Makkasan and Petchaburi Metro station which is a few hundred yards away and should have been done from the start. But as we know, TiT.

Once again, this is a generalisation. Inner Bangkok traffic is predictable to just about nobody, however in-the-know taxi drivers / locals do know how to use the back roads and side-alleys to get to where they need to be (relatively) fast. Even in a taxi, even with luggage.

I refer you to my very specific example of the route I'd take from Makkasan (this exits in a one-way direction specifically along the Ratchadaphisek for a short 200-300 meters): "Were I forced to, I'd have taken the express train to Makkasan, and then hop into a cab going under Rama IX" (you emerge on what is normally a very free-flowing section under the Rama IX expressway overhead - an area I'm intimately familiar with since it pops out right close to my in-laws, next to Rachathewi station).

I still prefer the 20 minute Express train because I don't prefer lugging my luggage down stairs (something you rightly pointed out about Thais against escalators - again, correct in this specific case) after a 45 minute slow train ride down to Rachathewi/Rachaprarop intersection - a major intersection). Furthermore, even if I did stop at Rachathewi I'd still have to "hop into a cab along Rachaprarop via the Eastin (again, free-flowing compared to Rachaprasong)/do the illegal U-Turn, then turn left to pop out near Central Chit Lom."

I'd bet good money that I'd get to the Hyatt before you and your Phaya Thai/Sukhumvit line shenanigans from a standing start at BKK airport. I'd also do it with a good 10-15 minutes faster.

(I'd also do it with 800 baht more in my pocket compared to your AOT limo... but I'd be rubbing salt into a wound here...)

But for the sake of harmony, let's agree to disagree.

I believe they are currently constructing a better way of transferring between Makkasan and Petchaburi Metro station which is a few hundred yards away and should have been done from the start. But as we know, TiT.

This is good to know, but like most things, I don't hold out much hope for completion anytime soon. I like to be surprised, however.

cscs1956: Thanks, but please refer to my comments above. I know this area like the back of my hand...

[cscs1956]

Sorry to hear you had to schlep it on the ARL public transport system in favour of taking a taxi.

Pansy



Taking the Sukhumvit line Skytrain is a poor choice (sorry, but it is..) for those staying at the Hyatt as it's right smack in between Chit Lom and Siam (i.e. either direction, a fair walk, even from Chit Lom especially with luggage). Were I forced to, I'd have taken the express train to Makkasan, and then hop into a cab going under Rama IX OR stopped at Rachathewi then hop into a cab along Rachaprarop via the Eastin/illegal U-Turn, then turn left to pop out near Central Chit Lom. It's easy enough after that to the Hyatt. The latter being the more direct/preferred route.

Is not so bad actually. I do it all the time - 10 min walk at most.
If you do the Makkasan/Taxi way, you must well talk a taxi directly from airport (not those AOT one). You will find the price you pay is not much different.

[MAN Flyer]

Taking the Sukhumvit line Skytrain is a poor choice (sorry, but it is..) for those staying at the Hyatt as it's right smack in between Chit Lom and Siam

If you think the Hyatt is the same distance from Chit Lom and Siam BTS then it would appear all those cheap taxi rides are turning your brain to mush.

You may not be aware of this but there is an elevated walkway all the way from Chit Lom to the Hyatt, which goes straight into the Erawan Boutique Mall at the Hyatt where the Erawan Tea Rooms are, a la Asok BTS to SGS style..

Were I forced to, I'd have taken the express train to Makkasan,

Makkasan ?!. I know of nobody who would recommend using the White Elephant that is Makkasan Terminal. Not only is there a distinct lack of taxis a lot of the time but getting off there completely defeats the object of using the train, which is to avoid the traffic. The bad part of the traffic from BKK is not the first bit, ie the freeway, but the last/inner city bit. Using Makkasan just avoids the freeway - the easy bit!. You still then have to fight your way through the inner Bangkok traffic. I believe they are currently constructing a better way of transferring between Makkasan and Petchaburi Metro station which is a few hundred yards away and should have been done from the start. But as we know, TiT.

[Kyo]

I was staying at the Hyatt so only a few stops on the Sukhumvit Line but by the time I got the the lobby it would definitely have been quicker by car. The SGS would have been even more in favour of road transport.

Sorry to hear you had to schlep it on the ARL public transport system in favour of taking a taxi.

Pansy



Taking the Sukhumvit line Skytrain is a poor choice (sorry, but it is..) for those staying at the Hyatt as it's right smack in between Chit Lom and Siam (i.e. either direction, a fair walk, even from Chit Lom especially with luggage). Were I forced to, I'd have taken the express train to Makkasan, and then hop into a cab going under Rama IX OR stopped at Rachathewi then hop into a cab along Rachaprarop via the Eastin/illegal U-Turn, then turn left to pop out near Central Chit Lom. It's easy enough after that to the Hyatt. The latter being the more direct/preferred route.

[HUGE AL]

...having been told by AOT that they didn't have any cars available (yes, that's any cars...) for at least half an hour...

I would have thought you'd have a VIP Card from them by now...

[MAN Flyer]

I actually used this thing for the first time earlier this month, having been told by AOT that they didn't have any cars available (yes, that's any cars...) for at least half an hour I decided to give it a go.

It was 'fun' to travel a different way into the city but it reinforced my previously held belief that it is more trouble than it's worth if you are carrying any luggage at all. The trip from Suvarnabhmi to Phaya Thai is painless enough, even though the train was packed by the end of the journey, but going up and down the BTS with luggage, where you encounter numerous sets of stairs you have to drag stuff up (what have the Thais got against escalators on public transport stops ?) lets it down. I was staying at the Hyatt so only a few stops on the Sukhumvit Line but by the time I got the the lobby it would definitely have been quicker by car. The SGS would have been even more in favour of road transport.