The pink buses, or songtaew in Thai, were introduced six years ago. They are converted trucks with a covered over back and fitted with twin bench-seats. The back is open-sided to let in cooling breezes. The buses follow two routes through the town. One is north to south and the other is west to east.
With standard fares of THB10, no matter how many stops the passenger travels, they are a cheap means of getting around town. An added bonus for the elderly and the young is that they do not pay any fares at all.
The pink buses are quite a bit smaller than the buses they replaced. These bigger buses used to impede traffic flow and were also much more expensive to run. Phuket’s council subsidises the cost of running the buses.
Contract to run Phuket Town taxi buses up for grabs
News in Asia
The contract to operate Phuket Town's iconic pink taxi-buses is up for renewal. The current agreement runs through until 1 October 2015, but the operator says it is time for a change and the provincial administration will be putting the contract out to tender.